which must reporte the faith first planted amongevs shal be no story of our owne deuising no late compiled matter where bothe for vncertainte of thinges so longe paste we might be much to seke and for the case of controuersies now moued partialite might iustly be suspected but it shal be an history writen in the fresh remeÌ„braunce of our first Apostles writen aboue 800. yeres past writen of a right lerned and holy Father of Christes churche of a countreman of oures liuing and flourishing shortly after the faith so planted amonge vs. Of the Author of this History and of the matter thereof we shall presently speake if we first admonish thee gentle Reader that touching the treatise to fortifie this faith and therefore called A Fortresse of the faith first planted among vs englishmen c and coÌ„cerning al that therin shall be treated you take the paines to readethe IntroductioÌ„ or first chapter therof In it you shal see what the whole coÌ„taineth what is of you to be looked for and of me to be perfourmed Touching the Author of this History he was a countremaÌ„ of oures borne in the Northe countre by Weimouth not farre froÌ„ DyrrhaÌ„ He flourished in the yere 730. He was a maÌ„ of great lerning and vertu much reuereÌ„ced not only at home but also through out al ChristendoÌ„ eueÌ„ in his life time and much more after his death Of his rare lerning and knowleadg his writinges yett extant are a clere and sufficient testimony The protestants of Basill haue of late yeares sett forthe his whole workes now extant in eight tomes contayning four great volumes In them it appeareth that S. Bede was a man vniuersally sene in all good lerning as well of humanite and philosophie as of diuinite expert off the tounges ready in holy scriptures perfectly conuersant in the olde fathers He was so great a folower of S. Augustin the worthyest piller of the churche sence the Apostles time that his commentaries vpon holy Scriptures bothe of the olde and newe Testament are allmost worde for worde out of S. Augustin He was so diligent a reader of that lerned Father that whereas in the wordes of S. Augustin no perpetuall commentary vpon the epistles of S. Paule being extant and yet that worthy Fathers in diuers places of his lerned workes hauing by occasion touched and expounded euery text of those epistles Venerable Bede for the great profit of his posterite as a man borne to edifie Christes Church hath so gathered those scattered places out of the mayne sea off S. Augustins workes that placing them in order and facion he made a iust and full commentary vpon all the epistles of S. Paul with S. Augustins owne wordes noting to the reader allwaies the booke and chapter of S. Augustin from whence he had taken those places This worke is intituled Collectanea Bedae In which worthy worke we may doubte whom to maruaile more at or commend S. Augustin which had so ofte in his workes treated of S. Paul and omitted no one senteÌ„ce vnexpounded or S. Bede which so gathered into a iust commentary the sayinges of S. Augustin meaning no such thinge As S. Bede was a great writer so he was a continuall preacher His homelies yet extant do testifie made not only vpon the ghospells and epistles of the Sondaies through out the yeare but also vpon the festiuall daies of Saintes They are to be read in the seuenth tome of his workes These homilies of his were so highly estemed that as Trithemius reporteth they were openly read in churches while he yet lyued through out our countre Euen as we reade of holy Ephrem that lerned deacon of Edessa that his writinges also were openly read in churches next after holy scripture After his death they were receiued of other partes of Christendom Fraunce especially as Platin noteth and are to this daye read in principall festes with no lesse authorite and reuerence then the homilies of S. Ambrose S. Augustin S. Gregory and other Briefely the whole occupation and businesse of this lerned man was to lerne to teache and to write as in his owne wordes placed after the ende of this history he recordeth him selfe Againe for the more commendation of his lerning it is to be remeÌ„bred what lerned scholers he had Amonge the rest the most famous were as Polidore specifieth Rabanus Alcuinus Claudius and Ioannes Scotus not the scholeman but an other of S. Benets order These were all famous and lerned writers as in Trithemius who hath writeÌ„ their liues the lerned may reade Alcuinus S. Bedes scholer beinge sent of Offa kinge of the middleenglishmen in embassage to Charlemain the first and most glorious Emperour of the Germans was for his vertu and lerning retained with the Emperour and became his scholemaster and instructer in all kinde of good lerning He taught after at Paris and persuaded the Emperour Charlemain to erect there an vniuersite which beginning with that vertuous fountaine S. Bedes scholer and our countre man we see now to what a great riuer it hath multiplied and how many lerned men these vij hundred yeares and vpwarde haue from thence ben deriued To returne to S. Bede he had two lerned brothers Strabo and Haymo bothe famous writers and lightes of the church as in Honorius Trithemius Platin and other ecclesiasticall writers it may be sene And thus much of his lerning which who list farder to trie he may reade his lerned