Conversion of the Isle of Man to the Brittish Culdees Usher 642. Man together in a miraculous manner which was his Christian retaliation to his enemies Whose reward is great with God and the greater by this that he hath the less of praise from men his very Adorers since his plantation was long obscur'd by a Romish Fog that still lasts upon it never ceasing to defame and traduce his Divine work with Superstitious descriptions and unworthy Legends though intended perhaps for Honour In 451. †Usher p. 978. Gildas Albanius born at Arcluit in Beda's time called Alcluid that is a Town upon the River Cluid now Dunbritton Inhabited then by the Brittains preach'd to and converted the North parts of Scotland beyond the Hills whether Ninias before had not reach'd And after him in 565. St. Columba of Irish Birth and Brittish Doctrine and Institution assisted by u Idem 540. Constantine Duke of Cornwall repenting of his Adulteries and Murthers upon the reproofs of Gildas Badonicus and taking orders perfected the Conversion of the Picts Serfus one of the Culdees and consequently of Brittish either Birth or Principle promoting the same work as far as the Orcades About the Year 560. St. Kentigerne y p. 686. Nephew to King Arthur and Founder of St. Asaph returned to his Bishoprick of Glasco and preached first the Gospel to the English though enemies permitted upon (f) Histor Brit. lib. 8. C. 9. M. Westm 489. submission and fealty under Octa and Ebusa Sons of Hengist newly conquer'd by Aurelius Ambrosius to live in that Brittish Territory between the Friths and the Wall where they suffer'd the Brittains before being worsted by them to reside upon like submission About 596 what by divisions among themselves what by great invasions by Gormond from Ireland as well as by the Saxons in their bowels what by a great and Epidemical Plague and Jaundize and the entrance of Monk Austin the greatest Plague of all two of their Candlesticks were removed Thadiock Arch-Bishop of the See of York and Theon of London being forc'd from their Sees and charge with the Clergy and Gentry from their Estates and Homes to retire for their safety into the parts of Wales and Cornwall and Ireland very probably none staying behind but the Peasantry at the Terms and for the conveniencies and interest of the conquerour York faring best of the two Sees for the Cambrian (m) Usher p. 1005. Kingdom or Cumberland called Valentia with Scotland or old Albany which formerly had been parcels of the See of York stood yet entire and safe under the Protection of their own Kings and Princes who were able to defend their Religion and Territories both from Pagan and Romish Encroachments about this time infesting them But in the See of London and the body of Lhoegr as the Brittains still call England the Inhabitants that remain'd behind Tributaries to the Saxon Conquerour were to retain their Faith between the heart and God after their Clergy were expell'd by the procurement of Rome as is to be suspected unless some lurked behind in cognitò as is usual for their comfort and assistance or the Pagan Conquerours as we shall see anon gave them toleration of Religion either by Grace or Articles as did Irmericus in Kent and Penda in Mercia and Kerdic in West Saxony c. whereof Bede takes little notice though he could not and doth not wholly conceale the passages But then as the loss of one sense adds strength to the other and the shutting of one eye enlarges the others Candle Ireland grew rich and famous upon this dispersion and accession of learned men into its Teritories for refuge whereby it became about this time the University as it were of these Western parts of Europe for the Christian Orthodox Religion and term'd Insula Sanctorum the Island of Saints whither recourse was made for Spiritual knowledge from all parts and Kingdoms and Wales and its Sees and Abbies was no less stock'd with choice of Able-men and particularly the famous Monastery of Bangor-is-y coed where we find about this time above two thousand learned Monks living together in a holy Fraternity all Subject to the Metropolitical See of St. David whither the Chair was removed from Caerleon by the Authority of King Arthur and a Synod about the year 521 These in 602 gave Augustine the Monk a meeting about Worcester where the pretended Supremacy of the Church of Rome with its superstitious Innovations were Synodically disclaimed and rejected Augustines design being to seize our Brittish Churches as it were by occupancy and to subject them to Rome under colour of Conversion For that their Sees were made too hot to hold Thadiock and Theon at the arrival of Augustine or not long before is some Argument that the Pagan fury was made to burn the fiercer with Roman-Catholick bellows and that the believing Brittains who needed not their Conversion must veil their Ancient Metropolitan Chair of St. David or Caerleon likewise to an upstart See of Romes erection as Austine expected this manifestly proves and discovers it was their Temporal Dominion and superiority which by them is call'd the Catholick Faith that was the chief aim of Rome by all Inhumane and Unchristian Arts to propagate here in Brittain And if we were constrained to submit in part and for a time to their yoke and superstition when the Crown in our Kings for a time was miss-led by their influence and were freed from the same yoke in H. 8. when the Crown was better rectified by Providence we stand as we were holding fast our Liberty with a better conscience than they could usurp it from us being now under no Tye or obligation to Rome either for our Faith or errours not for our first Faith which we never had from them nor for some latter superstitions which we restor'd back unto them continuing a right Church from first to last because when we were at the worst we were as Orthodox as themselves who corrupted us and recovering our clearness again from their forc'd mud and mixture we continue as well English as Brittains now mutually Incorporated to profess the same Faith which was planted here above sixteen hundred and odd years ago not only before Lutâ—er was born but before Rome it self had its Christian being SECTION VI. Brittain had not the Faith from Pope Eleutherius THe first point being thus clear'd It becomes as clear we had not our Faith from Pope Eleutherius by King Lucius and were the Epistle and the Persons contemporary it makes more against them than for them whereof the sum is this You desired of us to send you the Roman Laws which you would use in the Kingdom of Brittain we can never disallow Gods Laws but may Caesars You have lately by Divine mercy received the Law and Faith of Christ you have with you in the Kingdom both the New and Old Testament whence by the advice of your Peers and the Council of
denied by our Adversaries themselves that the Christian Faith was first introduced to our Brittain by Joseph of Arimathea who buried our Saviour in his own new Tomb Math. 27.60 who landed here with other followers of our Saviour shortly after his Resurrection and Diu ante-long before Eleutherius his time saith (a) Baron T. 2. An. 183. p. 240. Polyd. Virgil lib 2. p. 37. Barronius fixing it to the 35 year of Christ where after he had preach'd the Gospel in this Country he ended here his days and quotes an English M.S. in the Vatican Library for one of his Authors and Sanders and Cressy and Pitseus and the rest of the Roman Catholick writers upon this Subject allow this story so that habemus confitentes reos we have such a testimony for the proof of our first point as in wordly Tribunals is counted fatall and conclusive the confession of the Adverse party And it is to be wondred of such men that they should be so ill advised as to yield such a Truth so easily to such a prejudice to their Cause but what then should become of the credit of so many holy Monks Relations and Revelations touching the Monastry of Glastenbury and not only the devout visits of Faganus and Dwywanus and Austine and Paulinus sent hither from the Pope to preach the Gospel which proves Christian Religion as well as that Old Church to have been here in their belief and perswation long before their Arrival hither but the many Divine Revelations from Angels and the Virgin Mary and Christ himself about the building and dedicating that Ancient Church It 's safer therefore with our Romish Authors and a less inconvenience of the two to confess this fact and yield the cause than question the credit of so many Miracles and Supernaturall Revelations enough to spoil and overthrow their Church whose errours are chiefly supported and confirmed by such devices