hoteth men the blisse of heuen, withouten any peyne after that they be deed, that zeven hym much money. Byschopriches and churches, and such other chaffares, he selleth also for money, and maketh hym self rych; and thus he begileth the puple. O Lorde lesu, here ys much vntrueth, and myschefe, and mater of sorow. Lorde, thou saidest some tyme, that thou woldest be with thy seruauntes in to the ende of the world: and thou saidcst also, there as tweyne or thre ben ygadred to gedder in thy name, that thou art in the mydle of hem: and, Lorde, then it was no nede to the to maken a leftenaunte, sith thou wolte be evermore amonges thy seruauntes. Lorde, thou axedest of thy disciples who they trowed that thou were. And Peter answered and saide, That thou art Christe, God's Sone. And thou saidest to Peter, 'Thou art yblessed, Symon Bariona, for flesh and bloude ne schowed not this to the, but my Fadur that y's in Heuen. And I say to the, that thou art Peter, and apon this stone ych wole byld my church, and the zates of hell ne schullen nat availen azens it. And to the ych wole geue the keyes of heuen, and what ever thou byndest vpon erth shall be bounde in heuen, and what ever thou vnbyndest on erth schal be vnbounden in heuen.' This power also was graunted vnto the other disciples as well as to Peter, as the gospel opunlych telleth, In this place men seggen, that thou graunted to Peter's successours the selue power that thou zaue to Peter. And therfore the byschop of Rome, that saith he ys Peter's successour, taketh thys power to him to bynden and vnbynden in erth what hym lyketh. But Lorde, ych haue much wondre how he maye for schame clepen hymselfe Peter's successour. For Peter knowledged that thou were Chsist and God, and kepte the hestes of thy law; but these han forsaken the hestes of thy law, and hath y maked a law contrary to thyne hestes of thy lawe. And so he maked hymselfe a fals Christ and a fals God in erth. And I trouwe thou zaue hym no power to vndo thy law. And so, in takinge this power vp on him, he maketh hym a fals Christe and Antechrist. For who may be more azens Christ than he that in his wordes maketh hymselfe Christe's viker in erth, and in his werkes vndoth the ordinaunce of Christe, and maketh men byleuen that it y's nedefull to the heale of mennes soules to byleuen that he ys Christe's viker in erth, and what euer he byndeth in erth ys ybounden in heuen? And vnder this coloure he vndoth Christe's lawe, and maketh men on alwise to kepen his lawe, and his hestes. And thus men maye yseen that he ys azens Christ, and therfore he ys Antechrist, that maketh men worshupen hym as a God on erth, as that proude Kynge Nabugodonosor did, sumtyme that was Kynge of Babylone. ys a And therfore we lewed men, that knowen no God but the Iesu Christ, beleuen in the that art oure God, and our Kynge, and our Christ, and thy lawes: and forsaken Antechrist and Nabu⚫ godonosor, that fals God, and a fals Christ and his lawes that ben contrary to thy techinge. And, Lorde, strenzth thou vs azenst oure enemies; for they ben aboute to maken vs forsake the and thy lawe, other ellis to putten vs to deth. O Lorde, onlych in the is our trust to helpe vs in this myschefe, for thy gret goodnesse that ys with outen end. Lorde, thou ne tauztest not thy disciples to assoylen men of her synne, and setten hem a penaunce for her synne, in fastinge ne in prayenge, ne othere almous dede; ne thy selfe, ne thy disciples vseden no such power here on erth. For, Lorde, thou forzeue men her synnes, and bede hem synne no more. And thy disciples fulleden men in thy name in forzeuenesse of her synnes. Nor they toke no such power apon hem as oure prestes dare now. And, Lorde, thou ne assoyledest no man both of his synne, and of his peyne that was dewe for his synne, ne thou grauntedst no man such power here on erth. And, Lorde, me thinketh, that zif ther were a purgatorye, and eny erthlyche man had power to delyueren synfull men from the peynes of purgatorye, he schulde, and he were in charite, sauen everich man that were in waye of saluacion from thilke peynes, syth they make hem gretter than any bodilych peynes of this worlde. Also, zif the bischop of Rome had such a power, he hymselfe schulde never comen in purgatorye, ne in hell. And sith we se well, that he ne hath no power to kepen hymselfe, ne other men, nother out of these bodilich peynes of the worlde, and he maye go to hell for hys synne, as another man maye, I ne byleve nat that he hath so great a power to assoylen men of her synne, as he taketh vp on hym abouen all other men; and I trowe that in thys he hyeth hymselfe aboue God. As touching the selling of by schopryches and personages, I trow it be a poynte of falshede. For azens God's ordinaunce he robbeth pore men of a porcion