same maner obserued it And this obseruation that you maye not thinke it a light matter or easely to be reiected is the selfe same which S. Iohn the Euangelist the disciple whom Iesus specially loued with all the churches vnder him obserued These and such like wordes when bishop Colman had spoken the kinge commaunded Agilbert the bishop to speake his minde also and to bringe forthe the beginning and author of his maner of obseruing Easter vnto whom Agilbert answered Let I besâ—che you my scholer VVilfrid priest speake herein for me For we and all that here sitt be of one minde and obserue herein the ecclesiasticall tradition vniformly Beside he shal better expresse to your highnes the whole matter speaking him selfe the english tounge then I shall be able vsing an interpreter Then VVilfrid the kinge commaunding him spake in this wise The Easter which we obserue we haue sene in like maner to haue ben obserued at Rome where the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule liued and preached suffred and are buried This maner we haue sene to be obserued in all Italy and Fraunce passing through those countres partly for study partly on pilgrimage This maner we knowe to be obserued in Afrike in Asia in Aegypt in Grece and through out all nations and tounges of all the worlde where the church of Christ taketh place after the self same order and time beside only these fewe and other of like obstinacy the Pictes I meane and the Britons with whom these men from the two fardermost Ilondes of the OceaÌ„ sea and yet not all that neither do fondly contend against the whole worlde Here Colmanus the bishop interrupted and saied I maruail much you terme our doing a fond contention wherein we folow the example of so worthy an Apostle who only leaued vpon our Lordes brest and whose life and behauiour all the worlde accompteth to haue ben most wise and discrete Vnto whom Wilfrid answered and saied God forbid we shuld charge S. Iohn with fondnesse or lacke of wit For he in his obseruation kept yet the decrees of Moyses lawe literally according as the whole church folowed yet in many thinges the Iuish maner for why The Apostles were not able vpon the soden to blotte out all customes and rites of the lawe instituted of God him selfe as all that come to the faith must of necessite abandonne Idols inuented of the diuell And this forsothe they were forced to beare a time withall lest the Iewes which liued amonge the gentils might be offended For in the like consideration also S. Paul did circumcide Timothe offred bloudsacrifices in the temple shaued his head at Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla truly to no other intent but that the Iewes might not be offended Vpon this consideration Iames saied vnto Paule You see brother how many thousandes of the Iewes haue receiued the faith and all these are yet zelous folowers of the lawe Notwithstanding the light of the ghospell now shining through out the worlde it is not nowe necessary no it is not lawfull now for any Christen man to be circumcided or to offer vp bloudy sacrifices of bestes S. Iohn therefore according to the custome of the lawe in the fourtenth daie of the first moneth at the euening began to celebrat the feste of Easter not regarding whether it fell out the Sabaoth daie or any other fery of the weke But S. Peter preaching the gospell at Rome remembring that our Lorde arose the first daye after the Sabbaoth geuing thereby to vs certain and assured hope of our resurrection he vnderstode the obseruation of Easter in such sorte that according to the custome and commaundements of the lawe he looked for euen as S. Iohn did the rising of the Moone at euening in the fourtenth day of his aage in the first moneth And at the rising thereof at euening if the morow after were Sonday which then was called the first day after the Sabboth he began in that very euening to obserue the feste of Easter as all we do euen to this daye beginning on Easter eue But if Sonday were not the next morow after the fourtenth day of the chaunge of the Moone but the sixtenth seuenteth or any other daye of the Moone vntell the one and twentith he taryed for the Sonday and the Saterday before vppon the euening he began the most holy solemnite of Easter Thus it came to passe that Easter sonday was kept only either the fiftenth day of the chaunge of the Moone in the first moneth or the one and twentith or in some daye betwene as the sonday fell and no daye elles Neither dothe this new obseruation of the ghospell and of the Apostles breake the olde lawe but rather fulfill it For in the lawe it is commaunded that the passeouer shoulde be solemnised from the euening of the xiiij daye of the chaunge of the moone of the first moneth vntel the xxj daye of the same moone Whiche obseruation all the successours of S. Iohn in Asia after his death and the whole vniuersall church through out the whole worlde hath embraced and folowed Againe it was by the Nicene councell not newly decreed but confirmed as the ecclesiasticall history witnesseth that this is the true obseruation of Easter and of all Christen men after this accompt to be celebrated Whereby it is clere my Lord ColmaÌ„ that you neither folowe the example of S. Iohn as you suppose neither of S. Peter whose tradition wittingly you withstande nor the law nor the ghospel in the obseruation of your Easter For S. Iohn obseruing the Easter time according to the lawes of Moyses passed not vpon the Sonday as you do which kepe your Easter allwaies vpon a Sonday Againe S. Peter celebrated the Easter vpon the Sonday from the fiftenth daye of the chaunge of the moone vntell the xxj daye whiche you folow not which kepe it so vpon the Sonday that you reaken from the xiiij daie of the chaunge vnto the xx So that oftentimes you beginne your Easter