Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Account 22 · Oration 1
*The Oration of D. Brokes Bishop of Glocester vntounto D. Cranmer Archb. of Caunt. in the church of S. Mary at Oxford. Anno. 1556. March. 12.
WHen after many meanes vsed, they perceiued that the Archbishop would not moue his bonet, the Bishop proceded in these wordes folowing.
The Oration of Bish. brookes.My Lord, at this present we are come to you as Commissioners, and for you, not intruding our selues by our owne authority, but sent by Commission, partly from the Popes holines, partly from the king and Queenes moste excellent Maiesties, not to your vtter discomfort, but to your comfort, if you will your self. We come not to iudge you, but to put you in remembraunce of that you hauehave bene, & shall be. Neither come we to dispute with you, but to examine you in certayne matters: which being done, to make relation thereof, to him that hath power to iudge you. The first being well taken, shall make the second to be well taken. For if you of your part, be moued to come to a conformity, then shall not onelyonly we of our side take ioy of our examination, but also they that hauehave sent vsus.
And first, as charity doth moue vsus, I would think good, somewhat to exhort you, and that by the second chapiter of S. Iohn in the Apoc. Memor esto vnde excideris,Apoc. …. & age poenitentiam, & prima opera fac. Sin minus. i. Remember from whence thou art fallen, and do the first workes. Or if not, and so as ye knowe what foloweth. Remember your selfe from whence you hauehave fallen. You hauehave fallen from the Vniuersall and Catholicke Churche of Christe, from the verye true and receiued fayth of all Christendome, and that by open heresye. You hauehave fallen from your promise to God, from your fidelitye and allegeaunce, and that by open preaching, mariage, and adultery. You hauehave fallen from your soueraigne prince and Queene by open treason.Heres…e, …, treason, … to Doct. Cranmer. Remember therfore from whence you are fallen. Your fall is great, the daunger can not be sene. Wherefore when I say, remember from whence you hauehave fallen, I put you in mind not onelyonly of your fall, but also of the state you were in before your fal. You were sometime as land other poore men, in a meane estate. God I take to witnesse I speake it to no reproche or abasement of you, but to put you in memory, how god hath called you from a low to an high degree, from one degree to another,… from better to better, & neuer gaue you ouer, till he had appoynted you Legatum natum, Metropolitanum Angliae, Pastorem gregis sui. Such great trust did he put you in, in his Church. What could he doe more? for euen as he ordeined Moyses to be a ruler ouer his Churche of Israell, and gaue him full authority vponupon the same: so did he make you ouer his Church of England. And when did he this for you? forsooth when you gaue no occasion or cause of mistruste either to hym, or to his Magistrates. For although it be coniectured, that in all your time, ye were not vpright in the honour and faith of Christ, but rather set vppe of purpose as a fitte instrument, whereby the Church might be spoyled, and brought into ruine, yet may it appeare by many your doings otherwise, and I for my part, as it behoueth ech one of vsus shall thinke the best. For who was thought as then more deuout? who was more religious in the face of the world? Who was thought to hauehave more cōscience of a vow making, and obseruing the order of the Church, more earnest in the defence of the reall presence of Christes bodye and bloude in the Sacrament of the aultar then ye were? and then all things prospered with you: your Prince fauored you, yea, God himselfe fauoured you: your candlesticke was set vp in the highest place of the Church, and the light of your candle was ouer all the Churche. I would God it had so continued still.
But after you beganne to fall by Schisme, and would not acknowledge the Popes holines as supreame head: but would stoutly vphold the vnlawfull requestes of king Henry the 8. & would beare with that should not be borne withall, then began you to fansy vnlawfull libertye, and when you had exiled good conscience, then ensued a great shipwracke in the Sea, whiche was out of the true and Catholicke Churche, cast into the sea of desperation, for as he saith, That is, without the Church there is no saluation.Extra Ecclesiam non est salus. When you had forsaken GOD, God forsooke you, and gaue you ouer to your owne will, and suffered you to fall from Schisme to Apostacy, frō Apostacy to heresy, from heresy to periury, from periury to treason, and so in conclusion, into the full indignation of our soueraigne prince which you may thinke a iust punishment of god, for your other abhominable opinions.