and extol the wisdom of Protestants that rely on no Divine Visions but those recorded in Scripture But others are swayed much more by other Evidences so many Charters of Kings as well Brittish as Saxon and Norman several extant to this day given to this Monastery upon the account and acknowldgement of its undoubted Antiquity and priority to all other Churches in this Land or in this part of the world The Charter of King (e) Usher de Primordiis p 122. Henry the Second in the year 1185. where it is affirm'd of it Fons Origo totius Religionis Angliae pro certo habetur And recites the Charters of former Kings touching the place of William the 1. and 2. and Henry his Grandfather and those Ancienter of Edgar and Edmond and Edward and Alfred and Bringwalch Kentwin Baldred Ina Inclyti Arthuri the famous Arthur Cudred and many other Christian Kings all diligently perus'd and read before him and the Charter of Edward the third in the third year of his Reign to the like effect both perus'd by the Renowned Vsher The first Church in the Kingdom of Brittain saith King Ina counted the Principal in this Kingdom ab Antiquo from Ancient time saith Edgar built by the Disciples of Christ where in all agree And (g) Monasticon Anglican the Tombs of so many Abbots and Saints and Bishops and Kings counting it Honour to be there Interr'd and King (h) Usher p. 117. Arthur in particular whose Tomb and inscription after the burning of the Abby was there found about the year 1200. say the best Historians of (f) Idem p. 124. those times But the bringing of this Tradition to publick test and examination in several (i) Usher p. 23. 175. General Synods of Europe gives it much great reputation where the Embassadors of England in the Controversie about the Dignity and Precedency of England with France who derive their first conversion from Dionysius the Areopagite converted by St. Paul at Athens Act. 17.34 and with Spain or Castile who ascend higher for their founder to James the Brother of John kill'd by Herod Act. 12. yet claim'd Priority to England before either of them from Joseph of Arimathea's landing and preaching here statim post i Usher p. 23. 175. Passionem Christi immediately after the Passion of our Saviour and the weakness of the exceptions of the Advocates of the adverse part may be seen in the great Vsher with answers to them where requisite which Controversie was first set on foot in the Council of Pisa in the year 1409. next in the Council of Constance in 1417. between the Embassadors of France and England in the Council of Sena 1424. before Pope Martyn the fift between us and French and Spaniards together 1434. between the Embassadors of England and Castile again which passages have so prevail'd with Cressy that he hath no scruple left but one and that not against the Fact and body of the story but against the time and earliness thereof k Cressy Eccles Histor he can not hastily believe that Joseph arrived here so soon wherein yet he is to be commended by that party for his watchfulness for the Honour and Prerogative of the Church of Rome in apparent danger of being overthrown by this Church if the date and time as well as the substance of the story be once granted and evinced For if Joseph arrived here in the 35 year of Christ as Baronius guesses or the 36. as others for where some differr it to 63. m Spelman Concil p. 12. Sir H. Spelman conceives the figures displaced 63 for 36 and our Saviour suffered in the 34 of his age it follows that Joseph repaired hither immediately after the Resurrection in the 21 or 22. that is to say the last or last year saving one of Tiberius his Reign Christ being Crucified in his 20 th n Helvic Chron. whom Caligula succeeded Regning three years and ten Months And â— Claudius after him thirteen years and eight months And n Helvic Chron. Nero after Claudius another thirteen years and eight months And St. Peter's arrival at Rome is not so much as pretended by them of Rome to be before the second year of Claudius which yet Protestants can never grant finding him in those years to be in Palestine and Papists can never prove but that he came to Rome about the 12 or 13 year of Nero they have tradition more favourable for them and more reconcilable to his other abodes and Martyrdom It is consequent here upon that the Christian Faith was in Brittain before St. Peter ever came to Rome for as many years as are between the latter end of Tiberius and the second of Claudius in their own account that is for about seven years and in the account of all others for as much time as Intervenes between the end of Tiberius and the 12 or 13 year of Nero that is that the Church of Brittain is manifestly Senior and Ancienter in the Faith than the Church of Rome by thirty years complete
Regions are parted from neighbouring Kingdoms by impervious Mountains and wild and inhospitable deserts or whether it were that the Ink then in use was Bloud and their best evidences and Records flames and Martyrdom Nevertheless the acknowledged increase of Religion over all the Land in King Lucius his time will attest the zeal and fidelity of this Age to their Principles when it shall appear from the Epistle of Eleutherius that Christian Religion is pre-supposed therein to be settled in this Land before and the King pre-instructed in it And the c Usher p. 141. great Vsher Marshalls about 20 or 30 Authors both Foreign and Domestick to confute and stop the mouths of some ignorant suggestions as if Religion had fail'd or expir'd in this Land between the time of its first planting and Dioclesians persecution For the third Age Origen and Tertullian early Fathers mention Religion to flourish here the one writing about the year 201. Brittannorum in accessa Romanis loca Christo vero subdita That Christ was received as Lord here where the Romans had much ado to enter the other that they were united to Christ in Brittain though divided from the rest by situation And Dioclesians persecution in the beginning of the fourth Age about the Year 303. largely proves the existence of the Christian Faith in this Land which it so fiercely endeavour'd totally to suppress but to little effect Yea to the more corroborating of Christianity here by the exemplary constancy of Martyrs St. Alban and Amphibalus and Julius and Aaron c. establishing it the more by their sufferings and d Bed lib. c. 7. Converting their Executioners with their invincible meekness and patience And occasioning its larger extent and the full Conversion of the Scots dwelling then in the Northwest of Scotland beyond Dunbritton Frith by the Brittish Culdees e Buchanan Rerum Scoticarum Regit ◠p. 122. Spotswood Hist lib. 1. retiring to those parts as Archbishop Spotswood and Buchanan acknowledge the Providential benefit from whose Cells the Ancient Scots denominated their Churches Who in after Ages were extruded saith the same Author e Buchanan Rerum Scoticarum Regit ◠p. 122. Spotswood Hist lib. 1. by a new sort of Popish Monks Tanto Doctrinâ pictate illis inferiores so much coming short of the other for Learning and Piety as they exceeded them in Riches and Ceremonies wherewith they affect mens Senses and infatuate their minds In the Year 313. when peace was restor'd by Constantine they begin saith Gildas f Gildas Epist to Re-build their Churches demolished to the ground and her exil'd Children dissipated into Corners gather themselves together into the bosom of the Church to Celebrate their Festivals and Triumphs over their Enemies to give God the Glory and to attend his Sacraments with pure heart and mind In the following year the Church being in good order we find the three Archbishops of Brittain taking their places and subscribing in the great Councel of Arles in France Eborius Ivor Arch-Bishop of York Restitutus Edrud Archbishop of London and Adelfius Brawdol Archbishop of Caerleon upon Vsk a Roman Colony where a Legion in the Brittish Leon kept their Garrison corruptly set down in the Council with several other places h Concil Arelat Edit Reg Paris Civitate Colonia Londinensium where an uniform Celebration of Easter was agreed upon and thereupon Constantine i Constantini Epist apud Spelm. Conc. p. 4. with good reason assures all the Orthodox Bishops that were not present at the Council of Nice which was held eleven Years before that of Arles that the Church of Brittain with others did agree with the rest of the World in the Orthodox observation of Easter In 347. in a Councel of about 400 Western Bishops we find the Bishops of Brittain to joyn in the Condemnation of the Arrian Heresie and the clearing of k Apol. 2. Athanasius as himself doth