Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 1

The same in English.

FOrasmuche as we are created under the power of free will, & not under the law but under grace let us so live as we are created. You which lay upon us the law of continency against our will, do deprive us of the liberty of free will. You command us, and by commanding compel us to will that we would not, & not to will that we would do. You bind us to the law, from the which by grace we are made free: and you constrayne us to receive the spirit of bondage again to fear: and go about to make the grace of God of no effect, without the which we can do nothing, so that, as the Apostle saith: Grace is now no grace: and the gift of God is not the gift of God. And not of God, but of mā: not of him that calleth, but of him that worketh where as the Apostle saith: It is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that showeth mercy.

For where as there be three principal & effectual things whereby every human soul endued with reason apprehēdeath & perceiveth whatsoever spiritual thing it is able to apprehend and perceive, and without the which it can perceive nothing: the which three things be these: to wit free will, the commandment, and grace (for by free will we discern and chose the good from the evil: by the commandment we are provoked and stirred up to do all things: by grace we are furthered & holpen to perform the same) yet of all these, grace is the Lady & Maistres, and as a mighty Empresse and Queen, upon whose beck the other do wait and give attendance, receiving of her both strength and efficacy, and without her can do nothing, but remain as things of themselves dull and dead, much like as amongst the Philosophers, their Materia without Forma, being thereto adjoined. For in the stead of Materia, we may, after a manner not unfitly place free will: and in the place of Forma we may set grace, & the commandment (which is the mean between them both, as a certain instrument) to have respect to both: whereby the principal Artificer which is God, furthereth and setteth forward free will as a rude dull matter, applieth to it his grace as y ^e form thereof. And like as the said Materia without Forma, is rude and shapelesse, so free will is a thing rude and deform, if it be not holpen with grace coming thereunto, to move it & to further it, the commandment coming as a mean between them both in the stead of the instrumental cause, as is before said.

Therefore like as Forma is in respect of Materia, the like resemblance beareth free will in respect of grace. And again, as Materia is in respect of Forma, the same also is free will in respect of grace. And as the instrument serveth between the foresaid Materia and Forma, so doth the commandment between free will and grace. The instrument coming and working upon the said Materia being of it self ougle, rugged, and a thing without all shape and fashion, doth form it, shape and pullish it, and maketh it hansome, lightly, lightsome, bright and clear: even so likewise the commandment coming and working upon free will, being of it self, a thing rude, gross, unshapen & deformed, blind and obscure, doth clarify it, decke 〈◊〉 , adorn it, bewtifye and lighten it through the brightness of grace coming unto it, according to the saying of the Prophet: The • ommaundement of the Lord is bright and clear, giving sight to the eyes.

And as the matter & the instrument without the form can do nothing, even so free will and the commandment without grace have no power to work. For what can either free w • ll or the commandment do except they be helped̄ with grace both going before and following? For grace sendeth the commandment as a messenger and minister to free will: the commandment provoketh freewill and styrreth it up, as out of a sleep to do good works and leadeth it as a blind man, by the hand, teaching him the way wherein to go. Which both if they be destitute of grace, are able of thenselves to do nothing. And if they begin, yet they proceed not, neither do they perform or accomplish anything: and if they presume, it prospereth not, and is but labor lost. For where the commandment cometh, • yther by man or by Angel: and also where freewell is moved, provoked and informed either by the motion of man or of Angel, yet unless God's grace go withal preventing and following the same what is it able to do? For whē man was put in Paradise, what auayled him the commandment which he heard: Thou shalt eat of every tree of Paradise, but only of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. Which commandment wrought not to his salvation but to his condemnation. And why? because grace that saveth and helpeth, was wanting, which he presuming unjustly upon his own strength despised. Or what did the commandment of the law given by Moses, profit the people of Israel in the wilderness, which law they refused to obey? Or what profit wrought it to him which presumed to follow the Lord of his own free will and not of the Lord's calling, saying unto him: Lord I will follow thee whether soever thou goest. By these and many other places of holy Scripture both of the old and new Testament, it may be proved that neither the commandment nor free will have power to work of themselves, unless they be holpen by God's grace preventing and following them.

Seeing therefore the gift of continency, as all other gifts be, is the gift only of God's grace, and cometh not by the commandment nor by free will: they err therefore & strive in vain which labor to obtain it by their own power. And much more they also do err, which by force constrayne men against their will thereunto, moving thē to offer gifts into the sanctuary of God, not of their own accord but by coactiō, either not knowing or else not remembering the saying of the Lord to Moses: Seperate amongst you the first fruits unto the Lord, and let every man of his own voluntary and willing mind, come and offer the same unto the Lord. What is this, to separate with you the first fruits to the Lord, but only to wey and consider diligently in your hearts, and with discretion to lay down and separate unto the Lord, what we ought to present unto him out of the treasure of our heart? For if thou offer rightly & doest not rightly devide, thou sinnest. And what is to offer with a willing and ready mind, but as the psalmist, saith: I will offer sacrifice unto thee willingly and cheerfully: And the Apostle saith: Not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And Solomon saith: Geue the Lord his glory with a good and free heart, and in every gift thou givest, show a joyful countenance, and sanctify thy tithes with gladness: and with a cheerful eye do all that thou takest in hand. And the Apostle James saith: The Lord loveth not constrained service. And cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, that is, not carefully and with a willing mind.

Wherefore, as the Lord willeth us not to offer anything to him against our willes: so doth he forbid us to compel any man to offer anything against their wills by the foresaid Moses where he saith: Thou shalt not do thy neighbor wrong, neither oppress him with violence. To do wrong to thy neighbor, is to correct him for his sin not of any compassion or mercy towards him, but to re, prove him and to cause him in disdaining, upbraiding, 〈◊〉 rebuking him: not to inform him in the spirit of lenity: but to destroy him in the spirit of bitterness and rigor, as the Apostle saith: If a man be taken in any fault, you that are spiritual inform such in the spirit of lenity, considering thyself least thou also be tempted.

To oppress our neighbor with violence, is to exact anything of him above his power, & to lay upon him more then he is able to bear, an • more peradventure then they thenselves are able to wield, which lay it upon him. Whereas the Lord speaking of the Pharisees to his disciples, forbiddeth them the same, saying: The Scribes and Pharisees do sit upon the chair of Moses. &c. And the Apostle Peter: Feed (saith he) as much as in you lieth, the Lord's flock, providing for them, not by constraint, but willingly after a godly sort, and not for filthy lucre, but of a ready a mind: not as though ye were Lord's over the Clergy, but be you as an example to the flock of good will.

This shepherd of shepherds and Prince of the Apostles doth plainly and evidently declare and insinuate what all other Pastors and Apostles ought to do: how to entreat the flock of the Lord committed unto them, and what great care and compassion of mind they ought to have towards their Cure: and removeth far out of their harts all power of Tyrannicall Lordship and all ambitiō, which some do exercise with gredynes upon those that are committed to their charge, and pronounceth that they ought not to be Lord's, but fathers over their flock: and not imperiously to command them, as exercising stately authority and power upon them, but gently to admonish them and beseech them in the zeal of piety, according to the strength of every person, after the Lord, and not after the affection of their own will, or ambiciously setting forth their own power and iurisdictiō, and that they ought to be an example to the flock, doing first themselves that thing, which they command others, and so to teach them no less by examples then by words. Willingly (saith he) and not by cōstraynt: of charity, & not for greedy gain. For there be many which being inflamed with affection, not of charity, but of covetous gredines and ambition, command others that which they are not able to accomplish, and while they pretend to seek the gain of souls, they hunt and seek rather for worldly lucre. Which Balaam the Prophet did well express: who converted the gift of prophecy, and the grace of blessing which he had received of God, not to the profit of others, but to his own commodity.

And some there be, which whiles they correct others, they pretend to do it with the zeal of God: and whiles they would seem to be better then other, this they do with a certain presumption & rashness, and so fall in their own presumption and temerity. Of whom the Apostle speaketh: Which have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge To have a zeal of God, according to knowledge, is to do anything in God's matters prudently and circumspectly. Of whom Oza beareth a type and resemblance: Who whiles that he went about with his hand to stay the Ark of the Lord staggering a little by reason of the kicking of the Oxen which carried it, fell down therefore dead. The Ark of the Lord to stagger or miscarye by the kickyng of the Oxen, signifieth the law of the Lord (which the priests themselves ought to bear and hold up) to be contradicted of them in not observing the same, & to be turned out of the right course to the contrary part, which Oza, who is interpreted to be a helper of god, attempteth to hold up. For there be certain Prelates, which while they see the order of priesthood by some enormity or excess, to strayne the law of God never so little out of the right course, and labor to redress and rectify that misorder, rather by vain ostentation of their own strength, then for any pure zeal to God, while they thus presume inordinately to do, thinking to seme to be the helpers of God, many times do mortally fall, and incur thereby great danger and peril.