workes lately sett forth as I saied and much commended by the protestants theÌ„ selues of Basill For more satisfying the english reader I will after the preface place his whole life shortly writen by Trithemius with the enumeration of certain of his workes in his time knowen As touching the vertu of holy S. Bede which properly coÌ„mendeth an historiographer and dischargeth him from all surmises and suspicions of false reporting or poeticall fayning yt may be to any well meaning man a sufficient argument that euen from the age of seuen yeares as he writeth him selfe he liued in cloyster and serued allmighty God day and night in religion to the last houre of his life which was the continuaunce of lxv yeares All which time he so attended to praier to daily and howrely seruing of God in the church to priuat meditations that as one writeth if ye consider his life ye would thinke he had studied nothing and againe if ye beholde his study ye would suppose he had spent no time in praier For his great vertu and modesty he was in his life time called Venerable Bede as Trithemius noteth of whom also Platina in that sence speaketh saying Beda praeter graecae atque latinae linguae doctrinam quaÌ„ non mediocriter tenuit ob religionem eâ—iam atque modestiam Venerabilis cognomentum adeptus est Bede was surnamed the Venerable for his religion and modesty beside that he was lerned in the Graeke and Latin tounge Polydore alleaging Bede in
or fornication but of laufull wedlocke which sayeth Behold I am begotten in iniquite and my mother hath conceiued me in syn He which knewe him selfe to haue ben conceiued in syn mourned to remember his synfull byrthe For the tree doth beare in his braunches the corrupte humours which he drew of the roote In the which wordes yet he dothe not call the carnall company of man and wife synne but the pleasure therein For there be many thinges whiche of them selues be lawfull and allowable and yet in the doing of them we ar sumwhat defiled As oftentimes being angry we punish other mens faultes whereby the calmnes of our mind is troubled and though it be well done that we doe yet is it not well that in doing it our minde is putt out of quiet For he was angry with the vice of the offenders which said Myne eye is troubled with anger For whereas the minde can not lift him self vp vnto the light of contemplation except it be still and quiet therefore he sorowed to see his eye distempered with anger For while he was forced to looke downeward to punish the transgressours he was forced also to be withdrawen from the contemplation of thinges which are aboue So then it is a commendable thing to be moued with anger against synne and yet is it a grief and a hinderance to the well disposed minde for in that he hath ben angry he knoweth that he hath offended Wherefore to come to the purpose the right vse of carnall company betwene man and wife is to come together for procreation of children not for lust and pleasures sake And if any man doth vse his wife not for carnall pleasure but to the ende of procreation only this man truly is to be left vnto his owne discretion both for comming vnto the church and also for receiuing of the holy sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord. For he is not to be kept ether from the one or the other which being in the fire yet can not be burned But when on the contrary not the desire of issue but the pleasure of the body beareth the chiefest rule in the worke of copulation they haue both cause to bewaile their frailte For thoughe the worde of god did graunt them so much yet doth it not so graunt it them that they should be out of feare of offence For as saynt Paule writing to the Corinthians sayeth he that can not liue chaste let him haue his wife so he strayt sayeth farder I say this as tolerating not commaunding There is no toleration of that which is laufull of it selfe Wherfore in that he vseth this worde tolerate he sheweth it to be faulty It is well to be pondered that our Lord entending to speake vnto the people in the mounte of Sina gaue commaundement they should first abstaine from wemen And if the purite of the body were there so earnestly required where our Lord by meanes of his creature did speake vnto men that they whiche should heare the worde of God should be free from wemē how much more the wemen which receiue our Lord almighties body shall seke to preserue in thē selues the clennes of the bodie least they may take hurt by the greatnes of that vnestimable mistery Herof also is it said by the priest vnto Dauid as touching his seruaūts that if they wercleane from wemē they should eate of the sew bred which otherwise they should not be suffered to take except Dauid would say that they wer pure from wemen Thē the mā bathed in the water after the carnall knowledge of his wife may be admitted to the sacramēt whē it is tried that he may come to the church Augustines question Whether after the illusion which is wont to befall vnto a man in his dreame a lay man may receiue the body of our Lorde or a priest may say masse Gregorius answereth The testament of the ould law as we haue aboue sayd saithe him to be defiled and suffereth him not to enter the church before euening and not but first bathed Which thing the spirituall people otherwise vnderstanding shall take