testifie About the Year 390. l Usher 787 St. Chrysostom likewise magnifies the Divine power of Christ from the Holy Faith and Life the Churches and Altars in Brittain as it were in another World In the latter end of this Age m Gildas Epist Maximus in this Island making for the Roman Empire exhausted the Nation of all its Fighting men and Arms and Treasure wherewith he Coped with two Emperours Gratian and Valentinian driving the one out of Rome the other out of his Life and leaving the Nation weak and open to the Incursion of its Enemies round about but made far more weak by Gods desertion upon the follies and ill life of Vortigern inviting the Saxons into his pay against the Scots and Picts and prefering the Beauty of Hengist's Daughter before his Faith and Countrey and his Christian Subjects after his example inter-marrying with the Saxon Infidells which was one o Ubbo Emmius Rerum Frisic Hist lib. 3. of the reasons brought over St. German and Lupus to disswade them from such wickedness but all in vain till God gave them and their Countrey over to be barbarously and mercilessly destroyed by their perfidious mercenaries Confederating with their enemies against them who were before too strong for them in their weakness yet God in his mercy rais'd them pious and Couragious Princes Aurelius Ambrosius and Vter Pendragon and the Renowned Arthur who by the strength of a Christian p Ubbo Emmius Rerum Frisic Hist lib. 3. League enter'd into with Picts and Scots made great slaughter upon the Infidels and subdued and chas'd them out of the Land And what further proves not only the continuation but the true temper and life of the Christian Faith amongst them our Brittains were zealous and successful to preach and plant the Gospel amongst their Enemies and Invaders As the most Reverend and Holy Bishop Ninian as Beda stiles him lib. 3. c. 4. about the year 412. Converted by his Preaching the Southern Picts dwelling then between the Frith of Edenburgh and the Hills having his See amongst his own Countreymen at Whitern or Candida Casa translated afterwards to Glasgow that Territory r Usher p. 663. from Dunbritton Firth down to Cumberland remaining then in the possession of the Ancient Brittains and the names of Rivers and Towns and Mountains are as Brittish as in the heart of Wales In the Year 432. the great St. Patrick a Brittain born whether about St. Davids in ſ Humph. Lhuid Frag. Britt p. 63. Wales as some say or at Kirpatrick t Usher p. 819 near Dunbritton as others will have it it matters not much the people and Language in the one place and in the other being then of the same Brittains whence he was stollen with about an hundred more by Irish Pirates and sold for a Slave whereby he had time to learn their Language and was enabled by God to Captivate the whole Nation to Christ both Princes and people and the Isle of ſ Hist Ch. Scot. lib. 1. Spotswood ascribes the
Popes exclusion must be acknowledged to commence with Henry the Eight Executing divers Wills at once His Own will apparently or as his Enemy say his lust the presumptive Will of Henry the Seventh the longing Will of groaning Brittain and the foretold Will and providence of God whose Divine Will and Power alone could make it possible to be effected against all human probability And the favour and frown of God upon this Nation followes remarkably its disposition towards Popery either for or against it The entrance and re-entrance whereof was ever fatal to Brittain and inauspicious to our lawful Princes Popery came first in as was observ'd when our Brittish Crown began to decline in 600. and when it recover'd in 1500. went soon out as it is observable further that then our Nation most flourished in Glory and Renown and addition to its Territory when our Princes were most watchful and resolute against Romish encroachments and as soon began to moulder into confusion and contempt and loss of strength when ever they began to connive and fall in love with Rome Who more Magnificent than King Henry the 8th who gave the first fatal blow to the Popes Supremacy in England which never could recover from that time to this Some say the Title of Majesty began to be given to our Kings in his time which was highnâ—ss or Grace before for he from first to last was indeed more like an Emperour of the West in his time than King of England Francis of France a Hall 24. H. 8. fo 207. acknowledg'd his own and his children's liberty to be chiefly his favour and b Idem paid 20000 l. per annum tribute to him for his Kingdom and its defence c Idem Charles the fifth his Nephew was made King of Spain in his Mothers life time being an Inheritrix and also Emperour after that by his means and interest which could not be denyed d Idem The Pope Imprison'd in Castel St. Angelo could never get his liberty till he interposed with Purse and men King Edward the Sixth though his Reign was short as that God in him let England see saith one what a blessing sin and Iniquity would not suffer it to enjoy yet Historians observe his victory against the Scots at Musckleborrow to have been obtain'd the same day that Images were pulled down at London by his injunction Queen Mary went against fate with great trouble to her self and People and the loss of Callice which broke her heart Queen Elizabeth who was Sincere and zealous to the utmost in the defence of our Brittish Liberties against Rome what Prince his Reign from Brute was here more glorious and successful with Peace at home and victories abroad and an Addition of Forreign Colonies to her Territories and a free Trade over all or most part of the World who lives more to this day in all English hearts of all ranks and degrees as the example and measure they pray and wish all their Princes to follow to the like honour and blessing from God and their people Who had more the purses of her people or better heads and hearts and Arms at Her command and service Her Divines were Jewels Hookers Whittakers Her Courtiers Sidnyes Her Commanders Veres Drakes Norrices Rawleighs Her States-men Walsingham's and Cecils and Her Merchants Cresham's Cloughs c. our debauch Gentry and frantick Wits whose souls are too narrow and pusilanimous to bear their fortunes without transport had been clapt up in Bedlam in her days for Lunaticks and our envyed Courtezans who are said to blind our Princes and disturb our Counsels and touch our dignities and consecrations and pollute our land would have been then preferr'd to Bridewell e 1 Cor. 5.5 for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. Her own Epitaph best shewes Gods blessing on Her sincere Reign Religio Reformata Pax fundata c. Religion Reform'd Peace settled Money recovered to its own value a formidable Navy prepar'd Our Naval honour restor'd Rebellion extinct England for 40 years prudently Govern'd Enrich'd and Fortified Scotland deliver'd from the French France relieved the low Countrys supported Spain curb'd Ireland appeas'd the whole World once and again sail'd round King James whose heart was deep met with troubles and dangers near his first entrance f Tortura Torti p. 190. Apologizers for the Powder Plot taxing him of breach of some promise of tolaration as a Provocation who reign'd however after he began to appeare but with his Pen in earnest for Protestantism in more peace and love to him and his till he ran Counter to that Profession and the Brittanick Stars and fate in his eager Ambition after Romish Matches the Pandora's box of all our evils ever since and as cold an Espousall of the Protestant Interest in the Palatinate His glorious Son had the fate of King Oswald to lose his life and three Kingdoms by the faults of others and to gain Heaven and Immortal honour by his own Innocence and vertue For it is too much to be fear'd if events may be read in their causes that Edgehill and Newbery and Maston Moore c. bloody fights and the ruin of our late Soveraign and the Exile and troubles of his children and the soyling of our restoration fell out in the days of Gondomar in our own days we might have observ'd invincible Fleets the security and glory of our Nation strangely defeated with Mists and divided Counsels Emblemes as well as blasts of dark designs God who seeth in secret disappointing openly what was contriv'd in private Conclaves against his will and attesting his displeasure by unparallel'd judgements signs and disasters Fire Plague Comets c. So that to prosper and be victorious Courage and preparations are not more necessary than sincerity and plain-dealing And to make use of a Congruous instance in an Enemy Oliver Cromwell who had here a very jarring ruffled Government to tune and order during his Usurpation the Loyal party not to be won over to him either by feare or love his own betrayed and deceived several times over yet when all parts failed by acting a Protector of the Reformed Churches against Popery especially those abroad and harping upon that string the children of this world being wiser in their Generations than the children of the Kingdom he gave that strange content to the Body of the Nation that he lull'd them into sleep and trust and too much forgetfulness of their Exil'd Princes whom he kept out all his time and made the greatest States and Monarchs of Europe unworthily desert them likewise and stand in fear of him and brought wealth besides and great trading to the Nation and strength to its Navies and additions to its Territories As if Providence had raised him on purpose to upbraid and chastize our errours about the Britannick Fate and Interest himself being discovered likewise to be of that extraction which he disgraced