Some other also there be which having before their eyes no consideratiō of man's infirmity neither being touched with any respect of mercy and compassion, nor knowing how to say with the Apostle: Who is infirm and I am not infirm? these whiles they compare themselves to such as be under their charge, not in condition wherein they are equal, but in authority wherein they are superiors, & covet to be their masters, & more to rule over them then to profit them, they oppress the weakness of thē by force and violence of authority, and compel them to their obedience: which is rightly figured by the fact, which is read in y ^e Gospel of Simon Cyrenaeus, whom the persecutors of the Lord constrained to take up the Cross of Christ. Whose name also doth fitly agree w ^t y ^e same figure. For Simon by interpretation is called obedient. Simon then, that is to say, the obedient man is forced to bear y ^e Cross of the Lord, when as subjects being constrained of their masters by the rigor either of Lordship, or authority, or fere of their curse, and so compelled to obey them, are driven to sustain the Cross of continency against their wills: who neither do love the Cross which they bear, because they bear it rather to their destruction thē to their health: neither by bearing the Cross, do die unto sin, but by the bearing thereof are rather quickened unto sin. For thereof rise diverse other more grievous sins. For by the inhibiting of lawful and natural marriage with one woman, riseth the unnatural and most execrable Sodomitical fornication: riseth also the unlawful and damnable defiling of other men's wives: riseth furthermore cursed and whorish filthiness and pollution: and moreover riseth most abhominable incest against all nature, with their own kindred, with a heap of manifold other filthy ahhominatiōs and lecherous pollutions, whereby the frail infirmity of man is brought (no doubt) into great peril.

Wherefore Loth being delivered from the burning of Sodom through the guiding of the Lord's Angel, and beriued of the fellowship of his wife, whiles that he considering his own infirmity durst not ascend unto the mountain as the Angel bad him, did choose rather to dwell in Segor a little City nere by, the Angel thus bidding him and speaking unto him: Save thy soul and look not behind thee, but save thyself in the mountain least thou also perish. To whom Loth answered: I pray thee Lord, because thy servant hath found such grace in thy sight that thou wilt save me, I cannot be saved in the mountain, least perhaps some evil take me and I die: There is a little City hereby whereunto I may fly and may be saved in it.

What meaneth this that Loth flying from Sodom by the commandment of the Angel to be saved in y ^e mountain, would not ascend up to the hill fearing there to perish but did chose rather to dwell in Segor a small City near unto the hill, there to be saved, but that every faithful man coveting to eschew the burning & danger of Sodomitical lust, while neither he is able to mount up to the top of virginity, and also is afeard to ascend to the mountain of the state of widowhood least he perish therein, flieth therefore to the state of matrimony, which is a small cōtinēcy in respect of the other two, & also nere unto thē both. For after those two kinds of continencye, this chastity is also proved to be laudable, & is not deprived of the reward of the kingdom of heaven.

Unto this chastity, he is commanded to fly which cannot otherwise contain, & to be saved in it, least peradventure if he clime up to the mount, he fall into inconueniency & perish therein: that is, least if he shall attempt to obtain by his own strength the contenencye which is not given unto him of God, the evil of incontinency or fornication, or of some of the other evils afore rehearsed, do fall upon him, and so he perish in them mortally. For there be many who while they consider not their own infirmity, & while they strive to atchiue greater things thē they are able to reach in this their climbing do fall headlong into worse inconvenience, and while they foolishly seek for great things, do lose the less, which before they seemed to have. Whych we may well understand by the example of Loth aforesaid: Who what time he left the small City Segor, which he chose before to inhabit, in the which he sought to be saved: went up to the mountain and there abiding fell into the stolen incest of his own daughters, as the scripture witnesseth, saying: Loth went up from Segor and remained in the mountain, and his daughters gave to their father wine to drink that night. And the elder of them went and lay with her father. Which thing had not happened unto him, if he had kept himself still in Segor, where be might have been saved at the bidding of the Angel, as he himself required. But because he forsook that, which was granted to him of the Angel, and presumed to that upon his own will; contrary to the precept of the Angel, which was not granted:: therefore he fell into great danger of his soul & committed the grievous sin of incest.

No otherwise doth it hap̄ to many other, who while either they forsake y ^e thing which is granted thē of God, or ambitiously clime after that which is to thē not granted, both they lose that which they had granted unto thē, and fall into that which to them was not granted. For diverse there be which while they forsake either willingly or against their will, the married life which is to them lawfully permitted, and in which they might be saved, and strive with a presumptuous desire to lead a single life, both they lose that health and safety, which they might have had in one, and incur great danger in the other: so that whereby they suppose most to gain, by the same they lose & fall into the pit of greater ruin. Which thing S Paul y ^e Doctor of the Gentiles well considering, and tenderly providing for the infirmity of the weak Corinthians writing to him for counsel touching this matter, did write to thē again in this wise, saying: As concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, as it is good for a man not to touch a womā. Nevertheless to avoid whoredom, let every man have his wife and let every woman have her husband. Let the husband give unto his wife due benevolence: likewise also the wife unto her husband. And a little after: withdraw not (saith he) yourselves one from another, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves unto fasting and prayer: and afterward come together again le • to Satan tempt you for your incontinencye. For as the Poe • saith, we cannot all do all things, and as the Apostle saith: It is not in him that willeth not in him that runneth, but in God that showeth mercy. Also another place: For to everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And that everyone of us ought to keep and not to transgress this measure, he teacheth anon after saying: I wish that all men were as I myself am but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, another after that.

And that we are to be kept within our compass, and measure, and ought therewith to be content, he teacheth moreover as followeth: Let every man abide in that vocation wherein he is called, And shortly after, for confirmatiō thereof, he repeteth the same again and saith: Let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with the Lord And because he perceived that the infirmity of man was not able to sustain the burning motions and heats of nature stirring in a man, but only by the grace of God, neither to be able to conquer the flesh fighting against the spirit, according to that which he saith of himself in another place: For I see another Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my mind, he therefore of mercy and compassion, as condescending unto their weakness: and not by rigor of law and force of commandment, thus said. As also in another place in his Epistles he speaketh in like words saying: I speak thus grossly after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. And in this foresaid Epistle, moreover a little before, using the same manner of speech, he saith, Thus I say to you as of favor and not of commandment. And adding moreover, he showeth: As touching virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but only do give counsel, as one that have found mercy with God, that I should be faithful. That is, after the same mercy wherewith the Lord hath informed and instructed me when he called me to the faith, and made me faithful to him: so I likewise do give counsel to other and show the same mercy to them.

And for as much as both are good: to wit to have a wife or not to have: to have a husband or not to have: neither is there any sin in having wife or husband: shortly after he inferreth saying: I suppose therefore this to be good for the present necessity: I mean, that it is good for a man so to be: What meaneth this, for present necessity? What is this necessity present, but present infirmity? or else instant necessity, compelling to do, as y ^e order of necessity requireth. Or else he meaneth by this present necessity, the distress of that time which then was instant, and compelled him to write, and so to bear with them which was for the avoiding of the fornicatiō amongst them, and many other kinds of filthiness above touched which might have happened. For the which fornication he took occasion to write unto the Corinthians and to answer to their letters: and therefore he vehemently against the said Corinthians in y ^e former part of the said Epistle uttereth these words: What will you shall I come to you with a rod? or in love and in the spirit of meekness? There is heard among you to be fornication, & such fornication as is not named among the Gentiles, that one should have his own fathers wife. &c. And therefore for this necessity of avoiding such fornication, he saith: It is good for a man so to be: that he which cannot contain, should mary & take a wife. which afterward he expoundeth thus inferring: art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. And if thou be loosed frō a wife seek not a wife. But if thou takest a wife thou sinnest not, and if a virgins mary, she sinneth not. &c. And that he spake not this by way of commanding, but of sufferance and compassion, he showeth plainly in these words following: But I spare you: that is to say, I bear with your infirmity: & therefore he leaveth it in the free power and will of every man, to choose what he best liketh, Neither doth he enforce any man (he saith) violently, nor charge them with any strait commandment, and therefore addeth these words following: And this I speak for your own commodity, not to tangle you as in a snare, but for that it is good and honest for you, that you may serve the Lord without separation.

This he saith to them whom before he exhorted to continency, and whom he would not to be let or troubled by matrimonial conjunction. But to other he saith thus: If any man think that it is uncomely for his virgin to remain over long unmarried, and if need so require, let him do what he thinketh good, he sinneth not: let them mary: And again both be good, he saith, but yet the one to be better he concludeth saying: Therefore he that joineth in Matrimony, his virgin doth well, but he that doth not doth better. Which agreeth well with the text above, speaking of both kinds, as well the man as the woman, where he saith: If thou take a wife thou sinnest not, and if the virgin take a husband she sinneth not.

If therefore it be no sin for the man to take a wife, nor for the virgins to take a husband, after the apostles mind, neither doth diminish their felicity, but rather increase it, & for as much as both do well, & so both be blessed: we then which take wives for our infirmity, what do we sin in having them? Or if the apostle do suffer & permit to every man for the avoiding of fornication to have his wife, we then which come of the same lump or mass & taking our sinful flesh of the sinful flesh of Adam, are not able otherwise to contain, why are we not permitted for y ^e same cause & by the same permissiō, to have likewise our wives, but are enforced to forsake them being married?