in the xiij daie of the change at euening which neither the olde lawe obserued neither Christ in eating his passeouer and instituting that moste holy Sacrament in remembraunce of his passion vsed but on the xiiij daie Againe the xxj daye of the moone which the lawe expressely commaunded you do vtterly exclude from the celebrating of your Easter Thus as I said in the obseruation of that most excelleÌ„t festiuite you neither agree with S. Iohn neither with S. Peter neither with the law neither with the gospel To these Bishopp Colman replied and saied How thinke ye Did Anatholius that holy man and so much commended in the ecclesiasticall history before of you alleaged thinke or teache contrary to the lawe and the ghospell writing that Easter ought to be obserued from the xiiij daie of the moone vnto the xx Is it to be thought that our moste Reuerend Father Columba and his
commendeth sayinge The vij daye shal be more solemne and hollye and no seruil wooâ—ke shal be done from morninge to eueninge no man can iustly reproue vs and say we kepe not the Ester soundaye which we toke of the gospel in the third weke of the first moneth apointed by the lawe as we shuld do Now theÌ„ seing the general cause which the Catholiques alleage for the obseruing of this feast of Easter is plainly set before your eyes the vnreasonable errour of those which rashly presume to passe or preueÌ„t with out any force of necessitie the time apointed in the lawe is manifest for al men to espye For they anticipate and preuent the time appointed in the lawe without any force of necessity which thinke that Easter day must be kepte from the xiiij moone of the firste moneth to the xx of the same For whereas they begynne the eue of that holy feast from the eueninge of the xiij it appereth that they appointe that day in the beginninge of their Easter wherof they finde no meÌ„tion in the law And whereas they refuse to kepe the Easter soundaye the xxj daye in it appereth truly that they exclude vtterly from their solemnity that day which the law coÌ„maundeth to be obserued and had in memory with ioy and mirth aboue al other And so they end their Easter after a peruerse ordre keping it somtimes altogether in the seconde weeke but neuer in the vij day of the third weeke Againe they which thinke they shuld kepe Easter from the xvj day of the saide moneth to the xxij day roue farre wide from the truth and runne though an other waie yet as farre out of the waie as the other did falling as the common prouerbe sayth in to the greate gulff and swalloing sandes of Charibdis while they seeke to escape the dangerous straites of Scilla For wheras they teach that we shulde beginne frgm the rising of the xvj moone of the first moneth that is from the eueninge of the xv day it is manifest that they vtterly seclude from their solemnity the xiiij day of the same moneth which the law doth principally and before the rest commend so that they scarse come to the eueninge at all of the xv day in the which the people of God were deliuered out of the bondage of Aegipt in the which our sauiour Christ delyuered the worlde from synne by sheding his precious blud in the which he being buried put vs in comfort and hope of resurrection and aeternall rest after deathe And these men by occasion of their former errour falling in to an other in punishment of the first whereas sometimes they kepe their Easter in the xxii day of the saied moneth they do expressely passe the bondes of Easter commaunded in the lawe For in the euening of that day they beginne their Easter in which euening they ought by the lawe cleane to haue ended and finished their Easter Againe by this meanes they make that day the first daye of Easter which in the lawe is not mentioned at all to wit the first day of the fourth weeke And both these sortes of men are deceaued not only in counting the age of the moone but also in finding out of the first moneth The debating of which matter is more tedious and loÌ„g then that either it can or may be coÌ„prised in an epistle Only this I say that the time being ones certainly knoweÌ„ wheÌ„ the day is as long as the night and the night as the day at the spring time of the yere it may infallibly be fouÌ„de which ought to be the first moneth of the yere after the accoÌ„ptâ— of the moon and which ought to be the last In the spring the day is as longe as the night and so the night as long as the day after the opinion of all lerned men in the East and specially of the Aegiptians which beare the price for calculation before all other Astronomers the xii calendes of Aprill as we also haue had experience by triall of the dyall Whatsoeuer moone therfor is at ful befor the day and night be of one leÌ„ght being xiiii or xv dayes olde that mone pertaineth to the last moneth the yere befor and therfor is not meet or conuenient for the feast of Easter But that mone which is at full either after the day and night be of one and equal lenght or in the very pointe of that equalitie in that doubtlesse because it is the full moone of the first moneth we must vnderstand that the olde auÌ„cients wer wount to kepe Easter and that we ought to kepe ours in leeke manner when the Sondaie cometh That it shuld be so this reason semeth somwhat to enforce In Genesis it is written that God made ii great lights the greater to rule the day and the lesser ouer the night or as some other translation hath the greater light was made to begynne the day and the lesser to beginne the night Therfore as at the first begin ning the son rising from the full middest of the East made by that his rising the equalite of day and night in the beginning of the yere and as the moone in the very first day of the worlde the son going downe folowed also at the full rising in the midst of the East so euery yere in leeke manner