your Kingdom you may select holy and blameless Laws which may be enacted and supported not by any Forreign but your own Authority who are Gods Vicar in your Kingdom and represent his power to your People But not a word about Lucius his Baptism or the Nations conversion which it rather plainly pre-supposes Nor was it unbeseeming in a first Christian King much less the forfeiture of the Liberties of his Brittish Church and Kingdom forever to ask the advice of Neighbouring Churches or such excellent Christians as the Popes of Rome in those times were about the settlement and Government of the Church in his Dominion and the answer and the event do shew there was no such danger for the Popes answer is Protestant and Orthodox that the King is Christs Vicar in his Kingdom and the head of the Church which he may well Govern with his own Authority without depending upon Forreign provided he took along the Law of God and the opinion of his sages for his Rule and help the advice to be theirs the Acts of Governing to be his own which with the present Church of Rome is unsound and Heretical Doctrine for it 's the Land that moves with some and not themselves when they are sailing from it And it appears by event the Popes did never intermeddle in the Government of this Church or State yea that they were such strangers to us all along to the time of Pope Gregory who sent Austine hither that by his questions and clinches about the English he met at Rome in the Market Angli Angeli Deira Dei ira King Elle Halelujah it appears whether we were Pagans or Christians here in Brittain he did not very well know but some Papists are grown willing of late to relinquish this part of their pretence and to allow this Epistle to be counterfeit because so contrary to their present Doctrines and seditious principles more than for the considerable reasons Sir H. Spelman layes down against it which Mr. Prynne takes upon him to disallow and answer to severally but the other part of the story though thus crack'd in credit that Lucius was Baptiz'd together with all the Land by Eleutherius his Emissaries must stand nevertheless which yet is wholly improbable and contrary to all sense and reason for the Brittish Church in Augustines time was found so uniformly unlike in all its rites and customs to the Roman if the Roman observations in the time of Augustine and Eleutherius were the same that one may easily believe that the fair Nothern Nations are so many Colonies of Blackamoores as believe Brittain to be regenerated by the Baptism of Rome to which Mother it held so little resemblance in any of its Ecclesiastical features For one of the main points in difference between the Brittains and Austine we find in Bede lib. 2. c. 2. was about their Ceremonies of Baptism then that known and lasting difference and contention about Easter and their abstinence on Wednesdays and Frydays not on Saturday as was and is observ'd at Rome against the sense and Custom of the Catholick Church there being as little Conformity between this Church and that in the heads and guides as well as the whole body of the People in the former rites Our Deacons varying from them in point of tonsure our Priests and Bishops in that of Marriage our Arch-Bishops in the Characteristicall Badge and livery of the Pall which these Churches never fetch'd or wore in token of compliance or dependance on that Church as shall be further proved in every particular out of their own or better Authors so that they may be justly ashamed as much of the Second part of this lye and pretence touching the Baptism of our King and Kingdom as they are of the first touching the Epistle where by the way it may be observ'd with abhorrence and detestation what unworthy Arts and Methods this holy Roman-Catholick Church makes no conscience to use to compass its Unchristian Ambition and Supremacy over Kingdoms and Nations where it can find the least colour or occasion what lyes they scruple not to Father upon all manner of men the living and the dead even on their best Popes and the Apostles and the Virgin Mary and Christ and God himself so their Carnals ends and Grandeur may be advanced thereby and what forgeries and falsehoods have they not foisted into all manner of books and Records and Histories to promote their Dominion hook or by crook particularly into our Brittish in the time of Ignorance and their Kingdom of darkness extending once to all parts and Persons Geoffrey of Monmouth affirming that that he did not compile but only Translate into Latine his History out of a Brittish Manuscript which Gualter Arch-Deacon of Oxford brought over hither from little Brittain whereas that Gualter attests likewise in the close of that very book that he Translated a A mysi Cualter Archiagon Rydychen a droes y Llyfr hwn or Lladin yn gymraâ—g I Walter Arch-Deacon of Oxford Translated this out of Latine into Welsh Histor Brittan Galfr'd Monm M. S. Cambro Brit. the same out of Latine into the Brittish tongue by which device the Enemies of the Glory of our Brittish Church and Nation have to the wrong of the first and to help on their vain Supremacy by any Art or shift shuffled in this passage touching Lucius into ours as the other touching Constantine into other Histories that both were Baptized by Popes Eleutherius and Silvester by all means because the one the first Christian King the other the first Christian Emperour and both brag 's equally true as likewise that Dubritius Arch-Bishop of Caerleon in King Arthurs time was Apostolicae sedis legatus not unlike another of their fictions of the Popes sending the Pall to St. Patrick to make him Arch-Bishop of Ireland under Rome though a Pall in Ireland was never heard off till the time b Cambrens Topograph Hiber C. 17. of Malachias Anno. 1152 and to the diminution of the Second clogg'd the Archievements of the great and Religious King Arthur with their unworthy Legends and Fables as with a designe that the one with the other might in time be of equal credit which hath induc'd some blind to lead the blind to believe there was no such King In so much that Buchanan well knowing and seeing the contrary in the Records of his own Nation could not forbear to make a digression on purpose to vindicate his name and story which in other c Ubbo Emmius Rer. frisic Hist lib. 3. Nations concerned in that History is acknowled'd as well as in the Scottish and our own in a just indignation against the underminers of the fame of so great a Hero d Buchanan Rer. Scotic lib. 5. Reg. 45. p. 151. But some light and occasion perhaps they had for their Monkish Invention in that very probably Lucius was Baptized by one from Rome viz. e Usher cap. 3. p. 31. seq Timotheus