Wherefore either do you permit us, following the apostle, to have our wives, or else teach us that we come not of the same mass, either else show us that the same sufferaūce & permission is not granted to us by the Apostle which is granted to other. Which cause peradventure you will thus pretend: that this sufferance was granted of the Apostle, not to the clergy or to any of our order, but only to lay mē. Which cannot well be defended neither by the words of the Apostle, nor by any circumstance of his Epistle for as much as there is no certain distinction or denomination either of persons or degrees, or professions there mentioned, neither doth he make any difference either in names or offices of men, either of them which wrote unto him either of those persons of whom he wrote, or else of those to whō he answereth, but only in general to the whole church of the Corinthians, as he himself in the beginning of his Epistle purporteth in these words: Paul called the Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God & Sosthenes his brother to the church which is at Corinth, such as be sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that invocate the name of the Lord. &c. [And after a few other words, which here for breuityes sake we omit, as not being greatly to the purpose pertinent: thus he inferreth:] These premisses being then well considered, we beseech you to have regard & compassiō of our infirmity, most humbly desiring you, not to oppress us with this violence. For as we have sufficiently before proved, no man ought to be constrained unto continency against his will, neither is this kind • of virtue commanded of God to any man, of necessity, but only of voluntary devotion to be offered unto the Lord: as he himself speaketh in the Gospel: All men cannot receive this saying, but to whom it is given. Whereunto he gently exhorteth them that can take it, saying: He that is able to receive this, let him receive it. &c.

Wherefore for distinctions sake Moses is not himself commanded to cloth Aaron and his sons with breeches as in these words going before: Thou shalt cloth with these Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him. &c. But he thus saith: Thou shalt make linen breches that they thenselves may cover the filth of their flesh. That they themselves (saith he) may cover the filth of their flesh. Thou (saith he) shalt make the breches for the bishop and his sons: thou shalt teach the rule of chastity: thou shalt exhort them to abstain from the company of their wives, which shall do the priests office: Yet laying upon none violently the said yoke of continency, but whosoever shall be priests and shall serve the altar, shall of their own accord surcease from the use of matrimony: which when they shall do, & of their own voluntary consent shall take upon them the purpose of continency to serve the altar, then shall the grace of God be present, which as it did apparel those other priests aforesaid with attire for thē convenient: so shall it instruct these abundantly how they ought to live and to teach. And this sense well agreeth with the text that followeth, saying: And when thou shalt wash the father and his sons with water, thou shalt take the garments, that is, the strayt coat, the tunicle & the brestlappe, and put them upon Aaron, & gird them to him with a brodered girdle of the Ephod. Then thou shalt put the myter upon his head, and shalt put the holy crown upon the miter, and thus shall he be consecrated. Also thou shalt bring his sons and put coats upon them, and shalt gird them with girdles, both Aaron & his sons, and shalt put bonettes on them, and the Priests office shall be theirs for a perpetual law.

Thus then you see a commandment of receiving the linen breches of Moses. Whereby it plainly appeareth, that Aaron and his sons, first did apparel themselves with this kind of apparel, and so entered in to be washed, inducted, anointed & consecrated by the hands of Moses.

By the which we are plainly taught, that the yoke of continency is not to be enforced upon any man against his will, but is to be received of God with a prōpt & a devout will. Which thing also Dyonisius Areopagita that godly wise man, the Disciple of S. Paul and ordained of him B. of Athens, in a certain Epistle of his sent to Pymtus B. of the Gnasians, in which he toucheth many things of marriage and chastity (as is in y ^e Ecclesiastical history rehearsed) doth admonish the said Pymtus, and prayth him that he will lay no grievous burdens upon the necks of the Disciples, neither infer any necessity of compelled chastity upon the brethren, whereby the infirmity of some of thē might be in danger. And Pymtus answering to Dyonisius again, showeth himself willing to embrace the sentence of his wholesome council. The same also did Paphnutius, the divine & chaste bishop, who in y ^e council of Nice (as the Tripertite history doth show us) when the fathers, which there were present went about to restrain Priests from marriage: he rising up amongst thē & moved with the zeal of man's infirmity, desired thē that they would not so do, but rather to leave it unto the voluntary discretiō of every man, least in so doing they might peradventure give occasion of adultery and fornicatiō. For those holy men did thē use this cautele and moderation in religion, that whē they treated anything concerning instructiō and edification of the people, and would have them stirred up to a better life by godly instructions, they would rather persuade things to be observed with patience and lenity, then command with rigor and authority: neither would they compel any man to their obedience against his will.

Whose examples you also following, which succeed in their room and name, do you not lay vpō us infirm persons, such importable burdens, lest you be partakers with the Pharisyes and lawyers of the Lord's curse: Who saith: Woe to you lawyers which lay burdens upon men, which they cannot bear, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one finger. And least the cry of the children of Israel ascend up to the Lord for the cruel dealing of them which are overseers of the works: Neither do you make such Eunuchs which are so borne from their mothers womb, or such Eunuchs which are violently made by men, but rather those Eunuchs which of their own accord have gelded themselves for the kingdom of heavē. Neither do you bring upon the holy order of God's ministers for us only, such an offense and slander, that for our wicked life you make the ministry to be despised of others, while you will not suffer them either to hear us, or to receive the sacraments of us, infaming thereby our lend life, & causing the savor of us to stink before Pharaoh, & his servants. Wherein it seemeth to us that you deal not soundly & uprightly, if a man may so say (I pray you take it in good worth, that I speak) & also to be against y ^e authority of God's word, & the canonical constitutions which you do: where as the Lord saith by Moses the lawgeuer: the shame of thy mother thou shalr not disclose, & her ignominy thou shalt not discover. Our mother is y ^e church: y ^e sons of this mother be all the faithful, which name yet most fitly is appropriate unto priests: for they do beget y ^e faithful, both by y ^e word of preaching & sacrament of baptism. Was not he to be counted a right mother: who said, my little children of whom I travel in birth again? The shame & ignominy of our mother, what is it but the reproueable conversation of the life of priests which shame & ignominy is thē revealed, whē y ^e life of priests is publicly infamed. Which thing you do, y ^e discover & notify unto men our fragility, lying before as hyd & covered, because before it was not known & for the same you bring y ^e holy ministry & mysteries of god into contempt & hatred: as though the polluted life of other did anything p • rtaine thereto to pullute the same, & as though our uncleanness did anything blemish thē, or diminish the pureness thereof, where as the Psalmist saith: The law of the Lord is pure and immaculate: Or as though they were any whitte polluted by our infection, which do receive the said mysteries either by our mouth, or by our ministry. Which if you grant to be so, then the Lord would never have spokē so to his disciples & the people, touching the Pharisees, saying: Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.

And again, if it were so, the Lord would not have sent forth Judas, whom he knew should betray him, with the other Disciples to preach, neither would have committed to him the power of working miracles, & of giving health nor admitted him to the Communion of the Supper. And if our impurity should infect our holy mysteries or ministrations, and make them worse that hear and receive the same then the Lord would never have touched the Leper whom he had healed, neither would he have kissed him, neither would have eaten with Simon another Leper, neither would have suffered his feet to be kissed, and with the tears to be washed, and with the hear to be dried, & his head to be annointed of Mary the sinner.

Therefore the holy Canons have thus decreed, that no man which rightly receiveth the Lord's Sacraments of an heretic, should be therefore anything corrupted by his heretical pranity, nor the said Sacraments should be any whitte distayned by the infection of him. Whereupon the Church of Rome in a certain Epistle directed unto Anastasius the Emperor, by Anastasius the Pope, did so ordain and write, that none of all them whom Acatius did baptize, or whom he ordained Canonically to be priests or Levites, should be anything hurt by the name of the said Acatius: so that thereby the Sacraments which by him were ministered, should seme the less firm and effectual. For the sacrament of Baptism also being ministered of an adulterer or a thief (which God forefend to be in the Church) doth come unto the receiver never a whit the worse. What meant that voice which sounded by the Dove, but that it excluded all evil and impurity of the corruption of man? in the which it is declared and said: This is he which baptizeth. &c. For if the beams of this visible Sun passing by the filthy places, receive no spot of filthiness thereby, much more the grace of him which made this visible Sun, is not tied to any worthiness of our works. What soever therefore any minister of the Church worketh in his functiō to the behoove of the people, all that taketh his effect by the operation of God. Thus witnesseth Paul by whom Christ speaketh: I have planted, and Apollo hath watered, but it is the Lord that hath givē the increase. God regardeth not so much, who or what manner of person doth preach, but that he so preach, that he may confirm thē that be naught, and cause them to preach well of Christ. For such is the operation of God's mighty grace, that by evil men he winneth good men, and by reprobate and wicked persons he getteth and gathereth together those that be good.

By these and such other reasons and authorities above alleged, you ought to be persuaded, neither to abandon us that be married, from the administration of divine service, nor yet to excommunicate such, to whom the matter nothing pertaineth, from the communion thereof. And if we be evil, we are evil to our selves, and hurt our selves more then others. And such as you suppose peradventure to be vicious, yet may have some good thing inwardly which you know not of.

For many there be whom you judge to be incontinent, which live more chastely then they whom you so greatly extol for their continency. We that have wives, according to the Apostles mind, so have them as though we had them not. Which gift of continency for as much as you cannot give us, pray therefore with us and for us, that he will give it unto us, who only is the giver thereof, & without whom no man is able to live continently. For otherwise we cannot have it, vules we pray unto him frō the bottom of our hearts, who is known to be the author and giver thereof. And this same (saith Solomon) is wisdom, to know whose gift it is: neither is there any gift above this.

Argument.

Priests of the old law, during the time of their ministration, abstained from their wives:

Ergo, Priests in the time of the Gospel, which every day minister at the altar, must never have any wives.

