Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Account 22 · Oration 3
❧ Doctor Storyes Oration.
Story. Pleaseth it your good Lordshippe: because it hath pleased the king and Queenes Maiesties to appoynte my companion and me,D. Storyes Oration agaynst the Archb. to heare the examination of thys man before your good Lordshippe, to geue me leaue somewhat to talk in that behalfe. Although I know that in talk with heretickes there commeth hurt to all men, for it wearyeth the stedfaste, troubleth the doubtfull, and taketh in snare the weake and simple: yet because he sayth, he is not bound to aunswere your Lordship sitting for the Popes holinesse, because of a Premunire, and the worde of God, as he termeth it: I thinke good somewhat to say, that all men may see howe he runneth out of his race of reason into the rage of common talke, suche as here I truste hath done much good. And as the Kyng and Queenes Maiestyes will be glad to heare of your most charitable dealing with him, so will they be weary to heare the blundering of this stubberne Hereticke. And where he alleadgeth Diuinity, mingling fas nefasque together, he shoulde not hauehave bene heard. For shall it be sufficient for him to alledge, the iudge is not competent? Do we not see that in the common law it is not lawefull for a man in Westminster Hall to refuse his Iudge? And shall wee dispute contra eum qui negat principia? Although there be here a great company of learned men that know it vnmeete so to doe, yet hauehave I here a playne Canon wherein he declareth himselfe conuicted ipso facto. This Canon is this: Sit ergo ruinae suo dolore prostratus quisquis Apostolicis voluerit contraire decretis, Wordes of the Popes Canon.nec locum deinceps inter Sacerdotes habeat, sed exors à sancta fiat ministerio, nec de eo eius iudicio quisquam posthac curam habeat, quin iam damnatus à sancta & Apostolica Ecclesia sua inobedientia ac presumptione à quoquam esse non dubitetur. Quin maioris excommunicationis deiectione est abijciendus, cui sanctae Ecclesiae comissa fuerit disciplina, qui non solum iussionibus praelatae sanctae Ecclesiae parere debuit, sed etiam alijs ne preterirent insinuare. Sitque alienus à diuinis & pontificalibus officijs, qui noluerit praeceptis Apostolicis obtemperare.
He hath alledged many matters against the Supremacy, but maliciously. Ye saye that the king in his Realme is Supreme head of the church. Well Syr, you will graūt me that there was a perfect catholicke church before any king was christened. Then, if it were a perfect Church,Note the worshipful reasons of D. Story wherewith he proueth the Popes supremacy. it must nedes hauehave a head, which must needes be before any kyng was member thereof, for you knowe Constantinus was the first christened king that euer was, And although you are bound (as S. Paule saith) to obey your rulers, and kings hauehave rule of the people, yet doth it not folow that they hauehave cure of soules: for A fortiori, the head may do that the minister can not do: but the Priest may consecrate and the kyng cannot, therfore the king is not head.
It was licensed by Christ to eueryevery man to bring into the sheepefold, & to augment the flocke,Doct. Story reasoneth a… though to feede with the word, and to gouerne with the sword, were all one. but not to rule for that was onelyonly geuen to Peter.
And where the Apostles do call vpō men to obey their princes, cui tributum, tributum, cui vectigal, vectigal: they perceiuing that men were bent to a kinde of libertye and disobedience, were enforced to exhort them to obedience & pa… ment of theyr tribute, which exhortation extendeth only to temporall matters.
And agayne, where you say that the Byshop of Rome maketh lawes contrary to the Lawes of the Realme, that is not true, for this is a maxime in the law:A maxime in the law. Quod in particulari excipitur, non facit vniuersale falsum.
Nowe as touching that monstrous talke of your conscience, that is no conscience that ye professe: it is but priuata scientia, electio and secta. And as yet for all your glorious bable, you hauehave not proued by Gods lawes that ye ought not to aunswere the Popes holines.
The Canons whiche bee receiued of all Christendome compell you to aunswere, therfore you are bound so to do. And although this realme of late time, through such schismatickes as you were, hauehave exiled and banished the Canons, yet that can not make for you. For you knowe your selfe that Par in pa…em, nec pars in totum aliquid statuere potest. A rule of law.Wherefore this Ile beeing in deede but a member of the whole, could not determine agaynst the whole. That notwithstanding the same lawes being put away by a Parliament, are now receiued agayne by a Parliament, and hauehave as full authority now as they had then, and they wil now that ye aunswere the Popes holinesse: therefore by the Lawes of this Realme ye are bound to answere hym. Wherefore my good Lorde, all that this Thomas Cranmer (I can not otherwise terme him considering hys disobedience) hath broughte for his defence, shall nothyng preuayle with you nor take any effect. Require hym therfore to aunswere directly to your good Lordshippe: commaunde him to set aside his trifles, and to be obedient to the lawes and ordinaunces of this Realme.Doct. Story chargeth the Archb. with stubbornes. Take witnes here of his stubberne contempt agaynste the Kynges and Queenes Maiestyes, and compell him to aunswere dyrectly to such Articles, as we shall here laye agaynst him, and in refusall, that your good Lordship will excommunicate him.
As soone as Doctor Story had thus ended his tale beginneth Doctor Martin againe to enter speache wyth the Archbishop, which talke I thought here likewise not to let passe, although the report of the same be suche, as the author thereof seemeth in his wryting very partiall: for as he expresseth the speach of Doctor Martin at full, and to the vttermost of his dilligence, leauing out nothing in that part, that eyther was or could be sayd more: so again on the other part how rawe and weake hee leaueth the matter,Partialitye … the reporter. it is easie to perceaue, who neither comprehendeth all that Doctour Cranmer againe aunswered for his defence, nor yet in those short speaches whiche he expresseth, seemeth to discharge the part of a sincere and faythfull reporter. Notwithstanding, suche as it is, I thoughte good the reader to vnderstande, who in perusinge the same maye vse therein hys owne iudgement and consideration.