attended but with one Clerk or two at the most and after a little refection he hastened presently away to read to his Disciples or to his private prayers after whose pattern and example in that time all devout men and women every where made it a Custom to fast every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year till three a clock afternoon except the 50 dayes between Easter and Whitsontide He never spared for fear or honour to reprove the Rich when ever they did amiss but corrected them especially with great severity He never us'd to give away Money or presents to the Rich and Great in this World but only a kind entertainment when ever they came to visit him but what ever such bestowed upon him he soon imployed it either for relief of the Poor or redemtion of Captives admitting them his Scholars and Disciples whom he so redeemed and fitting them by his pains and Instructions for the Priestly dignity Not a word of Vests and Ornaments or Palls or Crucifixes or Holy Water or Indulgencies or toyes or lyes or Prophetick Murders for they were no Roman-Catholicks but only good Brittish Christians The Right Pictures of Gildas who loved best and truest when they were most troublesom to offenders being lively Instances to guess at this distance at the spirit and efficacy of St. Patrick's Ministry upon the Ancient Irish and Scotch by the Apostolical stamp of such self-denial and contempt of this present World in their hearts and affections out of love to Christ and that to come This worthy Bishop Aidan as his name imports in the Brittish and Holy King Oswald were the Chief Authors and Instruments under God of the Conversion of the English to the Christian Faith over all the Land not only in Northumberland where they Reigned and resided but over the rest of the English Heptarchies by their Influence and good example for Oswald did not only the part of a King in the first Invitation and continual encouragement maintenance Protection of those men of God but bore a great share with them in their Ministry for as Aidan delivered Gods mind in his Doctrine and Preaching so h Bede l. 3. c. 3. 6. l. 3. c. 5. Oswald out of great zeal and humility to the better edification of his Subjects vouchsafed in his Royal Apparel to be his Clerk or Deacon interpreting Aidan's mind to the People wherein he was defective or unready for want of more skill in the tongue and which gave the greatest life of all to his endeavours exemplifying all his precepts by a leading conversation and holiness of life and largeness of Alms and charity hardly to be parallel'd parting with his meat out of his mouth with his dinner set before him to his poor Christian Subjects without that Aidan once wishing this unwearied Arm and liberal hand of his might never fail but be ever supplied by God with heart and substance for it gave occasion to Monkish Historians of the superstitious Letter wherein Bede himself was no mean proficient i Bede lib 3. c. 6. to fain and believe that his arm never rotted or decayed in the Grave forgetting or taking in the better to frame the Legend those Posts or Town Gates whereon King Penda hanged it For as by the Grace of God he exceeded all other Kings in Religion and vertue so in Gods just and unsearchable judgements he no less out went them in the disaster of his end being conquered in Battel by Penda King of Mercia his Enemy who quartered and hang'd up his head and arms for scorn and terrour to all about of which direful end of so good a Christian no conjecture can be made out of Bede of the cause but from the place of the Fathers murders and the Sons sufferings for Bede saith he was kill'd at a place call'd by the English k Math. Westm Marels-feild Bede lib 3. c. 12. Hen. Huntingdon Mesa-feild Locus conterminus Walliae Armonicae 7 millibus a civitate Schrowsbury versus Walliam Monastic Anglic. pars 1. p. 38. Maser-feild not expressing where it lay but Heaven-feild the place he Conquered and killed Cadwalhan about 46 years before Cadwalhan dyed by rearing the Cross he assigns to be about the Picts wall in the North But most probably the place of his Cross and Death was one and the same As Cambden more rightly guesses by several Circumstances to which I have particular reason to add one for at Oswestree where Oswald was kill'd by Penda thence called Oswaldsstree and in the Brittish Croâ—s Oswalht or Oswalds-Cross is to be found Cae-Nef as it is called to this day or Heaven-feild in the English which I have often gone over adjoyning near to the feilds where the ruins of Oswald's Chapel remain by a Well l Ibid. called Ffynnon-Capel-Oswalht where the late Noble Lord Capel drawing his Forces in a body was answered touching the place in my hearing that it was called Cae-Capel or Capel-feild by that famous and strong Warriour Mark Trevor Viscount Dungannon bred and born there and there abouts whom Cromwel had ever a great honour for being the only man that wounded and worsted him in the face of his Brigades which never had been known because concealed by his Armour but by Cromwel's own Ingenious Confession and kindness towards him for his Valour after the Loyal party was reduc'd as I have heard his Royal Highness relate the Story in publick Within 8 or 9 Miles of this place stands Bangor-îs-y coed whose Religious Monkes were so barbarously Murthered by his Father Ethelfred in such numbers as before By the Ministry of Aidan the m Bede lib. 3. c. 3. 6. M. Westmin A. 635. Nullus incredulus tempore Oswaldi in Northumbriâ Idem A. 634. whole Province of York this side Scotland and its English Inhabitants was restor'd to the Brittish Church that is the two Provinces of Bernicia and Deira as that Metropolitan See was divided into were entirely converted such as needed n Usher p. 1004. Bernicia containing in it Eastward the whole County of Northumberland and part of Durham On the West the North-Cumbrian Kingdom erected by the Brittains between the Rivers Derwen and the Friths upon the ruines of the Northumbrian n Usher p. 1004. And Deira the other part comprehending the Counties of York and Westmerland and Lancashire and the South part of Cumberland below Derwen Cheshire about this time being in great part within the Principality of Powys and Brochwael Scythrawg its Prince residing at West-chester as other times at Shrewsbury and there assaulted by King Ethelfred Bede lib. 2. A goodly part of the English Nation especially if we add thereunto the large Kingdom of Mercia where all the English according to Bede lib. 3. were Converted and brought up in the Faith by Finan a who was Discipulus Nennii Bannachorensis Cestriâ Elapsi Nennius his Disciple who escap'd from Chester saith Pitzeus but according to Bede both he and Diuma the other
the most considerable Saxon Kingdoms the Church of Rome had not the least Hand or pretence in their first Conversion though some of its bold seducers will not stick to affirm the English in general had no Christian Faith before Luthers time but what they received Originally from Rome and count them no less than Hereticks for adhering to the Religion of their Fathers which they undoubtedly received through Brittish Teachers from the Apostles which to deny were either great Impudence in such as know this to be true or great Ignorance in such as know it not But it is not however much to be wondered at in them for as Christ's mind and the truth with Christians so the mind of the Pope and the Interest of the Church of Rome with Roman-Catholicks is the rule and measure of their Conscience and affection and their Affirmations and the Eternal standard of good and evil verity an falsity with them incurably while Roman-Catholicks And why the men of that perswasion may not depose any thing in Tribunals against their light and private knowledge of the Truth for the Interest of their Church or at the Catholick suggestion of their guides why not sweare or conspire to any thing in point of Fact as well as believe any thing in point of Faith out of Implicit obedience to Superiours against the dictates of their conscience and the Truth which with them is but a private Spirit not to be followed against the other without danger I cannot see any reason to the contrary but the Roman-Catholick Hypothesis may well beare the consequence and Improvement provided all be carried on with a Lacedemonian skill and wariness with whom stealing was no Crime but to those alone that were caught in the Fact Hitherto we have recounted those Counties in England about 26 or 27 in number with the great City of London touching which the Church of Rome hath nothing to object or upraid the Inhabitants in their Progenitors in the least with any derivation of their first Faith from them and consequently not the least Imputation of Ingratitude or Disobedience or Schism to fasten on them in that respect any more than on the Ancient Brittains themselves Next I will instance in those Provinces wherein they have some pretence and colour out of Bede to insist on somthing to say for themselves and their title of Superiority whether it hold good or not both in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons which was a considerable Territory and in the three other of East-Angles South-Saxons and Kent more inconsiderable in comparison that it may appear to all how that somthing is meer nothing as some of their kind and learned favourers have observ'd and in part confessed For their title over the West-Saxon-Kingdom and the Counties that did belong f Usher 394. thereunto Surrey Southampton Berks Wilts Dorset Somerset Devon Cornwall they alledge that the first Christian King thereof Kinigilsus was converted to the Faith by Roman Ministry by Birinus by name sent thither from Pope Honorius and ordain'd Bishop at Genua It is answer'd this Conversion came to nothing and were it true and Regular and with the leave and liking of the Bishops of this Province yet it ended with that King and with Birinus who left no successor g Bede lib. 3. c. 7. 