Another Argument.

Moses, when he should sanctify the people, going up to the hill, commanded them to sequester themselves from their wives three days:

Ergo, Priests that must be sanctified to the Lord always ought to live chaste always without wives.

Another Argument.

David before he should eat of the shewbread, was asked whether he and his company had been without the company of their wives three days:

Ergo, Priests that be continually attending upon the table and sacraments of the Lord, ought never to have company with any such.

Another Argument.

Oza, which put his hand to the Ark, was slain therefore, as it is thought, because he lay with his wife the night before:

Ergo, Priests whose hands be always occupied about the Lord's service, must be pure from company of wife, or any woman.

Another Argument.

Nadab, and Abiud, which sacrificed with strange fire, were devoured therefore, because they companied with their wives the same night:

Ergo, Priests and sacrificers must have no wives to company with all.

Another Argument.

The priests of the Gentiles, in old time when they sacrificed to their idols, are said to lie from their wives:

Ergo, much more the priests that sacrifice to the living God, ought so to do.

Another Argument.

Christ was borne of a Virgin, Christ lived ever a virgin, and commandeth them that will serve him, to follow him. Qui mihi ministrat, me sequatur: id est, Si vis mihi ministrare, me caste viuendo imitare.

Ergo, Priests that have wives are not meet to serve him.

1. Cor. 7.

Let every man have his own wife for avoiding of fornication.

1. Cor. 7.

Melius est nubere quàm vri: It is better to marry then to burn.

1. Timoth. 3.

Oportet esse episcopum irreprehensibilem, vnius vxoris virum. &c. A Bishop ought to be unreproveable, the husband of one wife. &c.

The Acte against Priests marriage concluded in the Council at Winchester, under Anselm, An. 1104.

HAEc sunt statuta de Archidiaconibus, Praesbyteris, & Canonicis in quocunque gradu constitutis, quae Wintoniae statuerunt Anselmus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, & cum eo Girardus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis, & omnes alij Angliae Episcopy, in praesentia gloriosi Regis Henrici, assensu omnium Baronum suorum▪ Statutum est vt Praesbyteri, & Diaconi caste viuant, & foeminas in domibus suis non habeant praeter proxima consanguinitate sibi iunctas, secundum hoc quod sancta Nicena Synodus de • ini •• t. Illi vero praesbyteri, diaconi, sieve subdiaconi, qui post interdictum Londonensis Concilij, foeminas suas tenuerint vel alias duxerint, si elegerint in sacris ordinibus remanere, iurēt quod cum eis carnal commertium non habebunt amplius. Statutum est etiam vt praedictae foeminae in domo cum eis scienter non conueniant, neque huiusmodi faeminae in territorio Ecclesiae habitent. Si autē propter aliquam honestam causam eos colloqui oporteat, cum duobus ad minus legitimis testibus extra domum colloquantur. Si vero in duobus aut tribus legitimis testibus vel publica parochianorum fama, aliquis eorū accusatus fuerit, quod hoc statutum transierit, purgabit se adiunctis secum ordinis sui idoneis testibus, sex si praesbyter, quinque si diaconus, quatuor si subdiaconus sueriti Cui autem haec purgatio defecerit, vt transgressor sacri statuti iudicabitur. Illi vero praesbyteri qui diuini altaris & sacrorum ordinum contemptores praeelegerint cum vxoribus suis habitare, à diuino officio remoti, extra hortum ponantur, infames pronunciati. Eadem sententia Archidiaconos & Canonicos omnes complectitur & de abiurandis vxoribus, & de vitanda earum conuersatione, & de districtione censurae si statuta transgressi fuerint. Iurabunt & Archidiaconi omnes quod pecuniam non accipient pro tolleranda transgression huius statuti. Sed neque vllo modo tollerabunt praesbyteros vxoratos cantare, vel vicarios habere, & quod ipsi non dissimulabūt per Archidiaconos suos hoc inquirere, & fideliter episcopis suis renunciabunt, & attente, & fideliter de exequenda huius rei vindicta Episcopos suos adiuuabunt. Qui vero Archidiaconus vel Diaconus hoc iurare noluerit, Archidiaconatum vel Diaconiam irreparabiliter perdet. Praesbyteri vero qui relictis vxorib{us} Deo & sac is ordinibus seruire elegerunt, quadraginta dies ab officio cellantes pro se vicarios habebunt, iniuncta eis poenitentia secundum quod Episcopis eorum visum fuerit.

And yet this unreasonable statute of Anselm, so diligently defensed with sharp censures and penalties, had no great speed, neither in the life time of the said Anselm, nor long after his death, but that diverse priests notwithstanding kept still their wives, or that after his death, they returned to their wives again, through the sufferance of the famous & learned king named then Henry Bewclark who something stayed the opportunity of this mōkish prelate, and willed that priests should keep both their wives and their Churches, as they did before in Lanfrankes days.

Then after Anselm followed Radulphus Archbishop of Canterbury, in whose time was no great stir against the Priests that were married. About the time of this Archbishop, king Henry called a Counsaile at London, where he obtained of the spiritualty a grant to have the punishment of married priests (which the spiritualty afterward did much repent) whereby the priests paying a certain to the king, were suffered to retain their wives still, as is above storied, pag. 294.

Next after this Radulph, then succeeded Williā Turbile, surnamed De Turbine, who renewed again the constitution of Anselm against married priests, especially by the help of Johannes priest and Cardinal of Crema y ^e Popes Legate, sent the same time into England, anno. 1129. Of which Cardinal Cremensis, because enough hath been before declared, how after his stout replying in the council of London, against the married state of priests, exclaiming what a shameful thing it was, to rise from the sides of an whore, to make Christ's body, the night following was shamefully taken with a notable whore, &c. as is apparent before, pag. 294.

I will therefore pass over that matter, returning again to William the Archbishop, who with the Cardinal Legate aforesaid, although he busily occupied himself in repriuing the matrimony of priests: in so much, that he would give thē no longer respite to put away their wives but from Michaelmas to Saint Andrew's day. following, yet could he not bring his purpose to pass, but that the priests still continued with their wives by the Kyngs leave, as the Saxō story plainly recordeth in these words: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; That is to say in English, This William the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops which were in England did command, and yet all these decrees and biddings stood not: all hled their wives by the kings leave, even so as they before did, &c. So hard was this cause to be won, that the Archb. at length gave it over, and left the controversy wholly unto the king. Whereupon he decreed that the Priests should remain with their wives still. And so continued they after that, in the time of Theobaldus after him, of Tho. Becket, Rich. Baldwine, Stephen Langton, Rich. Edmund, Boniface, Peccham, and other, during we • nere the time after Anselm, 200. years.

And least the quarreling adversary being peradventure disposed here to cavil, should object and say, that such marriage among the Spiritual men might be private and secrete, but not openly known, nor quietly suffered by any law of this Realm: to avoid therefore what may be by them objected, I thought it good, and as a thing neither impertinent nor unprofitable to this story, and for the further satisfying of the Readers mind herein, to infer and make known by good record, not only that the liberty of marriage amongst spiritual men, hath continued within this Realm during the time aforesaid, (videlicet) two hundred years or thereabouts, after Anselm, and that not in secrete wise, but also openly, and being known, the same to be suffered and lawfully allowed of, in such sort, as both they, their wives, children, and assigns might enherite and enjoy lands, tenements, and other hereditamentes, by way of feoffament, deed of gift, or any other assurance, in such sort, manner, and form, as lay men, their heirs and assigns at this day lawfully may do. As by diverse writings and instruments shown unto us at the writing hereof, by diverse men (whose names hereafter follow) some to this day remaining fair sealed, some by antiquity and long keeping, much worn, and their seals mouldred and wasted, is very evident and manifest to be seen. The copies whereof being by us truly and faithfully excerpted out of the very originals (being yet extant) we have here under inserted, as followeth.

Certain Instrumentes and Evidences of ancient record, declaring the marriage of priests to have stand in times paste, both with ancient custom, & public laws of this Realm.

SCiant praesentes & futuri quod ego Williel. de Blunwille miles concessi, dedi, & hac praesenti charta mea confirmani Stephano de Saxlingham Clerico, & Matildae vxori suae pro homagijs & seruitijs suis, & pro sex marcis argenti quas mihi dederunt in gersumam, vnam peciam terrae arabilis, quae iacet in campo de Neuton in cultura, inter mesuagium Galfridi Sulyard, & coemeterium Ecclesiae de Neuton, inter terram Radulphi Malherbe, & terram Ioannis de Neuton, & abuttat super regiam stratam versus orientem, & super terram quae fuit Henrici Popiltele versus occidentem: Habend. & tenend. de me & haeredibus meis illis & heredibus suis aut quibuscun{que} dare, legare, vendere vel assignare voluerint, in quocun{que} statu fuerint, libere, quiet, in feodo, per petue & haereditarie Reddendo inde annuatim mihi & haeredib{us} meis duos denarios, scilicet ad festū sancti Andreae denariū & ad natiuitatē sancti Johannnis baptistae vnū denariū. Et ad scutagium domini regis quando euenit vnum obolum tantū & non amplius pro omnibus seruitijs, consuetudinibus, sectis curiae, & exactionibus secularibus. Et ego Williel. de Blunwell, & haeredes mei warrantizabimus, acquietabimus & defendemus praedictam peciam terrae praenominatis Stephano & Matildae vxori suae & haeredibus suis, aut cuicun{que} dare, legare, vendere, vel assignare voluerint contra omnes gentes tam Iudaeos quam Christianos in▪ perpetuum per praefatum seruitium. Et vt haec concessio & donatio rata sit & stabilis in perpetuum, hanc cartam sigillo meo roboraui: His testibus, Radulpho Malherbe, Willielmo de Reynestorpe, Ioanne de Neuion, Willielmo Canebot, John. filio Simonis, Milone le Moch, Radulpho de Kinegham, Willielm. de Campo, Thomae Cross, Andr. Waleys, Willielm. Valiant, & alijs.