the first moneth of the moone must be obserued after the same rate so that she be not at the full before the day and night be of one length but either on the very same day as it was at the first creating of the worlde or when it is paste For if the ful mone go but one day befor the day and night be of one length the former reason proueth manifestly that the same mone must not be ascribed to the firste moneth of the yere but rather to the laste of the yere that is past and for that consideration not meete nor conuenient for the solemnisinge of Easter daye Els in one yere we should haue ij Easters Now if it like yow to heare also the mysticall reason hereof this it is In the firste moneth of the yere which is called mensis nouorum that is the moneth of new springe we are commaunded to kepe the feaste of Ester because our hartes and mindes being renewed toward the loue of heauenly thinges we ought to celebrate and honour the mysteries of Christes resurrection and our redemption We are coÌ„maunded to keepe the third weeke of the same moneth first because Christ him self promised vnto vs before the lawe and in the time of the lawe came in the thirde age off the worlde in the time of grace and was made our Easter and passeouer Secondarely becawse he risinge from deathe the third daye after his bitter passion vpon the crosse woulde haue that daye to be called the daye of our Lorde and all Christen men to kepe the feast of Easter yearly the very same day in honour of his glorious
was Oswy his brother keping the kingdome almost within equall boundes for a certaine time But after he cōquered for the most part the Pictes and Scotte mē which dwelled in the North quarters of Britāny and made thē tributarie But we wil speak of that here after King Elbert died the 24. day of February the 2. yere after that he had receiued the faith being ful past and is layde in S. Martins porch within the church of the blessed Apostels Peter and Paul wher also Quene Bertha is buried Which king beside other his deades that he boūtefully bestowed vpō his subiectes gaue and appointed them by the coūsel of wise mē certaine lawes and iudicial decrees according to thexāple of the Romans which being writē in the English tōgue are vntil this day kept of thē and as occasiō serueth practised In which his lawes and decrees he first and chiefly ordeined what amends he ought to make which had by thefte taken away anie thinge from the churches bishops or other orders Wherein the king prouided a safegard aud surtie for them whom and whose doctrine he had now receiued This Elbert was the son of Irminrike whose father was Octa and Octaes father Orrich called also Oiske Of whom the kinges of kēt are wont to be called Oiskinges This Orriches fathers name was Hengist who with his Oiske being sent for of Vortiger first entred into Britannie as I haue shewed before But after the death of Elbert when Eadbald his sonne had taken on him the rule of the royalme he greately hindered and dammaged there the younge springes and tender encreases of the churche For he would not only not accept and mainteyne the faith of Christ but he was also polluted and defiled with suche a fornication as the Apostle witnesseth neuer to haue ben heard of amongest the gentils which is that he had married his fathers wife With which ij heynouse factes he gaue occasion to his subiectes to returne to their former filthe and vomit which vnder his fathers raigne or for fauour or feare of the king had yelded to the lawes of Christen faith and chastite But the scourges of God and vengaunce from heauen wanted not to the punishing and correcting of this vnfaithfull kinge For he was plaged with often frensy of minde and raging fury of an vncleane sprite Nowe besides all this the death also of king Sabareth king of the Este Saxons muche encreased the trouble and persecution of the churche Who departing hence to the euerlasting kingdome of heauen left his iij. sonnes remaining yet paynims heyres of his temporall kingdome in earth After the death of their father they began straightwaie and openly to folowe idolatrie which while their father liued they semed somewhat to haue relented geuing also free licence to al their subiects to worship idols These princes on a certaine time when they sawe the bisshop in the churche after he had celebrated the solemnites of the masse geaue the people the sacrament being puffed vpp with barbarouse and rude folie saide as the common reporte is thus vnto him Why doest thou not geaue vs also some of that white breade which thou diddest geue our father Saba for so they were wont to call their father Sabareth and which thou doest not yet cease to geaue the people in the churche To whome he answered Yf ye wil be washed in that holsome font wherein your father was ye maye likewise eate of this blessed breade whereof he was partakener But if ye contemne the lauetorie of life ye can in no wise taste the breade of life We will not said they enter into this font of water for we knowe we haue no nede thereof But yet neuertheles we will eate of that breade And when they had ben often and ernestly warned off the bishop that it could not be that without holy purging and clensing by baptisme any man might communicate of this most holie oblation they at last in their furie and rage sayde to the bishop well if thou wilt not consent to vs in so smalle a matter as we aske of the thou shalt not hensforth abide in our prouince and dominions And straightway they expelled him Commaunding him and all his companie to depart their royalme Who being expelled thence went into kent to common there with Laurence and Iustus his fellow bishops what were best to be done in this case And by cōmon consent it was concluded that better it were for them all to returne into their countries and there to