of their sustinaunce and selleth it, other zeueth it to fynde proude men in ydlenesse, that done the lewed puple litell prophet and much harme as we tolde before. Thus ben thy commaundementes of treweth, of mekenesse and of porenesse, vndone by hym that clepeth hym selfe thy viker here vpon erth. A Lorde, thou zaue vs a commaundemente of chastite, that ys a forsakynge of fleschliche Justes. For thou brouztest vs to a lyuynge of soul that ys ygouerned by thy worde. For, Lorde, thou ordeynedist woman more frele than man to byn ygouerned by man's rule and his helpe to plese the and kepe thyne hestes. Ne thou ne ordeynedist that a man schuld desyre the company of a woman, and maken her his wyfe, to lyuen with her in his lustys, as a swyne doth or a horse. And hys wife ne lyked hym nat to hys lustes, Lorde, thou ne zaue not a man leue to departen hym from his wife and taken hym a nother. But, Lorde, the maryage ys a commune acorde between man and woman, to lyuen togeder to her lyues ende, and in thy scruyse eyther the bettur for others helpe; and thilke that ben thus ycome to geder ben ioined by the, and thilke that God ioyneth maye no man departe. But, Lorde, thou saist that zif a man se a woman to coueten her, than he doth with that woman letcherye in his harte. And so, Lorde, zif a man desyre his wife in couetyse of such lustes, and not to flye from whoredoine, his weddinge ys letcherye, ne thou ne ioynest hem nat to geder. Thus was Raguls Douzter y wedded to seven husbandes that the devell strangled. But Tobye toke her to lyue with her in clennesse and bringinge vp of her childern to thy worschyp, and on hym the deuell ne had no power. For the weddinge was ymaked in God, for God, and thorouz God. A Lorde, the puple ys ferre ygo from this maner of weddinge. For now men wedden her wives for fayrenesse, other for rychesse or some such other fleschlych lustes. And, Lorde, so it preueth by hem for the most parte. For a manne shall not fynde two wedded in a londe, where the husbonde loues the wife, and the wife is buxom to the man, as they shulden after thy law of mariage. But other the man loues not his wife, or the wife is not buxom to her man. And thus, Lorde, ys the rule of prese that neuer faileth to preue whether it be done by the or no. And, Lorde, all this myschefe ys is comen amonge thy puple, for that they knowe not thy worde, but her schepherdes and hyrid men feden hem with her sweuendes and lesynges. And, Lorde, where they schulden gon before vs in the felde, they seggen that her order ys to holy for thy mariage. And, Lorde, he that calleth hymselfe thy viker vp on erth will not suffren prestes to taken hem wyues, for that it ys azcins his law: but, Lorde, he will dispensen with hem to kepen horen for a certen sum of mon. And, Lorde, all horedome ys forfended in thy law. And, Lorde, thou neuer forfendest prestes her wiues ner thy apostles nether. And well I wrote in our londe prestes hadden wiues vntil Anselmus dayes, in the 'yere of oure Lorde God a leven hundert and twenty and nync, as Huntindon writes. And, Lorde, this makes puple, for the most parte, leuen that letcherye ys no synne. Therfore, we lewed men preyen the that thou wolt sende vs schepherdes of thyne owne, that wolen feden thy flock in thy lesewc, and gon before hem selfe, and so writen thy lawe in oure hartes, that, from the leest to the mest all they mayen knowen thee. And, Lorde, geue oure kynge, and his lordes, harte to defenden thy trew schepherdes, and thy sheep from oute of the wolues mouthes, and grace to know the, that art the trew Christ, the Sonne of thy heuenly Fader, from the Antechrist, that ys the sonne of pride. And, Lorde, geue vs, thy poore scheep, pacience and strenzth to suf fer for thy lawe the crucines of the myscheuous wolues. And, Lorde, as thou hast promysed, shorten these days. Lorde, we axen this now, for more nede was there neuer. LOVE-LETTERS FROM KING HENRY THE EIGHTH TO ANNE BOLEYN: And Two Letters from ANNE BOLEYN TO CARDINAL WOLSEY, With her last to HENRY THE EIGHTH. S these letters, with a few reflexions on them, may give those, that grounds of King Henry the Eighth's divorce, and arm them against the calumnies of the Papists on that subject; I shall give you a faithful copy of them from the originals, now preserved in the Vatican Library, where they are usually shewn to all strangers, and a true translation of those that were written in French: introducing them with a short view of the most remarkable transactions which preceded, and gave occasion to them. To which end, it may first be observed, that, in King Henry the Seventh's time, his eldest son, Prince Arthur, being † past fifteen years of age, was married to the Princess Catharine of Spain, who was elder than himself; that they lived together as