This said piece of Evidence called a deed of Feofement of lands remaineth in the keeping of Thomas Blūdevil of Neuton Flotman in the County of Norfolk Esquire at this present (videlicet) 22. die Nouembris, Anno R. Eliz. R. decimo. Et anno Dom. 1567. Who (I know) will not refuse to show the same to any man that shall desire the sight thereof.

Certain notes how this word Clericus is taken in the Law books.

SI Clericus aliquis pro reatu vel crimine aliquo, quod ad Coronā pertineat, arestatus fuerit, & postmodum per praeceptum domini regis in Balliū traditus, vel replegiatus extiterit, ita quod hi quibus traditus fuerit in Ballium eum habeant coram Iusticiarijs, non amercientur de caetero illi quibus traditus fuerit in Ballium, nec alij plegij sui, si corpus suum habeāt coram Iusticiarijs, licet coram eis propter priuilegium clericale respondere noluerit, vel non potuerit propter Ordinarios suos.

Ex antiq. Martyrilogio Ecclesiae Cant.

LAnfrancus Archiep. reddidit Ecclesiae S. Andreae, quia de iure ipsius Ecclesiae antiquitus fuerunt, in Suthrege, Mutelac, Lōdoniae, monasterium Sanctae Mariae, cum terris & domibus, quas Liuingus Praesbyter & vxorillius Londoniae habuerunt.

To this also may be adjoined another like antiquity out of an old written history belonging to the church off. Assaph, after the time of Lanfranke, as followeth.

The sixth Article touching Auricular confession.

OF confession three kinds we find in the scriptures expressed and approved. The first is our confession privately or publicly made unto God alone: and this confession is necessary for all men at all times. Wherefore S. John speaketh: If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us. &c.

The second is the confession which is openly made in the face of the congregation. And this confession also hath place when any such thing is committed, whereof riseth a public offense and slander to the Church of God: As amples of penitentiaries in the prim • tiue Church, & Melciades and other. &c.

The third kind of confession is that, which we make privately to our brother. And this confession is requisite, whē either we have injured or by any way damnified our neighbor, whether he be rich or poor. Wherof speaketh the Gospel: Go and reconcile thyself first unto thy neighbor. &c. Also S. James: Confess yourselves one to another. &c. Or else this confession may also have place, whē any such thing lieth in our conscience, in the opening whereof we stand in need of the counsel & comfort of some faithful brother. But herein must we use discretiō in avoiding these points of blind superstition. First that we put therein no necessity for remission of our sins, but to use therein our own voluntarye discretion, according as we see it expedient for the better satisfying of our troubled mind. The second is, that we be not bound to any enumeration of our sins. The third, that we tie not our selves to any one person, more then to another, but to use therein our free choice, whom we think can give us the best spiritual counsel in the Lord.

But as there is nothing in the Church so good and so ghostly, which through peuishe superstitiō either hath not, or may not be perverted: so this confession also hath not lacked his abuses. First the secret confession to God alone, as it hath ben counted insufficient, so hath it ben but lightly esteemed of many. The public confession to the congregation hath been turned to a standing in a sheet, or else hath been bought out for money. Furthermore, the secret breaking of a man's mind to some faithful or spiritual brother, in disclosing his infirmity or temptations, for counsel and godly comfort, hath been turned into auricular confession in a Priests ear for assoyling of his sins. In the which auriculare confession, first of the free liberty of the penitent in uttering his griefs, they have made a mere necessity, and that unto salvation and remission of sins. Secondly, they require withal, enumeration and a full recital of all sins whatsoever: both great and small, also besides y ^e necessity of this ear confessiō, they add thereto a prescription of time, at lease once in the year for all men, whether they repent or no, to be confessed: making moreover of the same a sacrament. And lastly, where as before it stood in the voluntary choice of a man to open his heart to what spiritual brother he thought best, for an easement of his grief & ghostly consolation, they bind him to a Priest (unless some Frier come by the way to be his ghostly father) to whom he must needs confess all, whatsoever he hath done, and though he lack the key of knowledge, and peradventure of good discretion, yet none must have power to assoil him, but he through the authority of his keys.

And this manner of confession, say they, was instituted by Christ, and his Apostles, and hath been used in the Church ever since to this present day. Which is a most manifest untruth, and easy by stories to be convinced.

For Socrates lib. 5. cap. 19. Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 16. in y ^e book of Ecclesiastical history, do give us plainly to understand, that this Auricular confession never came of Christ, but only of men.

Item, in the time of Tertullian, Beat. Rhenanus testifieth, that there was no mention made of this Auriculare confession. Which may well be gathered thereof, for that Tertullian writing upon repentance, maketh no mention at all thereof.

Item, in the time of Chrysostom, it appeareth there was no such assoyling at the Priests hands, by these words where he saith: I require thee not that thou shouldest confess thy sins to thy fellow servant. Tell them unto God, who careth for them.

Item, the said Chrysostom in another place writing upon repentance, and confession: Let the examination of thy sins, and thy judgment (saith he) be secrete and close without witness. Let God only see and hear thy confession. &c.

Item, in the time of Ambrose, De poenit. Dist. 1. Petrus, the gloss of the Popes own decrees recordeth: That the institution of Baptism was not then begun, which now in our days is in use.

Item, it is truly said therefore of the Glose in another place, where he testifieth: That this institution of penance began rather of some tradition of the universal church, then of any authority of the New Testament, or of the old. &c.

The like also testifieth Erasm. writing upon Jerome in these words. Apparet tempore Hieronymi nondum institutam fuisse. &c. That is: It appeareth, that in the time of Jerome, this secrete confession of sins was not yet ordained, which the church afterward did institute holesomely, if our Priests and lay men would use it rightly. But herein, divines not considering advisedly what the old doctors do say, are much deceived. That which they say of general and open confession, they wrast by and by to this privy and secrete kind of confession, which is far diverse, and of another sort. &c.

The like testimony may also be taken of Gracian himself, who speaking of confession used then in his time, leaveth the matter in doubtful suspense, neither pronouncinge on the one side, nor on the other, but referreth y ^e matter to the free judgment of the Readers, which the act of these six Articles here enjoineth as necessary, under pain of death.

Briefly, in few words to search out and notify the very certain time, when this Article of ear confession first crept into the Church, & what antiquity it hath in following the Judgment of Johannes Scotus, and of Antoninus, it may be well▪ supposed, that the institution thereof took his first origin by Pope Innocent the third, in his Council of Lateran, An. 1215. For so we read in Johannes Scotus Lib. 4. Sent. Dist. 17. Artic. 3. Praecipua autem specificatio huius praecepti inuenitur in illo cap. Extra. de poenit. & remiss. Omnis vtriusque sexus. &c. And after in the same Article it followeth: Nam ex prima institution Ecclesiae non videntur fuisse Distincti proprij sacerdotes. Quando enim Apostoli hinc & inde ibant praedicando verbum Dei. &c. By the which words it appeareth that there was no institution of any such confession specified before the constitution of Innocentius the third.

But more plainly the same may appear by the words of Antoninus in 3. parte Histor. Whyche be these Innocentius tertius in Concilio generali praedicto, circa Sacramenta confessionis & communionis sic statuit: Omnis vtriusque sexus fidelis, postquam ad annum discretionis peruenerit, omnia peccata sua solus saltem semel in anno confiteatur proprio sacerdoti, & iniunctam sibi poenitentiam proprijs viribus studeat adimplere, alioqu • & viuens ab ingressu Ecclesiae arceatur, & moriens Christiana careat sepultura. Vnde hoc salutare statutum frequenter in Ecclesijs publicetur: ne quisquam ignorantiae coecitate velamen excusationis assumat. &c. That is to say. Pope Innocent the 3. in his general Council aforesaid, touching the Sacraments of confession and the communion, made this constitution as followeth. That every faithful person, both man & woman, after they come to the years of discretion, shall confess all their sins by themselves alone, at least once a year, to their own ordinary priest, and shall endeavor to fulfil by their own strength, their penance to them enjoined. Or else who so doth not, shall neither have entrance into the Church being alive, nor being dead shall enjoy Christian burial. Wherefore rhis wholesome constitution we will to be published often in the Churches, least any man through the blindness of ignorance may make to them selves a cloke of excuse. &c. And thus much hitherto we have alleged by occasion incident of these six Articles for some part of confutation of the same, referring the reader for the rest, to the more exquisite tractation of Divines, which professedlye write upon those matters.

In the mean time, for as much as there is extante in Latin a certain learned Epistle of Philippe Melancthon, written to king Henry against these vi. wicked Articles above specified, I thought not to defraud the reader of the fruit thereof, for his better understanding and instruction. The tenor and effect of his Epistle translated into English, thus followeth.