serue God with a free minde and quiet conscience then to abide with those barbarouse men or liue amongest such rebelles of the faith without all fruit or profit Therfore Mellite and Iustus departed first and came to the coastes of Fraunce purposing there to expecte and attende for the issue of these matters So shortly after these kinges which had driuen from them this preacher of trueth fell freely to idolatrie and worshipping of diuells But yet not without the vengeance of God For on a time waging battaile against the Genissans they with their whole armie were slaine But although the authors of this misscheffe were thus destroied yet could not the common people ons stirred to naughtynes be amended and reuoked to the simplicite of faith and charite which is in Christ. How Lawrence chastened by S. Peter conuerted king Edbald to Christe who immediatly after called backe Mellite and Iustus to preache The. 6. Chap. WHen Laurence was now ready to forsake Britannie and goe after Mellite and Iustus he commaunded the night before he went his bed to be brought forth and layed in S. Peter and Paules churche of which churche we haue oftentimes spoken Where when after manie his praiers and teares powred out to God for the state of the church reposing his body to rest and sleaping in his bedde the blessed Apostle S. Peter appeared to him who scourging him with sharp stripes a greate while in the close and secret night chalenged him with Apostolicall auctorite and asked why he would forsake the flocke which he himselfe had committed vnto him and to what shepeherd renning now awaye he would leaue the sheape of Christe besette in the middest of wolfes Hast thou quoth he forgotte myne example who for the lytle ones of Christe which he commended to me in witnes and token of his loue dyd suffer fetters strypes enprisoninges afflictions and att the laste death it selfe yea the death of the crosse by infidels and the enemies of Christe that I mought be crowned with him By these S. Peters strypes and with these his exhortations Lawrence the seruant of Iesus Christe being styrred vp and encouraged came boldly to the king erly in the morning and loosing his garment shewed him how sore he was beaten and pitifully his flesh was torne The king amased therat meruayled much with himselfe And enquyred who durst be so bold as to whyp and scourge such a man as this Lawrence
euening of that daye That is that the lambe should be offred when the moone is fiften dayes olde whiche fyftenth daye off the moone is the begynning of the third weke of the monthe And that it is the selfe same night of the xv daie of the moone in which God stroke the Aegiptians and deliuered the children of Israel it appeareth by that he saithe Seuen dayes ye shall eate sweete bred With which wordes also all the third weke of the first moneth is commaunded to be kept solemne and holye not only the first daye of the weke And that we shoulde not thinke those seuen dayes to be counted from the xiiij to the xx he added by and by The firste day there shall be no leauen bred in your houses VVhosoeuer shall eate in any of your houses any leauen bred his soule shall perishe out of the companye of Israel from the first day vntyll the vij c. Vntill he saith For in the same daye he saith after I will bring and conducte your hoste oute of the lande of Aegypte First of all then He called that the first day of sweete bred in the which he would conducte and bringe their hoste out of Aegipte But it is manifest that they were not delyuered oute of Aegipte the xiiij daye when the lambe was offred in the euening which night was properly called the passeouer but the xv daye as it is euidently written in the booke of numbers where we reade thus VVherefore when the children off Israel were gone from Ramesse the xv day of the firste monethe the nexte daye after they kepte the Passeouer with a myghty power Ergo the seuen dayes of swete bred in the first of the which seuen the children of God were deliuered oute of Aegipte must be counted as I said before from the beginning of the thirde weeke that is from the xv of the firste moneth to the xxj fully complete and ended Now that the xiiij daye is not numbred amongest these seuen wher Easter beginneth that which foloweth in Exodus doth euident declare Where after it was saied For in the vij daye I will delyuer thy hoste oute of the lande of Aegipte it was added streytwayes And you shall keape holy this daye from generation to generation after one perpetuall rite and ceremonye The xiiij daye off the first moneth at the euening you shall eate sweete bredd vntill the euening of the xxj in the same monethâ— Seuen dayes shall no leauen bred be founde in your houses Now who doth not plainly see that from the xiiij day to the xxj be nott only seuen dayes but also eight yf the xiiij day be reakoned for one But if we will counte from the euening of the xiiij daye to the euening of the xxi as the veritie of holy scripture diligently searched oute doth declare we shall well perceiue that the xiiij daye so beginneth the feast of Easter in the euening that all the whole weeke hath no more but vii dayes and vij nightes Wherefore our proposition is proued trew wherin we saied that Easter must be kepte in the first moneth of the yere and the thirde weeke of that moneth And that is in dede truly solemnised in the third weeke the solennite where of beginneth in the euening of the xiiij daye and is complete and ended in the euening of the xxj daye Now after that Christ our trewe paschall lambe was offred vpp in sacrifice and had made the Sondaie called amongest the auncient writers â—na vel prima sabbati one of the sabothe or firste of the sabothe solemne and holy to vs for ioye of his resurrection the tradition of the Apostles hath so put this Sounday in the