27. The succeeding King Kenwalch refusing his Fathers Faith was Converted afterwards by the means of Anna King of the East-Angles whither he was driven out of his Kingdom by Penda who saith Polydor g Bede lib. 3. c. 7. 27. satis constat it s sufficiently manifest were of the same Province and Kingdom with the East-Saxons though sometimes govern'd by two several Kings and London was the Royal City and Metropolis of both Nations Kenwalch's Conversion therefore falling out in a Brittish Oswaldian See cannot be well ascribed to Rome Besides Agilbert the first Bishop he used for his Instruction is stil'd by Bede g Bede lib. 3. c. 7. 27. Pontifex ex Hibernia a Bishop out of Ireland though of French descent for there he studied several years and learn't that Divinity which he preach'd to Kenwalch which was Brittish Doctrine by consequence Where it is observable by the way how the greatest Clergy of France for Agilbert afterwards was Archbishop of Paris came over hither to our Britttish Isles to Study Divinity And Wini h polyd Virg. lib. 4 p. 71. who was afterwards made a Partner with him in his Diocess was not from Rome but from h polyd Virg. lib. 4 p. 71. France with whom the Brittish Church held fair Communion as with Ireland i Brittish Bishops and Doctors Famous in France were Apud Usher Mellon first Archbishop of Roan p. 145. Mansuetus first Bishop of Toul in Lorraign p 747. St Winocus p. 1147. St. Winwalocus p 464. St. Leonorius cum 72 discipulis p. 1012. Faustus Reiensis p. 424. Paulus Leonensis p. 558. Sampson Maglorius and Maclovius Archbishops of Dole p. 73 75. Alcumus Rabamus Maurus c. sending to as well as receiving Teachers from them Besides the passage about Birinus is suspicious and Legend-like in several Circumstances and making much against them For it doth not mention what Countrey he was of which never could be known as k W. Malmesbury lib. 2. de Episc Occiden Saxon p. 137. Malmesbury notes besides King l Bede lib. 3. c. 7. Oswald being Recorded to have been at the same time a Suiter for Kinigils Daughter and Godfather to his Faither-in Law at his Baptism It looks not as Improbable that his Conversion was brought about as of most of the Saxon Kings by the zeal and Industry of King Oswald who else was too pious to have that value for Heathen Allyanee And therefore our Birinus might well be an Erinach or a Loegrian-Brittain How else if a Forreigner could he preach and instruct the King who understood nought but English unless King Oswald was a Gospel-Interpreter between them as well in the South as he used in the North and so in effect a Royal Preacher of it to the English from one end of the Land to the other and the tale of Birinus his Italian Ordination looks like the other lusty Affirmation of Bede that makes way for his feates in that Church who in contradiction to himself as well as the truth represents the West Saxons at his arrival amongst them to be l Bede lib. 3. c. 7. Paganissimos altogether Heathenish whereas most of those Counties and some to this day were Ancient Brittish Christians who had Bishops preserv'd amongst them from the time of King Lucius and the Christian Faith from the Resurrestion and the Landing of Joseph of Arimathaea in their Territory besides that the first power of the Saxons over those Counties was through Treaty and Allyance for mutual assistance between Kerdick and Mordred as afore and not by force and Conquest and their confirmation in it by King Arthur with particular
Articles for the perpetual preservation of the Christian Faith amongst them besides the union and Intermarriadges of Saxons and Brittains in this Territory especially as elsewhere whereby the Brittains in withholding the Gospel from them as they are unjustly traduc'd did but withhold it from their own flesh and bloud so that the English Loegrian Brittains of these eight West-Saxon Counties may and ought with a good Conscience account themselves members of the old Brittish Church if they will as the other 26 Counties must whether they will or not As for the three remaining Heptarchyes which were not so large and considerable as the other four either that of the East-Angles m Usher p. 394. which contain'd the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Ely and Cambridge or the other of the South Saxons which contain'd m Usher p. 394. Sussex and part of Surry with the Isle of Wight or Kent which was the first seat of the Aliens whereof the two first were gain'd together with the East-Saxon Heptarchy dolo non ferro as Malmsbury n lib. 2. de Episc Lond. words it the last by Carnal Lure that is in the Dialect of modern Christianity not much inferiour to their Heathenism one by Pimping and the other three by Trepanning of King Vortigern whom they well knew to be an Usurper as well as dissolute Neither were the generality of the former Inhabitants thereupon all put to the Sword immediatly but accepted for Tributaries to their new Masters in all probability and serviceable perhaps thereby to their Salvation yet it is to be examined how far the English in these Counties owe their first Faith and subjection to Rome after the Archbishoprick of London wherein they stood was recovered without any long Intermission to the Brittish Church If it be alleadged that Eorpwald Son of Redwald King of the East-Angles either Father or Son or both were won over to Christianity by the means of Edwin King of Northumberland and the Romish Ministry of Kent It appears out of the same Bede o Bede l. 2. c. 15. that both Conversions ended with their persons without any erection or succession of Bishops in that Territory the one revolting to Heathenism at the perswasion of his Wife or which was far worse serving Christ and Satan at the same Altar and Eorpwald shortly after his Baptism killed by one of his own Countrey and kindred and the Kingdom lying in its old Idolatry till his Brother Sigebert succeeded in the Throne who was not Converted by the means of Rome but p Ibid. in France where he lived in exile in his Brothers time and when upon his return he was desirous to make his people partaker of the same Christian Faith We find him in Bede assisted q Ibid. by Felix a Frenchman and r Idem l. 3. c. 19. Furseus a Noble man from Ireland both Nations fairly agreeing in Communion with the Brittish Church The one being made the Bishop of the East-Angles but ordained and Consecrated in Burgundy whence he came He is said to call one Honorius then Archbishop of Canterbury and to acquaint him with his desire to Preach the Gospel who sent him to these parts neither with Ordination nor guift of Tongues nor any other token of Dependance the King himself being his Patron who probably had been the Kings old acquaintance if not his Ghostly Father and first Converter And the chiefest assistance towards the good of the people that he is particulariz'd to give King Sigebert is about the ordering of his Å¿ Bede l. 3. c. 18. School for young Children after the manner he observed in France And his successor Thomas Diaconus sent by the same Honorius after the Decease of Felix was de Girviorum or †Usher 1027. Jarrow in the North part of Aidan's plantation under King Oswald in whose time not u M. Westm An. 605· one Infidel in those parts was left unconverted In whom or him that was next Bishop the Roman Race and succession must needs have given place to Brittish Ordination how else could it be true that in x Bede l. 3. 