Intreating a little before, page 1143. of certain old instruments for proof of Priests lawful Marriage in times past, I gave a little touch of a certain record taken out of an old Martyrologe of the Church of Cant. touching Liuingus a priest, and his wife, in the time of Lanfrancke. Wherein I touched also of certain lands and houses restored again by the said Lanfrancke to the Church of S. Andrew. Now for as much as the perfect note thereof is more fully come to my hands, and partly considering the restoring of the said lands, to be to Christ's Church in Canterbury, and not S. Andrew in Rochester: and also for that I have found some other presidentes approving the lawful Marriage of Priests, and legitimation of their children, I thought good for the more full satisfying of the reader, to enter the same, as followeth.

The history concerning the life, acts, and death of the famous and worthy Counselor Lord Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex.

THomas Cromwell although borne of a simple parentage, and house obscure, through the singular excellency of wisdom and dexterity of wit wrought in him by God, coupled with like industry of mind and deserts of life, rose to high preferrement and authority, in so much that by steppes and stairs of office and honor, he ascended at length to that, that not only he was made Earl of Essex, but also most secret and dear Counselor to king Henry, and Uicegerent unto his person, which office hath not commonly been supplied, at least not so fruitfully discharged with in this Realm.

First as touching his birth, he was borne at Putney or thereabout, being a Smiths son, whose mother married after unto a shyreman. In the simple estate & rude begynnyngs of this man (as of diverse other before him) we may see and learn that the excellency of noble virtues & heroical prowesses, which advance to fame and honor, stand not only upon birth & blood, as privileges only intayled appropriate to noble houses: but are disposed indifferently & proceed of the gift of God, who raiseth up the poor object many times out of the donghill, & matcheth him in throne with Peers and Princes. Psal. 113.

As touching the order and manner of his coming up, it would be superfluous to discourse what may be said at large: only by way of story it may suffice to give a touch of certain particulars, and so to proceed. Although the humble condition and poverty of this mā was at the beginning (as it is to many other) a great let & hinderaūce for virtue to show her self, yet such was the activity and forward rypenes of nature in him so pregnaūt in wit & so ready he was, in judgment discret, in tongue eloquent, in service faithful, in stomach courageous, in his pen active, that being conuersaūt in the sight of mē, he could not long be vnespied, not yet unprovided of favor & help of friends to set him forward in place and office. Neither was any place or office put unto him, whereunto he was not apt & fit. Nothyng was so hard which with wit and industry he could not cōpass. Neither was his capacity so good, but his memory was as great in retaining whatsoever he had attained. Which well appeared in cannyng the text of the whole New Testament of Erasmus translation without book, in his journey going and coming from Rome: whereof ye shall hear anon.

Thus in his growing years, as he shot up in age, and ripeness, a great delight came in his mind to stray into foreine countries, to see the world abroad, and to learn experience: whereby he learned such tongues and languages, as might better serve for his use hereafter.

And thus passing over his youth, being at Antwerpe, he was there retained of the English Marchauntes to be their Clerke or Secretary, or in some such like condition placed pertaining to their affairs.

It happened the same time, that the Town of Boston thought good to send up to Rome, for renewing of their two Pardons, one called the great Pardon, the other the lesser Pardon. Which thing although it should stand them in great expenses of money (for the Popes Marchaundise is always dear ware) yet notwithstanding such sweetness they had felt thereof, and such gain to come to their Town by that Romish Marchandise (as all superstition is commonly gaynefull) that they like good Catholic Marchauntes, and the Popes good customers, thought to spare for no cost, to have their leases again of their Pardons renewed, whatsoever they paid for the fine. And yet was all this good Religion then: such was the lamentable blindness of that time.

This then being so determined & decreed amongst my coūtreymen of Boston, to have their pardons needs repaired & renewed from Rome, one Geffray Chābers with another companion was sent for y ^e messengers, with writings & money, no small quātity, well furnished, & with all other things appointed, necessary for so chargeable & costly exployt, who coming in his journey to Antwarpe, & misdoubting himself to be too weak for the compassing of such a weighty piece of work, cōferred & persuaded with Tho. Cromwell to associate him in that legacy, and to assist him in the contriving thereof. Cromwell although perceiving the enterprise to be of no small difficulty, to traverse the Popes Court, for the unreasonable expenses amongst those greedy cormorantes, yet having some skill of the Italian tongue, and as yet not grounded in judgment of religion in those his youthful days, was at length obtained and content to give the adventure, and so took his journey toward Rome. Cromwell loath to spend much time, & more loath to spend his money: and again perceiving that the Popes greedy humor must needs be served with some present or other (for without rewards there is no doing at Rome) began to cast with himself, what thing best to devise, wherein he might best serve the Popes devotion.

At length, having knowledge how that the Popes holy tooth greatly delited in new fangled strange delicates, and dayntie dishes, it came in his mind to prepare certain fine dishes of gelly, after the best fashion, made after our country manner here in England, which to them of Rome was not known nor seen before.

This done, Cromwell observing his time accordyngly, as the Pope was newly come frō hunting into his pauillion, he with his companions approached with his english presents brought in with a three man's song (as we call it) in the English tongue, and all after y ^e English fashion. The Pope suddenly marueiling at the straungenes of the song, and understanding that they were Englishmen, and that they came not empty handed, willed them to be called in. Crōwell there showing his obedience, & offering his iolye junkets, such as Kings and Princes only (said he) in the realm of Englaād use to feed upon, desired y ^e same to be accepted in beneuolent part, which he and his companions as poor suitors unto his holiness, had there brought and presented, as novelties meet for his recreation, &c.

Pope Julius seeing the straungenes of the dishes, commanded by and by his Cardinal to take the assay. Who in tasting thereof, liked it so well, and so likewise the Pope after him, that knowing of them what their suits were, and requiring them to make known the making of that meat, he incontinent without anymore ado, stamped both their pardons, as well the greater as the lesser.

And thus was the iolye pardons of the Town of Boston obtained as you have heard, for the maintenance of their decayed porte. The copy of which Pardons (which I have in my hands) briefly comprehended, cometh to this effect: That all the brethren and sisters of the gylde of our Lady in S. Botulphes church at Boston, should have free license to choose for their confessor or ghostly father, whom they would, either seculare Prieste, or religious person, to assoil them plenarely from all their sins, except only in cases reserved to the Pope.

Also should have license to carry about with them an alter stone whereby they might have a Priest to say them Mass, or other divine service, where they would, without prejudice of any other Church or Chapel, though it were also before the day, yea and at three of the clock after midnight in the Summer time.

Furthermore, that all such brethren and sisters of the said gilde, which should resort to y ^e chapel of our Lady in S. Botulphes Church at the feast of Easter, Whitsuntide, Corpus Christi, the Natiuitie or Assumption of our Lady, or in y ^e Octaues of them, the feast of S. Michael, and first Sunday in Lent, should have Pardon no less then if they themselves personally had visited the Stations of Rome.

Provided that every such person, man or woman, entering into the same gilde, at his first entrance should give to the finding of vii. Priests, xii. Queresters, & xiii. beademen, and to the lights of y ^e same brotherhoode & a Grammar school, vi. shillings viii. pence, and for every year after, xii. pence.

And these premisses being before granted by Pope Innocentius, and Pope Julius 2. this Pope Clement also confirmed, granting moreover, that whatsoever brother or sister of the same gylde thorough poverty, sickness, or any other let could not resort personally to the said chapel, notwithstanding he should be dispensed withal, as well for that, as for all other vows, irregularities, censures Canonical whatsoever, only the vow of going the Stations of Rome, and going to S. James of Compostella excepted, &c.

He also granted unto them power to receive full remission A poena & culpa once in their life, or in the hour of death.

Item, that having their alter stone, they might have Mass said in any place, though it were unhallowed. Also in the time of interdict, to have Mass or any Sacrament ministered: and also being departed, that they might be buried in Christian burial notwithstanding the interdict.

Extending moreover his grant, that to all such brethren and sisters, in resorting to the foresaid Chapel of our Lady upon the Natiuitie, or Assumption of our Lady, giving supportation to the said Chapel, at every such Festival day, to have full remission of all their sins. Or if they for any impediment could not be present at the Chapel aforesaid, yet if they came to their own Parish Church, and there said one Pater noster, and Ave Maria, they should enjoy the same remission above specified: or whosoever came every Friday to the same Chapel, should have as much remission, as if he went to the Chapel of our Lady called Scala coeli.

Furthermore, that whatsoever Christ̄ people, of what estate or condition soever, either spiritual or temporal, would aid & support the chamberlaines or substitutes of y ^e foresaid gylde, should have five hundredth years of pardon.

Item, to all brothers and sisters of the same gylde was granted free liberty to eat in time of Lent, or other Fasting days, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and also flesh, by the counsel of their ghostly father and physician, without any scruple of conscience.

Item, that all partakers of the same gylde, and being supporters thereof, which once a quarter, or every Friday or Saturday, either in the said Chapel in S. Botulphes Church, or any other Chapel, of their devotion shall say a Pater noster, Ave Maria, and Creed, or shall say or cause to be said Masses for souls departed in pains of Purgatory, shall not only have the full remission due to them which visit the Chapel of Scala Coeli, or of S. John Lateran, but also the souls in Purgatory shall enjoy full remission, and be released of all their pains.