it in like sense as we haue aboue declared For he is deluded as it were by dreame whiche being tempted with vnclenesse is defiled with true imaginations in his thought But he washith him selfe with water that is he washeth away with teares the filth of his thoughtes And except the fire of temptation go out let him take him selfe guilty as it were vnto the euening But in this maner of elusions there is a difference to be had For a man must narrouly search and discusse him selfe of what cause this thing commeth into his minde when he is a sleape For sometimes it commeth of surfet sometimes of superfluite or weakenes of nature and somtimes also of vncleane thoughtes When it commeth of the superfluite or infirmite of nature it is nothing at all to be feared For the minde in this case more soroweth that it hath willingly suffered then that it hath any thinge wittingly committed But when it hath risen thourow inordinat excesse of diet wherby the vessels of theseminall humours ar replenished the minde thereby is not cleare and voide of fault yet it is not guilty of so great fault that the mā thereby is to be withholden ether from receiuing of the sacrament ether from saying of masse Bicause it may happē that ether it is holy day ether of necessite the partye must say masse for that there is no other priest to be gotten in that place And if there be other at hand yet the illusion comming only of surfet is no sufficient cause to make a man forbeare the receite of the holy mysteries Yet from the offering of the holy sacrifice he ought as I thinke meekely forbeare though not from receiuing◠except the minde withall be defouled with some vncleane phantasies And though the partye do not remember that in his dreame he sustayned any such phantasies yet by his owne iudgement he is not guyltles if in the dayes before he remembreth he had offended in gluttonous feding of the body But if it riseth of any foule thoughtes which he had wakyng the offence is open and manifest of it self For he doth see owt of what roote that pollution did spring For the euell that he wittingly thought vppon that vnwittingly he committed But here agayne we must consider whether that thought sprang of suggestion of delite or of consent For by these three all maner of synne is fulfilled Suggestion is by the diuel delite by the flesh consente by the spirite The diuell was the first prompter to synne Eua as it wer the flesh took delite therin Adam as it wer the spirite consented And herin is requisite great discretion that the mynde as iudge ouer him selfe should discerne betwext suggestion and delite betwext delite and consent For when the wycked fend doth rayse the first motions vnto synne in ower harte if
gloriously gouerned the see of the Roman and Apostolique churche 13. yeares 6. moneths and. 10. dayes departed this lyfe and was translated to the eternall seate of the kyngdome of heauen Of whome it becometh me in this our historie of the churche of England more largely to speake bycause by his diligence he conuerted our nation that is the Engleshmen from the powre of Satan to the fayth of Christ. Whome we maye well and also must call our Apostle For as sone as he was high Bishop ouer the whole wordle and appointed gouerner of the churches lately conuerted to the belefe of the trueth he made our nation the churche of Christe which had ben euer vntill that time the bondsclaue of Idolls So that we maye lawfully pronownce of him the sayng of the Apostle That althowgh he were not an Apostle to others yet he was vnto vs. For the signet and token of his Apostleship we are in our Lorde This Gregory was a Roman borne his fathers name Gordian his pedegre of awncient stocke not only noble but also religiouse For Felix somtime bishop of that same see Apostolique a man of greate renomme in Christe and the churche was his greate grandfathers father This nobilite of religion he kept and maintayned with no lesse vertue and deuotion then his parents and auncient kinsfolke had done befor him But his woldly nobilite he forsoke alltogether and by the speciall grace of God turned the same to the purchasing of eternall glorie in heauen For changing sodenly his secular habite he wēt into a monasterie Where he began to lyue in such grace of perfection that vnto his mynde as often after he was wont to wytnes with weeping teares all transitorie things were already subiecte that he far surmounted al worldly workes that he was wont to thinke of nothing but heauenly things yea that being yet clogged with his erthly bodie he now by contemplation did passe the verie naturall bounds of his flesh and that he derely loued death also whiche to most men is a paynfull payne as an entraunce of lyfe to him and reward of his labour All which things he sayd of him selfe not craking of his encrease in vertues but rather lamenting the lacke and decaye of thē In which defecte as he was wont to saye he thought himselfe nowe to haue fallen by reason of his ecclesiasticall charge and occasion of greater care For talking on a time secretly with Peter his deacon when he had recompted the olde giftes and vertuous graces of his minde strayght way he sayde sorowfully But nowe alas by the meanes of this my ecclesiastical charges my mynde is encombred againe with secular affayres and after the good