After that, ye fell lower and lower, & now to the lowest degree of all, to the end of honor & life. For if the light of your candle be as it hath bene hitherto duskey, your candlesticke is like to be remoued, & hauehave a great fal, so low and so farre out of knowledge, that it shalbe quite out of Gods fauour, and past all hope of recouery: That is, for in hell there is no redemption. That is, remember from whēce thou hast fallen.Quia in inferno nulla est redemptio. The daūger wher of being so great, very pity causeth me to say: That is, for in hell there is no redemption. That is, remember from whēce thou hast fallen.Memor esto vnde excideris. I adde also, and whether you fall.
But here peraduenture you will say to me: what sir, my fall is not so great as you make it. I hauehave not yet fallen from the catholicke Church. For that is not the Catholicke Churche, that the Pope is head of. There is an other Church. But as touching that, I aunswere: you are sure of that as the Donatistes were, for they sayd that they hadde the true Church, and that the name of the true Christians remayned onelyonly in Aphricke, where onelyonly theyr sedicious sect was preached, and as you thinke, so thought Nouatus, that all they that did acknowledge theyr supreame head at the Sea of Rome▪ were out of the Church of Christ. But here saynt Cyprian defending Cornelius agaynst Nouatus, Libro secundo,Cyprian. lib. … Epist. 6. Epistola Sexta, sayth on this wise? Ecclesia vna est, quae cum sit vna intus & foris esse non potest. So that if Nouatus were in the true Churche: then was not Cornelius, who in deede by lawefull succession, succeeded Pope Fabian. Here S. Cyprian entendeth by the whole processe to proue, and concludeth thereupon, that the true Churche was onelyonly Rome. Gather you then what will folow of your fall. But you will say peraduenture, that ye fell not by heresy, and so sayde the Arrians, alledging for themselues that they had scripture, and going about to perswade their schisme by Scripture, for in deed they had more places by two & forty, which by theyr torture semed to depend vponupon Scripture, thē the Catholickes had.
So did the Martians prouoke theyr heresy to Scripture. But those are no Scriptures, for they are not truely alledged, nor truely interpreted, but vntruely wrested and wronge,Prouoking to the Scripture. according to theyr owne fantasies. And therefore were they all iustly condemned, for theyr wrong taking of the Scriptures: and the Churche replieth agaynst them, saying: Qui estis vos? quando? quid agitis in meo non Mei? The Churche sayeth, what make you here in my heritage? From whence came you? The Scripture is my inheritage. I am right heire therof. I holde it by true succession of the Apostles, for as the Apostles required mee to holde, so do I holde it. The Apostles hauehave receiued me, and put me in my right, and hauehave reiected you as bastardes, hauing no title thereunto.
Also ye will denie that you hauehave fallen by Apostasie,Breaking of vowes. by breaking your vow, & so Vigilantius sayd, in so much that he would admitte none to his ministerye, but those that had theyr wiues bagged with children. What now? Shall we say that Vigilantius did not fall therefore? Did not Donatus, and Nouatus fall because they sayed so, and brought Scripture for theyt defence? Then let vsus beleeue as we list, pretending well, and say so: nay, there is no manne so blinde that will saye so. For excepte the Church which condemneth them for theyr saye so, doe approue vsus for to doe so, then will shee condemne you also. So that your denyall will not stande. And therefore I tell you, remember from whence you hauehave fallen, and howe low ye shall fall, if you holde on as you doe beginne. But I trust you will not continue, but to reuoke your selfe in time, and the remedy foloweth·
That is, repent and do thy first workes.Age poenitentiam & prima opera fac, for by such meanes as ye hauehave fallen, ye must rise agayne. First, your hart hath fallen, then your tongue, and your penne, and besides your owne damage hath caused many more to fall. Therfore, first your hart must turne, and then shall the tongue and the penne be quickely turned: Sin minus, veniam tibi cito, & mouebo Candelabrum tuum de loco suo.
I neede not to teache you a methode to turne: you knowe the ready way your selfe. But I would God I coulde but exhorte you to the right and trueth, then the way should soone be found out. For if ye remember howe many he hauehave brought by abhominable heresy, into the way of perdition, I doubt not but very cō science would moue you, as muche for them, as for your selfe to come againe. And so would you spare neither tongue nor penne, if hart were once reformed: for as touching that poynt, the holye Ghost toucheth theyr hartes very neare, by the mouth of his holy Prophet Ezechiel, when he requireth the bloud of his flocke at the Priestes handes, for lacke of good and wholesome foode: how much more should this touch your guilty hart, hauing ouermuch diligence to teach them the waye of perdition, and feeding them with baggage and corrupt foode, whiche is heresye. Qui conuertere fecerit peccatorem ab errore vitae suae,Ezech. 33. saluam faciet animam suam a morte, & operiet multitudinem peccatorum suorum. He that shall conuert a sinner from hys wicked life, shall saue his soule from death, and shall couer the multitude of sinnes. So that if it be true that hee, who conuerteth a Synner saueth a soule, then the contrarye must needes be true, that he that peruerteth a soule, and teacheth him the way of perdition must needes be damned.