feaste of Easter that they fully decreed nether to preuent the time of Easter in the olde lawe nor to diminishe any on daye but commaunded according to the precepte geuen in the lawe that the same first monethe of the yeare the same xiiij daye and the same eueninge should be expected and taried for In which euening when it fell vppon the saboth daye euery man should take a lambe according to their families and householdes and offer him vpp in sacrifice at the euening That is to saye all christian churches through out the whole world which all ioyned together maketh but one catholike church should prepare bred and wyne for the mysterie of the fleshe and precious bloud of that immaculate lambe which tooke awaye the synnes of the world and when all lessons prayers rites and ceremonies vsed in the solemne feast of Easter were done shoulde offer the same to god the father in hope of their redemption to come For this is the selffe same night that the people of Israell were deliuered oute of Aegypte by the bloude of the lambe This is the same night in whiche the people of God were delyuered from aeternall death by Christes glorious resurrection In the morning folowing being Sondaye the solemne feast of Easter should be celebrated For that is the day wherein our Sauiour opened the glory of his resurrection appearing diuers times in that one day to his disciples to their vnspeakeable comfort and ioye This is the first daye of the swete bread of the which clere mention is made in the Leuiticus wher we reade thus The xiiij daye of the first moneth at euening is our Lordes passeouer and the xv day of the same his soleÌ„ne feast of swete bred vij dayes shal ye eate sweete bred the firste daye shall be most solemne and holye Wherefore if it were possible that the soundaye might alwaies falle vppon the xv daye of the firste moneth that is to saye vpon the fifteneth day of the age of the moone we might celebrate and keepe the feaste of Easter alwaies at one time with the olde auncient people of god as we do in one faith albeit they differ from vs in the kinde of externall sacramentes But because the weeke dayes do not runne equally with the course off the moone the tradition of the Apostles preached at Rome by S. Peter and confirmed at Alexandria by the Euangelist Saint Marke his interpreter hath decreed that when the first moneth is come and the eueninge of the xiiij daye of the same the next sounday also should be expected and looked for from the xv day to the one and twentyth off the same monethe For in which so euer off those it shall be founde Easter shal be kept in the same And that because it appertaineth to the number of these vij daies in which the feast of sweete bred is commaunded to be kept Wherefore it cometh to passe that our Easter neuer passeth the thirde weeke of the thirde moneth nor ouer nor vnder but ether it hath the whole weke that is to say vij daies of sweet bred according to the old lawe or at the lest some of them If of all them it compryseth but one to witt the vij daie which the holy scripture so highlye
resurrection The thirde cawse is because we do then truely keepe this solemne feast if we endeuour to the vttermost of our power to make our passeouer that is to saye ower passage owte of this wordle to God the father with the triple knot of faith hope and charytie After theequalite of the daye and night we are commaunded yet to tary for the full moone of the moneth in which Easter falleth to thend that first the sonne may make the day longer then the night and afterward the moone also may appeare to the world in her full light to signifie vnto vs that the son of righteousnesse in whose beames is our saluation that is to sayour Lorde Iesus Christe by the victory and triumphe which he had in his resurrection hath ouercomed the darknesse of deathe and so ascendinge to heauen hath replenished his churche whiche is ofte signified by the moone with the inwarde light of his grace by sendinge downe the goly ghoste The which ordre of ower saluation the prophete beholdinge said Eleuatus est sol luna stetit in ordine sno The sonne is lyfted vppe and the moone stode in her ordre They therefore which contendeth that the full moone of the moneth in which Easter should fall may come before the Son maketh the daye and night of equall length as they disagree in the celebration of most high and greate misteries from the doctrine of holy scripture so they seme well to agree with them which trust to be saued with owt the preuenting grace of Christe Which in dede presume to teache that man myght haue had perfecte iustification though Christ the trewe lyght had neuer ouercomed the blyndnesse off the world with his painefull death and glorious resurrection To conclude therefore we about the equinoctiall springe when the day and night be of one length and when the full moone of the firste moneth orderly folowing the same that is to saye after the xiiij daye of the said moneth is fully expired the obseruation of all which tymes is commaunded in the lawe do expecte yet in that thirde weeke accordinge as in the ghospel we lerne the next Sonday folowing and then we keepe the solemne feaste of Ester And that to th ende we may testyfie by ower doings that we cellebrat not this solemnytie with the old fathers in remembraunce that the children off Israel had the harde yoke of bondage shaken from their neckes in Aegipte but that we woorshipp with deuoute faith and perfecte charitie the redemption of all the world prefigured in that deliuerance off gods old people owte of thrauldome and fully ended in Christes resurrection to th ende we may signifie that we reioyse in the assured hope of ower resurrection which we beleue shal be on the same Sonday also This accompte of Easter which we haue here declared vnto you to be folowed is