Item, that all the souls departed of the brothers and sisters of the said gylde: also the souls of their fathers and mothers shall be partakers of all the prayers, suffragies, almoses, fastings, masses, and matins, pilgrimages, and of all other good deeds of all the holy Church militant forever, &c.

These indulgencies, pardons, grauntes, and relaxations, were given and granted by Pope Nicholas the fifth, Pope Pius 2. Pope Sixtus, and Pope Julius the second, of which Pope Julius it seemeth, that Cromwell obtained this Pardon aforesaid about the year of our Lord 1510. Which Pardon again afterward through the request of King Henry, an. 1526. was confirmed by Pope Clement the seventh. And thus much concerning the pardon of Boston, renewed by the means of Thomas Cromwell, of Pope Julius the second.

All this while it appeareth, that Cromwell had yet no sound taste nor judgment of Religion, but was wild & youthful, without sense or regard of God and his word as he himself was wont ofttimes to declare unto Cranmer Archbishop of Cant. showing what a ruffine he was in his young days, and how he was in the wars of duke Bourbon at the siege of Rome, also what a great doer he was with Geffray Chambers in publishing and setting forth the pardon of Boston everywhere in Churches as he went, and so continued, till at length by learning the text of the new Testament without book, of Erasmus translation in his going and coming from Rome (as is aforesaid) he began to be touched and called to better understanding.

In this mean time Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York began to bear a great port in England, and almost to rule all under the King, or rather with the King, so that the freshest wits, and of best towardness, most commonly sought unto him. Among whom was also Thomas Cromwell to his service advanced, where he continued a certain space of years, growing up in office and authority, till at length he was preferred to be solicitor to the Cardinal.

There was also about the same time, or not much different, in the household of the said Cardinal, Tho. More, afterward knight and Chancelor of England: & Steuē Gardener Bishop after of Wint. and of the Kings Coūsails. All these three were brought up in one household, and all of one standing almost together. Whose ages as they were not greatly discrepant, nor their wits much unequal: so neither was their fortune and aduauncementes greatly diverse, albeit their dispositions and studies were most contrary. And though peradventure in More and in Gardener there was more art of letters, and skill of learning: yet notw ^t standing there was in this mā a more heavenly light of mind, & more prompt & perfect judgment, eloquence equal, and as may be supposed, in this man more pregnant: and finally in him was wrought a more heroical and princely dispositiō, borne to greater affairs in the common wealth, and to the singular help of many.

It happened that in this mean season, • Cromwell was placed in this office to be solicitor to the Cardinal, the said Cardinal had then in hand the building of certain Colleges, namely his College in Oxford, called then Frideswide, now Christ's Church. By reason whereof, certain small monasteries and priories, in diverse places of the realm, were by the said Cardinal suppressed, and the lands ceased to the Cardinals hands. The doing whereof was committed to the charge of Thomas Cromwell. In the expedition whereof he shown himself very forward, and industrious, in such sort as in y ^e handling thereof, he procured to himself much grudge with diverse of the superstitious sort, and with some also of noble calling about the King. And thus was Cromwell first set a work by the Cardinal, to suppress religious houses. Which was about the year of our Lord 1525.

As this passed on, it was not long, but the Cardinal which had gotten up so high, began to come down as fast, first from the Chauncellorship (in which room was placed Sir Tho. More, as is aforesaid) then he fell into a Premunire: So that his household being dissolved, Tho. Cromwell amongst other, labored also to be retained into the Kings service.

There was at the same time one Syr Christopher Hales Knight, Master of the Rolls, who notwithstanding was then a mighty Papist, yet bare he such favor and good liking to Cromwell, that he commended him to the King, as a man most fit for his purpose, having then to do against the Pope. But here before is to be understand, that Cromwell had greatly been complained of, and diffamed by certain of authority about the King, for his rude manner and homely dealing in defacing the Monks houses, & in handling of their aultars, &c. Wherefore y ^e king hearing of the name of Cromwell, began to detest y ^t mention of him: neither lacked there some standers by, who w ^t reviling words ceased not to increase and inflame y ^e kings hatred against him. What their names were, it shall not need here to recite. Among other there present at the same hearing, was the Lord Russell Earl of Bedforde, whose life Cromwell before had preserved at Bononye, through political conveyance, at what time, the said Earl coming secretly in the kings affairs, was there espied, and therefore being in great danger to be taken, through the means and policy of Cromwell escaped.

This Lord Russell therefore not forgetting the old benefits past, & with like gravity willing again to requite that he had received, in a vehement boldness stood forth, to take upon him the defense of Thomas Cromwell, uttering before the king many commendable words in the behalf of him, and declaring withal how by his singular device and policy, he had done for him at Bononie, being there in the Kings affairs, in extreme peril. And for as much as now his Majesty had to do with the Pope, his great enemy, there was (he thought) in all England none so apt for the kings purpose, which could say or do more in that matter, then could Thomas Cromwell, and partly gave the king to understand wherein. The king hearing this, & specially markyng the latter end of his talk, was contented and willing to talk with him, to hear and know what he could say.

This was not so privily done, but Cromwell had knowledge incontinent, that the king would talk with him, & whereupon: & therefore prouidyng before hand for matter, had in a readynesse the copy of the Bishops oath, which they use commonly to make to the Pope at their consecration: and so being called for, was brought to the king in his garden at Westminster, which was about the year of our Lord. 1530.

Cromwell after most loyal obeysaūce, doing his duty to the king, according as he was demanded, made his declaration in all pointes, this especially making manifest unto his highness, how his Princely authority was abused within his own Realm, by the Pope & his Clergy, who being sworn unto him, were afterward dispensed from the same, & sworn a new unto the Pope, so that he was but as half king, and they but half his subjects in his own land: which (said he) was derogatory to his crown, and utterly prejudicial to the common laws of his Realm: Declaryng therupō how his Majesty might accumulate to himself great riches, so much as all y ^e Clergy in his Realm was worth, if it so pleased him to take the occasion now offered. The king giving good ear to this, and likyng right well his advice, required, if he could avouch that which he spake. All this he could (he said) avouch to be certain, so well, as that he had the copy of their own oath to the Pope, there present to show, and that no less also he could manifestly prove, if his highness would give him leave: & therewith shown the Bishops oath unto the king.

The king following the vein of his counsel, took his ring of his finger, & first admittyng him into his service, sent him therewith to the Conuocation house among the Bishops. Cromwell coming with the kings signet boldly into the Clergy house, and there placyng himself among the Bishops (W. Warham being then Archbyshop) begā to make his Oration, declaring to them the authority of a king, and the office of subjects, and especially the obedience of Bishops & Churchmen under public laws, necessarily provided for the profit & quiet of the common wealth. Which laws notwithstanding they had all transgressed, & highly offended in derogation of the kings royal estate, falling in the law of Premunire, in that no • only they had consented to the power Legatiue of the Cardinal, but also in that they had all sworn to the Pope, contrary to the fealty of their sovereign Lord the king, & therefore had forfeyted to the king all their goods, cattels, lands, possessions, and whatsoever livings they had. The Bishops hearing this, were not a little amazed, and first began to excuse and deny the fact. But after that Cromwell had shown them the very copy of their oath made to the Pope at their consecration, and the matter was so plain, that they could not deny it, they begā to shrink, and to fall to entreaty, desiring respite to pause upon the matter. Notwithstandyng the end thereof fell so out, that to be quite of that Premunire, by Act of Parliament, it cost them to the king for both the provinces, Canterbury and York, no less then .118840. pounds, which was about the year of our Lord. 1530. whereof before you may read more at large, pag. 1020.

After this. an. 1522. Syr Thomas Cromwell growing in great favor with the king, was made Knight & Master of the kings Jewel house, & shortly after was admitted also into the kings Coūsails, which was about the coming in of Queen Anne Boleyn. Furthermore, within two years ofter the same. an. 1524. he was made Master of the Rolls, Doct. Taylor being discharged.

Thus Cromwell springyng up in favor and honor, after this, in the year .1527. a little before the birth of king Edward, was made Knight of the Garter, & not long after, was advanced to the Earldom of Essex, and made great Chamberlain of England. Ouer and besides all which honors, he was constitute also Uicegerent to the king, representyng his person. Which office although it standeth well by the law, yet seldom hath there been seen any besides this Cromwell alone, either to have sustained it, or else to have so furnished the same with counsel and wisdom, as Cromwell did. And thus much hitherto concerning the steppes and degrees of the Lord Cromwell's risyng up to dignity and high estate.

Now somewhat would be said likewise of the noble Acts, the memorable examples, and worthy virtues not drowned by ease of honor in him, but increased rather, & quickened by aduauncemēt of authority & place, to work more abundantly in the common wealth. Among y ^t which his worthy acts and other manifold virtues, in this one chiefly above all other riseth his commendation, for his singular zeal and laborious travail bestowed in restoring the true Church of Christ, and subuerting the Synagogue of Antichrist, the Abbeys, I mean, and religious houses of Friers and Monks. For so it pleased almighty God by the means of the said Lord Cromwell, to induce the King to suppress first the Chauntries, then the Friers houses and small Monasteries, till at length all the Abbeys in England both great and less, were utterly overthrown and plucked up by the roots. The which act and enterprise of him, as it may give a president of singular zeal to all Realms christened, which no Prince yet to this day scarce dare follow: so to this Realm of England it wrought such benefit & commodity, as the fruit thereof yet remaineth, and will remain still in the Realm of England, though we seem little to feel it. Rudely and simply I speak what I suppose, without prejudice of other which can infer any better reason. In the mean time my reason is this: that if God had not raised up this Cromwell as he did, to be the instrument of rooting out of the Abbeys and Celles of strange religion, what other men see, I know not: for my part I never yet saw in this Realm any such Cromwell since Cromwell's time, whose heart and courage might not sooner have been subverted with the money and bribes of Abbots, then he to have subverted any Abbey in all England.