quyet and rest whiche it had is nowe defiled againe with the dust of earthly busines And when condescending to manie it wandereth and roueth aboute owtward matters after desiring inward good thowghtes it returneth therunto no dowbte the weaker Therfore I weigh with my selfe what I doe now suffer and I weigh also well what I haue forgone And when I behold what I haue lost this that I suffer wexeth more greueouse Thus sayde this holie man of a greate and passing humilitie But we must thinke that he lost none of his monasticall perfection by anye occasion or trowble of ecclesiasticall charge or office of a Bishop but rather that then he did much more good and profited more in vertue by the laboure of conuerting manye to the faythe then he hadd done before with the priuate quiet of his owne conuersation onlye For euen being bisshopp he ordered his house like a monasterye For as sone as he was taken owte of the monasterye and ordayned to the ministerye of the aulter being afterwarde sent as legate from the see Apostolike to Constantinople he for all that in the earthly princes palace liued so that he neuer intermitted his purpose of heauenly conuersation For he toke with him certaine brethern of the monasterie which for verie brotherly loue folowed him to that Imperiall citie for the better keping of his regular obseruance that alwaie by their example for so he writeth he might be fastned as with a stronge cable or anker to the pleasaunte porte of prayer when soeuer he were tossed withe the raging whaues of wordly cares and might also strengthen his minde by daylie conference and reading with them whensoeuer it shuld be shaken with secular affaires And truly he was by these mens companie not only defended from the assaultes of the worlde and earthly troubles but also more and more stirred vp to the exercises of heauenly life For they exhorted him that he would discusse and expound with some godly and misticall interpretation the booke of blessed Iob which was enwrapped with manie greate obscurities Neither could he denie them his paines which of brotherly loue moued him to this profitable laboure but hath therfore meruelously declared in 35. bookes of Expositions how this worke of Iobes historie first is to be vnderstāded according to the letter them how it may be referred to Christe and the sacramentes of the church last in what sense the same may be applied to euerie particular faithfull man Which worke he began to write while he was legate in Constantinople but he finished it afterward when he was Bisshop of Rome This blessed man being in Constantinople supressed an heresie of the state of our resurrectiō which then there arose in the very beginning by the force of catholike trueth and verite For Eutychius Bishop of Constantinople began to preache a false doctrine which was that our bodies in the glorie of the resurrection shuld be so subtile as is either the winde or ayer so that it should not be possible to feele ' or touche them Which when S. Gregory had heard he proued this opinion to be quite contrary to the right faith by the reason of truth and also by the example of the resurrection of our Lorde For the right and catholike faith beleueth that our bodies being exalted in the glorie of immortalitie shal in dede be subtile by the effect of spiritual poure but yet not withstāding able to befelt and touched for the truth of our nature according to the example of the bodie of our Lorde of which now rosen from death him selfe sayde to his disciples Touche ye and see for aspirite hath nor flesh nor bones as ye see me haue In the assertion of this faith the right reuerend father Gregory did laboure so much against this vpstert heresie quenched the same with such diligence and so vanquished it by the healp of the vertuous Emperour Tiberius Constantinus that from thence forth noman was founde which durst be a styrrer vp againe or mainteiner therof He made also an other excellent booke which is called the Pastorall Wherin he declareth plainly what manner of man he ought to be which should be chosen to rule the churche And how the rulers therof ought to lyue them selues and with what
and she shuld stratyways beginne to amende He asked them when she was lett blood and vnderstanding it was donne at the prime of the mone sayed that it was very vnskilfully and and vndiscretly donne to lett her blud at the prime of the mone I remember well quod he Archebishop Theodore renouned among all his posteritie tolde me that letting of blud and opening the vaine was very daungerous about the first quarter of the moone and rysinge of the sea And what can I do for this maiden nowe she is at deathes doore Not withstandinge she besought him very instantly for her daughter which she loued tenderly for she purposed to make her abbesse after her and at the lenght with much a doo obtained so much of him as to go into the chamber and see the sicke maiden Wherefore he tooke me with him and went to the maiden which lay languishinge as I said with greate and intolerable paine in her arme so swellinge that it coulde not once bowe at the elbowe And standinge there he sayd certaine prayers ouer her and after he had blest her went out againe When we had sate an houre at the table one came in and called for me and leading me a syde from the