comprised in the compasse of xix yeres which of late that is to saye in the Apostles time beganne to be obserued in the churche especially at Rome and Aegipte as I haue specified before But by the industry of Eusebius who of the blessed Martyr Pâ—amphilus hathe his surname it is more playnly and distinctly set in ordre So that where as before the bishop of Alexandria was wonte euery yeare to send abrod to euery particular church the true time of the Easter that yeare to be obserued now from hence forth the course of the full moone being brought in to this order and certainly tried out euery church by itselfe can finde it without failing This counte of Easter so distincted by Eusebius Theophilus bishop of Alexandria made to serue for one hundred yeres at the request of Theodosius the Emperour Cyril his successour made it for 95. yeres more comprising it in v. circles of the saied compasse of 19. yeares After whome Dionisius the yownger added as many circles in leeke ordre and style whiche reached euen to ouer tyme. The which now approching nigh to the date and terme prefixed there is nowe adayes such store of calculatours that in our churches through owte all England there be many which can by the olde preceptes of the Aegiptians which they haue lerned and committed to memory extende and drawe forthe the circle and course of Easter in to as many yeares as them listeth euen to the numbre of 532. yeares Which number of yeares being expired all that appertaineth to the course of the son moone moneth and weke returneth into the same ordre it did before The calculation or directory of which time we haue not at this present sent vnto you because demaunding only to be instructed of the reason and cause of this time of Easter it semeth you are allready informed of the time it selfe Hauing now hetherto brefly and compendiously spoken concerning the dew obseruation of Easter accordinge to yower highnesse requeste we exhorte you most humbly to prouide that your clergy haue the same tonsure which the church doth receiue and vse as most agreable to the Christian faith wherof you required also our letters We know right wel that the Apostles were not shauen all after one sorte Neither now the whole catholique church as it agreeth in one faith one hope and one charite towardes God so vseth also one and the self same order of tonsure Againe that we may consider the time befor vs to wit the time of the holy patriarches Iob a perfect patterne of patience when his tribulation and aduersite beganne shore his head Wherby we learne that in time of prosperity he was accustomed to lett his heare growe Yet Ioseph a trewe teacher and practiser of chastity humility piety and al other vertues is written to haue bene shauen when he came out of preson Wherby it appeareth that in prison for the tyme of his induraunce he was wounte to remaine with longe heare nor clipte nor shorne Lo here two vertuous and godly men who inwardly in hart and mind wer one shewed yet in outward behauiour some diuersite and contrariete But though we may boldly saye that the diuersite of ecclesiasticall tonsure hurteth nothing at all such as haue a pure faith in God and perfecte charitie towarde their neighbour especially seing we reade no controuersie betwene the catholike writers touching the differeÌ„ce and diuersitie of shauing as ther hathe bene for the celebration of Easter yet notwithstanding amongest all kynde off tonsures which we finde to haue ben vsed or in the church or vniuersally amongest all other men I may well saye that none is rather to be folowed and receaued of vs than the very same which he ware on his head to whom Christ saied after he had confessed him to be the sonne of God Thou arte Peter and vppon this rocke I will builde my churche and hell gates shall not preuaile against it To the will I geue the kayes of the kingdome of heauen And contrarywise we may well beleue that none is more to be abhorred and detested of all
successours vertuous and godly men who after the same maner kept their Easter either beleued or liued contrary to holy Scripture especially their holynesse being such that God hath confirmed it with miracles Truly as I doubt not but they were holy men so I wil not feare to folow allwaies their life maners and trade of discipline In good sothe quoth VVillfrid It is well knowen that Anatholius was a right holy man very well lerned and worthy of much praise But what is that to you who vary also from his decrees and doctrine For Anatholius in his Easter according to the truth accompted the vsuall compasse of xix yeres whiche you either vtterly are ignorant of or if ye know it yet though it be through all Christendom obserued ye sett light by it Againe thoughe he obserued the Easter Sonday sometime vpon the xiiij daye of the moone yet he accompted the same daye at euening to be the fiftenth of the chaunge after the accompt of the Aegyptians So vpon the xx daye he kept the Easter that at the sonne setting he reaconed it for the xxj Which his rule and distinction that ye be ignorant of it is manifest by this that same time ye kepe your Easter cleane before the full of the moone euen the xiij daye of the chaunge As touching your father Columba and those whiche folowed him whose holy steppes ye pretend to folow as the which haue ben confirmed by miracles to this I may answer that in the daye of iudgment whereas many shall saie vnto Christ that they haue prophecyed cast out diuells and wrought miracles in his name our Lord wil answer that he knoweth them not But God forbidd that I shoulde so iudge of your fathers For it is our duty of such as we knowe not to deme the best Therefore I deme not but they were men of God and acceptable in his sight as the whiche loued God though in rude simplicite yet withe a godly intention Neither do