man and wife for several months; and then, Prince Arthur dying ‡, it was resolved, for reasons of state, that Prince Henry should marry his brother's widow. This was opposed by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, as absolutely unlawful; but advised by Fox, Bishop of Winchester, who thought all difficulties would be removed by a dispensation from Rome. Accordingly a bull was obtained || to that effect, and they were married, the Prince being yet under age. But Warham had so possessed the king with scruples against this marriage, that, the day § on which the Prince was of age, he, by his father's order, protested against it as null and void; and Henry the Seventh, with his dying breath, persisted in charging his son to break it off intirely. However, when Henry the Eighth came to the crown, it was resolved in council that he should renew his marriage; which was done ‡‡ publickly, and he had several children by the queen, who all died young, except the Lady Mary ++. After this there appeared no farther disquiet in the king's mind, nor any sign of an intended divorce, till the year 1524; when Cardinal Wolsey, by his legantine mandate, published a bull of the Pope's against those that contracted marriage within the forbidden degrees. This * Hist. Reform. Part I. June 22, 1505. † November 14, 1501. † April 2, 1502. December 26, 1503. + Afterwards Queen of England. mandate is yet extant in the register of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. What followed makes this justly suspected to have been done on the king's account. To confirm which suspicion, there is a concurring circumstance in a letter from Simon Grineus to Bucer, dated September 10, 1531, where he says*, The king had declared to him, that he had abstained from Queen Catharine, for seven years, upon scruples of conscience. However, tho' the king had scruples at that time, yet he concealed them carefully from the world, for some years; and the immediate occasion of their breaking out seems to have been given by the French ambassadors, who came † to England to treat of several matters, and particularly of a marriage between the Princess Mary and the French king, or the Duke of Orleans, his second son. This alternative was at last agreed, tho' it remained for some time in suspence ||; because' the president of the parliament of Paris doubted, whether the marriage between the king and her mother, being his brother's wife, were good or no.'§ The Bishop of Tarbe made the same objection, and renewed it to the king's ambassadors in France, as appears by King Henry's speech to the mayor and citizens of London, concerning his scruples, where he says, 'When our ambassadors were last in France, and motion was made, that the Duke of Orleans should marry our said daughter, one of the chief counsellors to the French king said, It were well done to know whether she be the king of England's lawful daughter, or not; for well known it is, that he begat her on his brother's wife, which is directly contrary to God's law, and his precept. That this counsellor was the Bishop of Tarbe, is affirmed by the Bishop of Bayonne, in the account he gives of this speech to the court of France, in a letter dated the 27th of November, 1528; yet this very Bishop of Tarbe was afterwards advanced to be a cardinal, and was so far from retracting his opinion, that, when he was cardinal of Grandemont, in a letter dated the 27 of March, 1530, he writes to the French court, 'That he had served the Lord Rochford (Anne Boleyn's Father) all he could, and that the Pope had three several times said to him in secret, that he wished the marriage had been already made in England, either by the legate's dispensation, or otherwise; provided it was not done by him, nor in diminution of his authority, under pretence of the laws of God.' This conduct shews, that it was not religion, but political views, that turned the court of Rome against the king's cause, which they at first plainly favoured. And Now as to the arguments by which the king fortified himself in these scruples. These, as he himself owned tt, were, that he found by the law of Moscs, If a man took his brother's wife, they should die childless; this made him reflect on the death of his children, which he now looked on as a curse from God for that unlawful marriage. He found Thomas Aquinas (whom he chiefly valued of all the casuists) of opinion, that the laws of Leviticus, about the forbidden degrees of marriage, were moral and eternal, such as obliged all Christians; and that the Pope could only dispense with the laws of the church, but not with the laws of God: And, when the validity of the marriage came afterwards to be *See Hist. Reform. Part I. ↑ March 2, 1527. April 30. 1527. Hall. tt Hist. Reform. Part I |