company sayde Coenburge for that was the maides name desyreth you to come to her as sone as you can When I came in to the chamber I founde her very cherefull and mery and as it were almost hole And when I had sate by her a whyle shall we call for some drinke saide she mary with a good will quod I and I am right glad you ar able so to do When we had bothe dronke she beganne to declare vnto me that sense the bishoppe had prayed for her and blest her and went out of the chamber she beganne to amend and waxe better and better and albeit I haue not recouered my former strength againe quod she yet all the anguishe and paine is gone bothe out of my arme where it was most feruent and also out of all other partes of my body the bishop as it were carying all out of doores with him though yet the swelling semeth scant all alayed in my arme As we were taking our leaue and departinge thence the swellinge also went away as the paines and anguishe of her body did before So the maiden deliuered from daunger of deathe and other wofull wooes gaue laude and praise to God with the rest that wer there attending and waytinge vppon her How he healed an Earles wife with holy water The. 4. Chapter OF this forsaid bishoppe Berecht abbot of Inderwodde told vs an other miracle not much vnleke this An earle called lord Puch had a manour abbout two miles from our monastery whose lady had bene trobled with such a vehement desease for xl dayes that in iij. weakes space she was not able to be caried out of the chamber where she lay It fortuned one day this deuoute and godly father to be sent for by the earle to dedycate and hallowe a churche and when the solemnity of this dedication was past and the churche halloed the earle inuited him home to his house and as ciuilite and courtesy required desired him to diner The bishop refused his gentilnesse sayinge that of dewty he must returne and go to the next abbaye But the earle most instantly entreatinge him promised that he wolde do great almes to the poore if he wolde vouchsaffe to go home to his house that daye and breake his fast I entreated him in leeke maner as the Earle did promisinge that I wold geue almes also to relieue the poore if he wolde go to dynner to the earles house and blesse him and his familie And when we had obtained so much of him with longe entreataunce we went to the earles house to take our repast The bishop sent the sick lady by one of the company that came with him some of the holy water which he hallowed in dedicatiō of the church commaunding him to will her to drinke of it and to washe that parte of her body with the same wher the grief was most vehemēt Al which being done she rose out of her bed whole and sounde And perceauing that she was not only cured of her longe infirmitie and desease but made also as lyuely lusty and stronge as euer she was before came to the table shewed her selfe very officious in caruinge and drynkinge to the bysshoppe and all the hole table and ceasyd not to vse such courteous officiosytye all the dynner time Folowing in this poynte saincte Peters mother in lawe who delyueryd from her hotte burnynge feuer by the only touche of Christes hande rose vpp as stronge and hole as euer she was before and seruyd them at the table Howe he curyd another earles sonne lyinge at the poynte of deathe The. 5. Chapter THis bysshoppe called another tyme in leeke manner to dedicate and halloe a churche of the earle Addi was desired after all the solemnitie were donne by the earle to go in to one of his children which was very sicke and redy to dye as being benūmyd of al senses and natural operations of the bodye the cophyn also or chest where he shuld be layd after his deathe was preparyd and made redy Furder more the good earle intreatyd hym with weapinge teares desirying for the passion of god that he wolde go in and pray for his sonne because his lyfe was both necessary and deare vnto him for his parte he stedfastly beleued that yff he wold lay his hande vppon hym and blesse him once he shulde streytwaye recouer At his desire and longe entreataunce the bysshoppe went in and sawe him to the greate dysconfort and heauynesse of all that were present redy to yelde vpp the ghoste and the cophyn hard by him in which he should be buryed He made his prayer to god and blest him and goying owte spake those comfortable wordes that men vse to syck folke to wytt I pray god send yow helthe and quyck recouery from this desease And when they had sate a whyle at the table the childe sent to the earle his father desyringe to haue a cuppe of wyne sent him for he was thrustye The earle being glad with all his harte that his sonne could drynk sent him a cuppe of wyne which the bishop had blessed As sone as he had dronke of yt he rose owte of his bed put on his clothes came downe from his chamber went to the greate hall saluted the bysshop welcomed the ghestes and sayde he had a good stomake and appetyte to eate They commaūdyd hym to the table and were glad that he was so well recoueryd He sate downe he eate he drank he lawght and made mery with them and in all pointes behaued hym selffe as the other ghestes and lyuinge many yeares after contynuyd in the same state with owte any grudge of his olde desease The abbot sayde this miracle was not donne in his syght and presence but he