I thinke that the maner of their obseruation coulde be much preiudiciall against them as longe as they had yet receiued no instructions to the contrary But rather I verely suppose seing such cōmaundemēts of God as they knew they willingly folowed they would also haue conformed thēselues to the Catholik iudgemēt if they had ben so informed But nowe Sir you and your cōpanions if hearing the decrees of the Apostolike see or rather of the vniuersall church and that also confirmed in holy write you folow not the same you offend and sinne herein vndoubtedly For though your fathers were holy mē could yet those few of one so smal corner of the vttermost ilond of the earth preiudicat the whole church of Christ dispersed through the vniuersall worlde And if your father Columba yea and our father if he were the true seruaunt of Christe were holye and mightye in miracles yet can he by any meanes be preferred to the moste blessed prince of the Apostles to whom our Lorde sayed Thou arte Peter and vppon this rocke I will builde my churche and hell gates shall neuer preuaile against her and to thee I will geue the kayes off the kingdome of heauen Thus when VVilfrid concluded the kinge saied vnto bishop Colman Were these thinges in dede spoken to Peter of our Lorde To whom the bishop answered yea Can you then saieth the kinge geue euidence of so speciall authoritie geuen to your father Columba The bishop answering No the kinge spake vnto bothe parties and sayed Agree ye bothe in this without any controuersy that these wordes were principally spoken vnto Peter and that vnto him the kayes of the kingdome of heauen were geuen When bothe had answered yea the kinge concluded and saied Then I saye vnto you that I will not gainsaie such a porter as this is but as farre as I knowe and am able I will couet all pointes to obey his ordinaunces lest perhaps when I come to the dores of the kingdome of heauen I finde none to open vnto me hauing his displeasure whiche is so clerely proued to beare the kayes thereof Thus when the kinge had sayed all that sate and stode by of all sortes and degrees abandonning their former vnperfectenesse confourmed them selues to the better instructions whiche they had nowe lerned How bishop Colman being ouercomed retourned home and Tuda succeded in the bishopricke Also what trade of life those gouernours of the church lead The. 26. Chap. THe controuersy being thus ended and the assemble dissolued bishop Agilbert returned home Bishop Colman also seing his doctrine and secte reprouued taking with him such as would folow him that is such as refused to accept the Catholike obseruation of Easter and the bearing of a rounde shauen crowne for of that matter also much disputation then was had returned vnto Scotland minding to deliberat there with his countremen what to folow herein Bisshop Cedda forsaking the Scottes embraced the catholike tradition and returned to his bishoprick This controuersie was moued in the yeare of our Lorde 664. in the 22. yeare of kinge Oswin and in the xxx yeare after the Scottes had ben bisshops ouer the englishmen For Aidan gouuerned the churche 17. yeares Finanus ten and Colman thre After the departure of Colman in to his countre Tuda was sett bishop ouer the Northumberlandmen instructed and created bishop amonge the South Scottes bearing after the maner of that countre a rounde shauen crowne and obseruing the Easter after the Catholike maner He was a man of great vertu and holynesse but he gouuerned the church a small time For he came out of Scotland whiles Colman was yet bishop teaching bothe in worde and with example diligently the true faith in Christ. In holy Ilond at the departure of the Scottes Eata a reuerend father and most meke person was made Abbat ouer the rest of the monkes which remained Who before had ben Abbat of Mailros at the suite of bishop Colman obtaining it of kinge Oswin at his departure bicause the same Eata had ben one of the xij scholers of bishop Aidan which at his first coming in to England he brought vp For this bishop Colman was derely loued of kinge Oswin for his rare wisedome and vertu This Eata not longe after was made bishop of holy Ilond Bishop Colman at his departing toke with him certain of the bones off bishop Aidan Part also he lefte in the church which he was bishop of laying them vp in the vestry thereof But how sparefull personnes he and his predecessours were and how greatly they absteined from all pleasures euen the place where he bare rule did witnesse In the whiche at their departure fewe houses were founde beside the church that is to saye those houses only without the which ciuill conuersation could no wise be maintained They had no mony but cattaill For if they tooke anye mony of riche men by and by they gaue it to poore people Neither was it nedefull that either mony
prepared holy vessels lightes and other necessaries appertaining to the better furniture and adorninge of the church of God Againe he sent for a cunning Musician named Mabam which was taught by the successours of Pope Gregory his schollars in Canterbury to teach him and his clergy to tune and singe For the which purpose he kept him xij yeares to the ende he might partly teach them certaine verses and songes of the church which they could not yet singe partly by his singular conninge bringe in vre againe suche songes and tunes as for lacke of vse had ben quite and cleane forgotten For bishop Acca him selfe was a very cunninge Musician wel lerned in holy scripture sounde and perfect in the Catholique faith expert and skilfull in all orders rules and disciplines of the churche and so continued vntil it pleased God to rewarde him for his good zeale and deuotion He was brought vp froÌ„ a childe in the most holy and vertuous prelate Bosa his clergy then bishop of yorke and