Orig. in Epist. Paul. ad Rom.Origenes super Paulū ad Romanos: The damnation of those that preacheth heresy, doth encrease to the day of iudgement. The more that perishe by hereticall doctrine the more grieuous shall theyr torment bee, that minister suche doctrine. Berengarius who seemed to feare that daunger,Berengarius. prouided for it in his life time, but not without a troubled and disquiet conscience. He did not onelyonly repent, but recant, and not so much for himselfe, as for them, whome he had with most pestilent heresyes infected. For as he lay in his death bedde vponupon Epiphany daye, he demaunded of them that were present, is this (quoth he) the day of Epiphany, & appearing of the Lord? They aunswered him, yea. Thē (quoth he) this day shall the Lord appeare to me, either to my comfort, eyther to my discomfort. This remorse argueth, that he feared the daunger of them whom he had taught, and ledde out of the faith of Christ. Origenes vponupon him sayth in this wise: Although hys owne bloud was not vponupon his head, for that he did repent, and was sory for his former errors, yet being conuerted he feared the bloud of them, whom hee had infected, and who receiued hys doctrine.
Let this moue you euen at the last poynt. In so much as your case is not vnlike to Beringarius, let your repentaunce bee like also. And what shoulde staye you (tell me) from this godlye returne? feare, that ye hauehave gone so farre, ye may not returne? nay, then I may saye as Dauid sayde? Illic trepidauerunt vbi non erat timor. Ye feare where you hauehave no cause to feare. For if ye repent and be hartely sory for your former heresy and apostacy, ye neede not to feare. For as God of his part is mercifull & gracious to the repentaunt sinner, so is the Kyng, so is the Queene mercifull, which ye may well perceiue by your owne case, since ye might hauehave suffered a great whiles agoe for treason committed agaynst her highnesse, but that ye hauehave bene spared & reserued vponupon hope of amendement, which she conceiued very good of you, but now as it seemeth is but a very desperate hope. And what do you thereby▪ *That is according to the hardnes of your hart ye treasure vp to your selfe anger in the day of wrath.Secundum duritiem cordis thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae.
Well, what it is thē, if feare do not hinder you? shame, to vnsay that, that you hauehave sayde? Nay it is no shame, vnlesse ye thinke it shame to agree with the true and the catholicke church of christ. And if that bee shame, then blame S. Paule, who persecuted the Disciples of Christ with sword, then blame S. Peter, who denyed his mayster Christ with an othe that he neuer knewe him. S. Cyprian before his returne being a witch. S. Augustine being ix. yeares out of the Church. They thought it no shame after their returne of that they hadde returned. Shall it then be shame for you to conuert and consent with the Churche of Christe? no, no.
What is it then that doth let you? Glory of the world? nay, as for the vanity of the world I for my part iudge not in you beyng a man of learning and knowing your estate.
And as for the losse of your estimation, it is tenne to one that where you were Archhishop of Caunterbury and Metropolitane of England, it is tenne to one (I say) that ye shall be as well still, yea and rather better.
And as for the winning of good men, there is no doubte but all that be here present, and the whole congregation of Christes Churche also will more reioyce of your returne, then they were sory for your fall. And as for the other, ye neede not to doubt for they shall all come after: and to say the truth, if you should lose them for euer, it were no force, ye should hauehave no losse thereby. I do not here touch them which should confirme your estimation. For as Sayncte Paule after his conuersion was receiued into the Church of Christ with wonderfull ioy to the whole congregation, euen so shall you be. The fame of your returne shall be spread abroade throughout all Christendome where your face was neuer knowne.