But here I must of necessity answer the complaint of certain of our countrymen. For so I hear of many, the subversion of these Monasteries to be reprehended, as evil and wicked. The building (say they) might have been converted unto schools and houses of learning. The goods and possessions might have been bestowed to much better and more godly use of the poor, and maintaining of hospitality. Neither do I deny, but that these things are well and godly spoken of them, and could willingly embrace their opinion with my whole heart, if I did not consider herein a more secret and deeper meaning of God's holy providence, then at the first blush peradventure to all men doth appear.

And first to omit the wicked and execrable life of these religious orders, full of all feditie, & found out by the Kings visitours, and in their Registers also recorded, so horrible to be heard, so incredible to be believed, so stinking before the face of God and man, that no marvel it is if God's vengeance from heaven provoked, would not suffer any stone or monument of these abhominable houses to be vnplucked up. But (as I said) letting these things pass under chaste silence, which for very shame will abhor any story to disclose: let us now come to the first institution of these orders and houses of Monkerie, and consider howe and to what end they were first instituted and erected here among the Saxons, at the first foundation of them, about the time 666.

In the former parte of this Hystorie, declaration was made before, page 133.134. first by whom, and at what time these Monkish houses here in England among the Saxons (flowing no doubt out of the order of Saint Benet, and brought in by Augustine) began first to be founded, as by Augustine the Monk, Furseus, Medulphus, Aidanus, Ceadda, king Ulferus, Oswius, Elfreda, King Oswys daughter, Kineburga, Hilda, Botulphus, Edeldreda, King Oswald, Edgar, Erkenewaldus Bishop, Ethelwoldus Bishop of Winchester, Osketellus Archbishop of York, Oswaldus Bishop of Worcester, Leswinus Bishop of Dorcester, Dunstane, and diverse other.

The end and final cause why they were built, appeareth in stories to be, pro remission & redemptione peccatorum: pro remedio & liberatione animae: pro amore coelestis patriae: in eleemosinam animae: in remissionem criminum: pro salute Regnorum: pro salute & requie animarum patrum & matrum, fratrum, & sororum nostrarum parentum, & omnium benefactorum: in honorem gloriosae Virginis, &c. As may appear in ancient histories, in old Charters and donations unto religious houses, and in the Chronicle of Ingulphus, as also all other stories be full of the same.

So King Ethelstane for killing his brother Edwin, built two Monasteries, Midleton, and Michelneye, for his soul, page. 152. Which doctrine and institution, for so much as it tendeth and soundeth directly against the foundation of Christian religion, against the Testament of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the freedom of our redemption, and free justification by faith, it is therefore to be condemned as execrable and horrible, as evil or worse then the life of the persons, and not only worthy to be suppressed to the foundation, but to be marvelled rather that God would suffer it to stand so long. Albeit God's mighty vengeance and scourge hath not ceased from time to time, to work against such impious foundations from the time of their first setting up. For besides the invasions of the Danes, (which may seem to be stirred up of God, especially for the subversion of Abbeys) let old histories be searched, what Monastery almost in all this Realm, was either left by the Danes, or reedified again after the Danes, but by some notorious casualty of fire sent by God's hand, it hath been burnt up.

First, the Monastery of Canterbury, called the house of S. Gregory, was burnt, an. 1145. and afterward again burnt, an. 1174. Ex hist. Geruasij.

The Abbey of Croyland also was twice burnt. Ex hist. Ingulphi.

The Abbey of Peterborow twice set on fire, an. 1070. Ex Chron. Peterb.

The Abbey of S. Mary's in York burnt, with the hospital also.

The Abbey of Norwich burnt.

The Abbey of S. Edmunds Bury burnt and destroyed. Ex Chron. S. Edmund.

The Abbey of Worcester burnt.

The Abbey of Gloucester was also burnt.

The Abbey of Chichester burnt.

The Abbey of Glastenbury burnt.

The Abbey of S. Mary in Southwarke burnt.

The Church of the Abbey at Beuerley burnt.

The steeple of the Abbey of Euesham burnt.

These, with many other monasteries mo, God brought down to the ground, so that few or none of all the Monastical foundations in all England, either before the Conquest escaped the hands of the Danes and Scots, or else after the Conquest escaped destruction of fire, and that not without ius • •• use deserved: for as the trade of their lives was too too wretched and bestial, so the profession of their doctrine was intolerable, fraught with all superstition, full of much Idolatry, and utterly contrary to the grace of the Gospel and doctrine of Christ.

Furthermore, the more these Abbeys multiplied, and the longer they continued, in time the more corruption still they drew unto them. And albeit we read the name of Monks to have continued from the old ancient time, yet notwithstanding the Monks of those days were not like to the Monks of our time, nor their houses then, like to our Abbeys now. So we read of the Monks of Bangor before the coming of Augustine: but those Monks got their living with toil and labor of their hands, and had no other lands nor lordships to live vpō. Again, neither were they as Ministers then, but as Laye men: according as Jerome describeth the Monks of his time, saying: Monachus non docentis, sed plangentis habet officium. And again he saith: Alia causa est Monachi, alia Clerici. Clerici oues pascunt. Ego pascor. That is, A Monks office is not to preach, but to mourn. The state of a Monk is one thing, and the state of a Priest is another. Priests feed the flock of Christ. I am fed, &c.

Also in the story of Ingulphus Abbot of Croylande, thus I find, an. 1075. In Croylandiam primum installatus inueni tunc in isto Monasterio Croylandesi Monachos numero, 62. Quorum quatuor laici fratres erant, praeter aliorum Monasteriorum Monachos nostri capituli conprofessos, &c. That is, Being installed in the Abbey of Croyland, I found there to the number of lxij. Monks. Of which Monks, four of them were lay brethren, besides the Monks of other Monasteries, which were also professed to our Chapter, &c.

The like matter also appeareth in the fourth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon, where it is provided Ne Monachi se Ecclesiasticis negotijs immisceant, &c. Et Leo Epist. 62. Vetat Monachos & laicos etsi scientiae nomine glorientur, admitti ad officium docendi & concionandi. Whereof read more page. 154.

Thus it appeareth about or before the time of Jerome, that Monks in the first persecutions of the Primitive Church were lay men, and companies of Christians associating themselves together, either for fear of persecution, or for eschewing the company of heathen Gentiles. Afterward in continuance of time, when the Gentiles began to be called to Christianity, the monks yet keeping their name, & growing in superstition, would not join with other Christians, but keep still their brotherhoodes, dividing themselves from other Christians, and professing a kind of life strange and diverse from the common trade. Upō this diversity of life and profession, followed also like diversity of garments and attire differing from their other brethren. After this moreover came in the rule of S. Benedict, enjoining to them a prescribed form of going, of wearing, of watching, sleeping, rising, praying, of silence, sole life and diet, and all things almost differing from the vulgar sort of common Christians.

Whereby men seeing their austerity, began to have them in great admiration. And thus growing up in opinion of ho •• nes, of lay men and laborers they came at length to be Clergy men, and greatest doers of all other in Christ's religion: In so much that at last there was none reputed almost for a religious man or perfect Christian unless he were a monk: neither almost was any advanced to any dignity of the Church, but either he was a monk, or afterward he put on a monks weed: According as in the stories of this Realm is to be seen, howe in the time of Dunstane Archbishop of Canterbury, of Aethelwold Bishop of Worcester, and of Oswald Bishop of Winchester, Pope John. 13. writing to king Edgar, willed him in his letters, to see in his Cathedral Churches none to be promoted to be Bishops, but such as were of the Monastical religion, and willed him moreover to exclude the secular prebendaries at Winchester, and to place in Monks, and that none of the secular Clerks there should be chosen bishop, but either taken out of the same Convent of that church, or of some other Abbey.

So was also king Henry the second commanded to do in the house of Waltham, where the secular Canons were removed out, and regular Canons intruded. The same did Oswald Bishop with the Church of Worcester, likewise in their Sees did Dunstane Archbishop of Canterbury, Osketellus Archbishop of York, Aethelwold Bishop of Worcester (who in story is reported to be Multorum fundator Monasteriorum, ) Leswinus also Bishop of Dorcester, with other Bishops moe about the time and reign of king Edgar. • do Archbishop of Canterbury before Dunstane, an. 934. after his election refused to take that dignity upon him, before he had received the habit of a monk in the Abbey of Florence in France, because as the story telleth (if it be true) Nullus ad id tempus nisi monachali schemate indutus, Archiepiscopus fuisset. &c. That is, Because all the Archbishops of Canterbury before him, had been Monks. &c. In like manner Baldwinus also an. 1114. after he was elected Archb. of Canterbury, took upon him the habit and profession of Mereton Abbey. And so did Reginaldus his next successor after him. &c.