afterward comminge to VVilfride vppon hope of some better lerning spent all his time in his seruice vntil deathe arrested him He went with him also to Rome and lerned many holy and necessary ordinaunces of the church which he could not attaine vnto in his own countrye How Abbot Ceolfride sent to the kinge of Pictes or Redshankes cunninge carpenters and workemen to builde him a churche and an epistle with all touchinge the Catholique celebration of the feast of Easter and after what maner priests and religious men should be shaâ—en The. 22. Chapter THE same time Naitane kinge of the Pictes which inhabit the Northe coaste of Britanny admonished by often meditation of holy scripture abandonned the errour which he and al his country had longe kept touching the keping of Easter and brought him selfe and al his subiectes to the catholike solemnising and dewe obseruation of the time of Christes resurrection Which that he might bring to passe with lesse difficulty and more authority he required ayde of the Englishmen whome he knewe to haue framed their religion after the counterpaine and example of the holy church of Rome and sea Apostolike For he sent ambassadoures to that Reuerend father Ceolfride Abbot of the monastery dedicated to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule situated at the mouthe of the ryuer Were and not farre from the riuer Tyne in a place called Ingiruum where he ruled with great honour and admiration next after Benedict of whome we haue made mention before desyringe to receiue from him some earnest and forceable exhortation both to persuade him self and also to confute all other which wold presume to keape the fest of easter after their owne fansye and custome and not according to the ordinaunce of Christes churche He requested farder to haue instructions by his letters what maner of tonsure the clergy should vse Notwithstandinge he was partly already informed in many points requisite for that purpose With all he desired to haue some conninge and expert woork men to builde him a churche of great stone accordinge to the manner of building in Rome promising to dedicat the same in the honour of sainct Peter head and cheif of the apostles and to folowe euermore with all his wholle realme the ordre and fasshion of the churche of Rome and see Apostolique so farre forthe as men not knowing the Romayns tounge and farre distant from them might attaine to the knowledg thereof Vpon sight of these letters Ceolfride muche tendring his godly purpose and intent sent him such cunnyng and expert artificers as he required and withall letters indighted as it foloweth To the right honourable and moste renouned Prince Naitane Ceolfride Abbat sendeth greting in our Lorde The Catholik obseruation of holy Easter wherein you desire to be instructed right godly and renowned Prince we haue gladly and diligeÌ„ly endeuoured to set forth vnto you in these presents according as of the See Apostolique we haue our selues ben informed and taught Of whiche your zeale we thanke highly allmighty God knowing well that when princes and Lordes of the earth do employ their study to lerne to teache and to obserue the truth it is a singular benefit and speciall gift of God geuen vnto his Churche And most truly spake a heathen philosopher saying that the worlde should then be happy when either kinges embraced philosoply or els philosophers might beare the Soueraynte Now if by the philosophy of this world knowleadg of the worlde might be hadd where by the worlde might be beloued how much the more ought such as are cityzens of the heauenly countre aboue and but straungers in this worlde desire labour and with all meanes possible be suppliantes to God that the higher power and charge they beare in this world the more they applie them selues to harken after and vnderstande the will and pleasure of that highe Iudge which iudgeth all and bothe them selues obey gladly the same and moue also all other committed vnto their charge by their example and authoryte to fulfill and perfourme the same To come therefore to the matter wherein you require to be instructed you shall vnderstande we haue in holy scripture iij rules sett forthe vnto vs by the which the true and iust time of solemnising the feast of Easter is appointed which by no authorite of man can be chaunged Of the which rules two were taught by God in the lawe of Moyses the third is ioyned in the ghospell by the effecte off Christes passion and resurrection For the lawe off Moyses commaunded that in the first moneth of the yeare and in the third weke of that moneth that is from the fiftenth daye vntell the one and twentith Easter should be kept And it was added by the institution of the Apostles out of the ghospell that in the same third weke we should tary for the Sonday and in it celebrat our Easter This triple rule if a man diligently note and obserue he shall neuer misse in the cownte of Easter But if it be yower pleasure to haue euery particular poynte more pitthely and largely declared it is written in Exodus where the people of Israel ar commaunded to kepe the feast of Easter when they shulde be deliuered owte of Aegipte that God said to Moyses and Aaron This moneth shal be vnto yowe the begynninge of all monethes and cheafest in the hole yere Speake to all the children of Israel and tell them The x. day of this moneth lett euerye man take a lambe accordinge to their familiee and howseholde And a litle after he saith And you shall kepe him vntill the xiiij day of the same moneth And all the whole multitude of Israel shall offer the same vp in sacrifice at the euening By the which wordes it is euideÌ„t that in the obseruation of Easter though the fourtenth day of the first moneth be mentioned yet it is not so mentioned that on that day Easter should be kept but in the