28. Wini Bishop of Winton's time who was contemporary Bede should affirm there was no other Bishop besides him throughout this Isle of Brittain that was not of Brittish Ordination as we often have occasion to urge But the Conversion of the body of the people is chiefly and deservedly attributed to y Idem l. 3. c. 19 20. Furseus and his Companions who first founded a Monastery in the Countrey called Knobhersburgh for a Nursery to his Ministry and an example to the people of Mortification and contempt of this present World which was then their usual method in the first planting of the Gospel whose main end is to bring this World with all its pompes and self ends more out of request with men and the life to come more in view and value This St. Furseus for his quality and extraction z Bede lib. 3. c. 19. Erat de Nobilissimo genere Scotorum He was of the Princely bloud of the Scotch or Irish who with Bede are one and the same People but for his temper and education he was more noble in mind than bloud brought up to learning and sanctity from his Infancy famed far and near for his Preaching and holy living his vertues and miracles and visions He first comes from Ireland to the Brittains a lib. 3. c â—7 from them to to the East-Angels and to the Leogrian-Brittains left amongst them ill supplied with Ministers for it is observable upon Monk Augustine's arrival it was the British b Clerici vero sacerdotes mucronibus undique micantibus ac Flammis omnes simul in exterminium pelluntur tunc Archiproesul Theonus Londonnensis Thadioc Eboracensis c Math. Westm ad An. 586. Clergy their Priests and Bishops more than their Laity that with fire and Sword were hunted and driven into Wales and not left there unpursued And being honourably received by King Sigebert he fell to his wonted work of preaching the Gospel for the Irish were no strangers about this time to the English tongue as neither the English to the Irish who us'd high and low Nobiles mediocres to flock from England to c Bede l. 3. c. 27. Ireland to be instructed in the Scriptures and strict way of living c Bede l. 3. c. 27. where it cost them nothing for Instructions or Books or Diet And brought numbers of Infidels to embrace the Christian Faith or conforted and confirm'd those that had believed already by the example of his life and the power of his Doctrine leaving his Brother Foilan with other Monks and Ministers to continue what he began the whole Teritory being afterwards reduc'd and Conquered by the Kings of Mercia whose Religion we have known before to be wholly Brittish as opposed to the Roman Neither are the descendants of South-Saxons in Sussex or Surrey or the Isle of
force And as Satanical injections refus'd are the Devils guilt but the Christians merit who was buffeted with them to his grief when he could not help Of the like nature especially as to the violence were their Roman missions and Consecrations in this Land wherewith our Brittish Church was needlessly troubled and molested at the entrance of Theodore and his Canterbury Successors for it may well be said that our Brittish Clergy had alwayes thâ—ir own Sees and Prelates in reason and right although actually and forcibly Invaded and possess'd for a time against Law and Canons by Romish Tyrants who when they ordained here ordain'd not in their own but in the right of the true Owners and rightful Governours as their Deputies by fiction because of Gods permission Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13.1 Which right was conveighed down to the Ordained while the guilt and Irregularity of the Action stuck solely to the Conscience of the usurping Ordainer and to no other that was worthy to be ordain'd for which the one must account one day to their sorrow while the others temporary embasement and seeming bastardy Ecclesiastical which they could not help shall be repair'd to their relief and joy And yet in this life a Church restor'd hath the Rights and Priviledges of a Kingdom restor'd which hath and takes the power and liberty to allow or disallow reject or Legitimate enact or abrogate whatever Proceedings have pass'd in publick in the time of Vsurpation And such legitimation and allowance is founded upon the Authority of the rightful Governour coming in and not on any merit of the unrighteous Usurper turning out which makes patience commendable under any slavery or oppression though it continue 7 20 100 500 or 1000 years rather than to extricate it self by any indirect or ungodly means which in Rome is little scrupled at for God is not to be offended nor Faith and Conscience violated to save life or liberty which is more than life or Ecclesiastical liberty which is the greatest of liberties For no evil is to be done by a Christian that good may come thereof Rom. 3.8 For the Innocence of his Soul is a more substantial eternal prosperity than any Outside deliverance whatsoever The body being but a shadow to the Soul and this life but a minute to that come 2 Cor. 4 ult But to return of our own accord to that Spiritual Captivity from whence we were so happily delivered in Gods time and Counsel and by lawful means were to justifie and approve the wrongful slavery of our Ancestors and Posterity together with our own against the Spirit and honour and trust and the common sense and understanding of men and Christians and English Brittains to sell our selves for naught and spit back Gods merciful deliverances into his face SECTION XI Of the Indirect Methods of Rome in Subjugating this and other Churches under it ANd the unworthy methods of their Intrusion and prevalence over our Brittish Church which all that profess Christianity but Roman-Catholicks would abhore and be asham'd of are as manifest as the usurpation it self over us and others 1. By giving away Kingdoms from the right owners to those that had Swords in their hands to force and win them upon the termes and condition the Pope might be considered for polluting the name of Christ and Religion to countenance such injustice So the Pope and Monk Augustine got their first footing in Canterbury by the help of the prevailing Saxons Augustinus quod Dinothus persensit praetextu fidei gentem advenam alieno confirmavit imperio ut suam jurisdictionem Romanam dilataret saith one a Antiq. Eccles p. 9. Augustine the Monk as Abbot Dunawd well perceived made use of Religion to Invest and settle a Foreign Nation in a Territory that was not their own to promote and enlarge the better their own Ecclesiastical b Wheeloc note in Bede c. 2. l. 2. Supremacy by that means So have they ruin'd the Eastern Churches and expos'd them to the Turk about 140. years after by giving Charlemagne the Western Empire from its Constantinopolitan Proprietors to be their Patron and deliverer from Lombards and Exarchs so have they befool'd the Spanish Ambition all along setting him on the like designes with 88. Till their Monarchy is quite tyr'd and Jaded and endanger'd to be master'd by their less Catholick Neighbours and more Christian 2. By Politick Matches and unequal yokes and Apostates rais'd within our own Bowels by the operation of preferments and honours upon men of pride and parts as Balak converted the Prophet Balaam and by slighting and traducing the least mote in other Churches as Damnable Haeresie and maintaining their own grossest errours for Apostolical Infallibities And hard it is to define the time when this method hath been out of use and fashon in that Church these thousand years And by this stratagem they re-invaded the English-Brittish Church after its breaches were repair'd by Oswald For a match being contriv'd between his c Monastic Angl. part 1. p. 333. Bastard Brother and Successor or rather Usurper King Oswi who was not so sound a Christian at the heart as appears by his putting his d Bed l. 3. c. 14. 24. Kinsman and Neighbour King Oswin to death amidst submission and holding the Kingdom from his lawful Nephew and e Idem c. 15. Eanfled Sister of King Edwin Baptiz'd by Paulinus the new Romish Archbishop of York as his first fruits in the North She by her share in Oswi's Bed and Throne became useful and instrumental to preserve and keep alive some Relliques of her Romish Faith expiring in those parts in Cadwalhan's dayes countenancing under hand f Ibid. Romanus and Johannes Diaconus as her Chaplains and sending g Idem l. 5. c. 20. Wilfrid observing his ambitious parts from the Brittish Lindisfarn Monastery where he imbib'd his first principles to Canterbury and Rome to study the point of Easter and to be young Alchfrids Tutor Oswi's Son and to be able to perplex the Brittish Doctors at the point as it afterwards fell out at the Synod and debate at Streanshall or Whitby wherein King h Oswi ita conclusit quia hic Ostiarius est cui ego contradicere nolo ne forte me adveniente ad sores Regni Caelorum non sit qui reserat c. Bede lib. 3. c. 25. Oswi being afore tun'd into a superstitious veneration of St. Peters Keyes which are said to be kept at Rome openly declared in the close of the disputation that he counted it his best wisdom and security to side with St. Peter whom Wilfrid confidently made to be the Author of his new-stile or Golden Number for which he strove than with St. John from whom the Brittains deriv'd their old least St. Peter should turn the h Oswi ita conclusit quia hic Ostiarius est cui ego contradicere nolo ne forte me adveniente ad sores Regni Caelorum non sit qui reserat c.