But you will say perhappes, your conscience will not suffer you. My Lord, there is a good conscience, and there is a bad conscience.A good conscience. The good conscience hauehave not they as S. Paul declareth to Timothe concerning Hymaeneus and Alexander. This euill & badde conscience is (sayth S. Cyprian) well to be knowne by his marke. What marke?Marke of an euill conscience. This conscience is marked with the print of heresy. This conscience is a noughty, filthy, and a bronded conscience, which I trust is not in you. I hauehave cōceiued a better hope of you then so, or els would I neuer go about to persuade or exhort you. But what conscience should stay you to returne to the Catholicke fayth and vniuersall Churche of Christ? what conscience doth separate you to that deuillish and seuerall Church? to a liberty which neuer had ground in the holy Scriptures? If you iudge your liberty to be good, then iudge you all Christendome to do euill besides you.
O what a presumptuous persuasiō is this, vpō this vtterly to forsake the church of Christ? VnderUnder what colour or pretence doe you this? for the abuses? as though in your Church were no abuses: yes that there were. And if you forsake the vniuersall Church for the abuses, why do you not thē forsake your particuler churche, and so be flitting from one to an other? That is not the nexte way, to slip from the church for the abuses: for if you had seene abuses, you should rather hauehave endeuored for a reformation then for a defection He is a good Chirurgeon who for a litle payne in the toe will cut of the whole leg. He helpeth well the tooth ache,Abuses in the Church require a reformation, and not a defection. which cutteth away the head by the shoulders. It is mere folly to amend abuses by abuses. Ye are like Diogenes: for Diogenes on a time enuying the clenlines of Plato, sayd on this wise: Ecce calco fastum Platonis. Plato answered, Sed alio fastu, So that Diogenes semed more faulty of the two.
But when we hauehave sayde all that we can, peraduenture you will say. I will not returne And to that I say, I will not aunswere. Neuerthelesse heare what Christ sayth to such obstinate and stifnecked people in the parable of the Supper. Whē he had sent out his men to cal them in that were appoynted, and they would not come, he bad his seruantes going into the wayes and streetes, to compell men to come in: Cogite intrare.Cogite intrare, Clarkely expounded. If then the Church wyll not lese any member that may be compelled to come in, ye must thinke it good to take the compulsion, least you loose your part of the supper which the Lord hath prepared for you: and this cō pulsion standeth well with charity.
But it may be perhaps, that some hath animated you to sticke to your tackle, & not to geue ouer, bearing you in hand that your opinion is good, and that ye shall dye in a good quarrell, & god shall accept your oblation. But heare what Christ sayth of a meaner gift: If thou come to the aultar to offer thy oblation, and knowest that thy brother hath somewhat to saye agaynst thee, leaue there thy gift, and go and be reconciled to thy brother,Math. 5· and then come and offer vp thy gift, or els thy brother will make thy offering vnsauery before God. This he sayd vntounto all the world, to the end they should know how theyr offeringes should be receiued, if they were not according.
Remember you therefore before you offer vp your offering, whether your gift be qualified or no. Remember the Churche of Rome and also of Englande, where not one onelyonly brother, but a number hauehave matter against you, so iust, that they wil make your burnt offering to stincke before God, except you be recōciled. If you muste needes appoynt vppon a Sacrifice, make yet a meane first to them that hauehave to lay agaynst you. I say no more then the Church hath allowed me to saye. For the sacrifice that is offered without the Church, is not profitable. The premises therfore cō sidered, for gods sake, I say, Memor esto vnde excideris, & age paenitentiam, & prima opera fac. Sin minus. &c. Cast not your selfe away, spare your bodye, spare your soule, spare them also whome you hauehave seduced, spare the shedding of Christes bloud for you in vayne. Harden not your hart, acknowledge the trueth, yelde to the prescript word of God, to the catholicke Church of Rome, to the receiued veritie of all Christendome. Wedde not your selfe to your owne selfewill. Stand not to much in your owne conceyt,Melle lita pernic…es. thinke not your selfe wiser then all Christendome is besides you. Leaue of this vniust cauill. How: leaue why: leaue reason: leaue wonder: and beleue as the Catholicke Church doth beleeue and teach you. Perswade with your selfe, that extra Ecclesiam non est salus. i. Without the Churche there is no saluation. And thus much hauehave I sayd of charitye. If this poore simple exhortation of mine may sincke into your head, and take effect with you, then hauehave I sayd as I would hauehave sayd, otherwise not as I would, but as I could for this present.
And thus Bishop Brokes finishing his Oration, sate downe. After whom Doctor Martin taking the matter in hand, beginneth thus.