shall through the mercy of God be again recover'd and repair'd to its former state yea into a better condition than before And the fam'd g Dr. Davies Preface to Welsh Grammar for part thereof Taliessin to the same effect about the year 580. Which for several considerations are believed to come to pass in Henry 7th not only by others but by himself as may be conjectur'd from his Order h Powel Annot. in cap. 3. Descriptionis Cambriae Giraldi and Commission to the Heralds in Wales to give account of his Pedigree from the said King Cadwaladr and his designe to revive the name and memory of the renowned Arthur King of Brittain to the great joy of our own and the terrour i Hall 1 Henry 7. f. 5. of Foreign Nations saith an English Writer In him the Union of the Roses and in the Provident Marriage of his Daughter Margaret to James the fourth of Scotland from whom our King James descended the Vnion of the Kingdoms and the old Name of Great-Brittain early Commenc'd as it were in its causes In his time the several persons first appear'd who before they went off were the causes or great occasions of our Reformation or the Restoration of our Brittish Church to follow that of the Crown In his time and by his Order Catherine of Castile Prince Arthurs Dowager was design'd Wife for the second Brother by which Incestuous Marriage confirm'd by the Pope for k Antiquitates Eccles p. 316. a round sum both he and his Successors lost their credit and Supremacy in England ever afterwards It was his provident husbandry rais'd a Purse for Henry 8th to effect this change In his time was l Idem p 309 Fox Bishop of Winchester a Promoter of that Incestuous Match who by his favour thereby first Introduc'd Wolsey m Ibid into Court in whom Popery received its mortal wound both in Effigie as it were and in the Cause He being both the lively Type and Image of Rome and her Religion for pompous vain glory and pride and falshood and luxury and likewise the main cause of her fall and ruine through the match aforesaid which he first contriv'd to be scrupled n Idem p. 316. for other ends and his Romish Legatine power o Idem p. 325. which brought him and the whole Popish Clergy involv'd in the same guilt of Praemunire to the mercy of the King and to renounce the Pope and to acknowledge him for the head of the Church in his stead In his time to instance in more direct and positive causes and first glimmerings of our Reformation Dr. p Idem 306. Collet Founder of St. Pauls School q Pitzeus 691. where W. Lilly was his first Schoolmaster whose father was twice Lord Mayor of London appear'd zealous in his Divinity Lectures at Oxford for Scripture and Antiquity against Images and Legends and the two great Authority r Antiq. Eccles 306. of Scotus and Aquinas and the Schoolmen the great Pillars of Popery being followed in his Principles ſ Ibid. by Dr. Warner and others in that of Cambridge and especially in Court and City for his eloquent Sermons to the same effect And though Articled against as an Heretick †Ibid. Pitzeus 693. by Fitz James then Bishop of London yet King Henry the Seventh esteemed him before any other Let others chuse what Doctor they list u Antiq. Eccles 307. I am best pleased with Doctor Colet was that wise Kings saying whereby it is inferrible that the one being a Protestant in his Principles and tendency the other could be no less by his Approbation For all great Actions have smal beginnings like other things and are not in their perfection the first instant The first Alienation of Henry the Eight from depending so much on the Popes judgement and Authority to follow that of his own Clergy and Universities together with the judgement of others in Points and Cases of Religion and Conscience and particularly that of his mariadge is observ'd to be wrought by x Ibid. Cranmer afterwards Arch-Bishop at Waltham whither he retired from Cambridge where he read Divinity after the steps and Principles of y p. 323. Ibid. p. 331. Colet and Warner that went before so that if Cranmer who enlightened and Converted Henry the Eight had his first light from Colet the first motion and beginning of the Reformation must in all reason be referr'd to the time of Colet and Henry the Seventh for then I say Scripture and Fathers began to be regarded and followed before Schoolmen and Legends which is the nature and design of Protestancy And the instinct hath continued to our days amongst the learned who are restless till this Church become wholy Primitive and Apostolical and Orientall in its Doctrines and Discipline and Customs such as our Brittish Church before the mixtures of Popery appears from Records to have ever been In his time in a word it might be said Aspice venturo laetentur ut Omnia Saeclo The Nation had a manifest new Date and Epocha in respect of Church and Laws and Tenures and Fines and the Alteration of interests amongst all degrees Commons and Nobles as well as the Union of all Royal blouds and the end of former Wars and Divisions and the beginning and fair hopes of more blessed days in his time the Crown and Scepter of Brittain began after long shiverings to have its first rest as in its proper Centre from the time it was wrested from the right owners for it never rested with the Saxons who soon to quarrel about their prey being divided into seven or eight Kingdoms or Heptarchies in perpetual Wars and Jarrs with one another for about 270 years till the West-Saxon Kingdom where the Loegrian-Brittains were best us'd swallowed all the rest under King Egbert and Alured The Dane being upon their heels without above 9 years respite to swallow them The Norman afterwards swallowing both in one day and they soon after divided into bloudy Wars between Kings and Barons and especially the long contest between the two houses of York and Lancaster which never could be extinguished till Henry the Seventh and the right and Ancient owners or the Brittish line was found uppermost The Restoration of the Brittish Religion hastening after that of its Monarchy as it were by providential fate and consequence for where else better to fix the beginning of our Reformation as it is generally stil'd is hard to calculate To make those conspicious events and Audible stirrs that first accompanied it in the World by which the vulgar that are led by sence are most guided the standard of its Originals were to begin at the streame and not at the spring to place it in the visible alteration it self made by Laws in Parliament against Bulls and Palls and Supremacies and Appeals in 22.23 24. Henry Eight by which Popery in England was quite knocked in the head were to