BOOK Wisdom, do rather breed Contention, Division, and Contrariety III. in Opinion in the unlearned Multitude, than either edifie, or remove from them, and out of their Hearts, such Abuses as, by the corrupt and unsavoury teaching of the Bishop of Rome and his Disciples, have crept in the same. The Effect of which Letters albeit I doubt not, but as well for the Honesty of the Matter, as for your own Discharge, ye will so consider and put in Execution, as shall be to his Grace's Satisfaction in that behalf: Yet forasmuch as it hath pleased his Majesty to appoint and constitute me in the Room and Place of his Supream and Principal Minister, in all Matters that may touch any thing his Clergy, or their doings, I thought it also my Part, for the Exoneration of my Duty towards his Highness, and the rather to answer to his Grace's Expectation, Opinion, and Trust conceived in me, and in that amongst other committed to my fidelity, to desire and pray you, in such substantial sort and manner, to travel in the execution of the Contents of his Grace's said Letters; namely, for avoiding of Contrariety in Preaching, of the pronunciation of Novelties, without wise and discreet qualification, and the repression of the temerity of those, that either privily, or apertly, directly or indirectly, would advance the pretended Authority of the Bishop of Rome; as I be not for my discharge fbothe enforced to complain further, and to declare what I have now written unto you for that purpose, and so to charge you with your own fault, and to devise such remedy for the same, as shall appertain: desiring your Lordship to accept my meaning herein, tending only to an honest, friendly, and Christian Reformation, for % avoidinge of further inconvenience, and to think none unkindness, tho' in this Matter, wherein it is almost more than time to speak, I write frankly, compelled and enforced thereunto, both in respect of my private Duty, and otherwise, for my discharge; forasmuch as it pleaseth his Majesty to use me in the lieu of a Counsellor, whose Office is as an Eye to the Prince, to foresee, and in time to provide remedy for such Abuses, Enormities, and Inconveniences, as might else with a III. little sufferance engender more evil in his Publick Weal, than BOOK could be after h redoubled, with much labour, study, diligence, and travail. And thus most heartily fare you well. From the Rolls, the 7th of January. Your Lordship's Friend, Thomas Cromwell. XIV. The Commission by which Bonner held his Bishoprick of the King. dictionem Episcopalem. Bonner. fol. primo. HENRICUS Octavus, Dei Gratia Angliæ et Franciæ Rex, Regist. Fidei Defensor, Dominus Hiberniæ, et in Terra Supremum Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ sub Christo Caput, Reverendo in Christo Patri Edmundo Londonensi Episcopo Salutem. Quandoquidem omnis jurisdicendi Autoritas, atq; etiam jurisdictio omnimoda, tam illa quæ Ecclesiastica dicitur quam Sæcularis, à Regia Potestate velut à Supremo Capite, et omnium infra Regnum nostrum Magistratuum fonte et scaturigine, primitus emanavit, sane illos qui jurisdictionem hujusmodi antehac non nisi precario fungebantur, beneficium hujusmodi sic eis ex liberalitate Regia indultum gratis animis agnoscere, idq; Regiæ Munificentiæ solummodo acceptum referre, eique, quotiens ejus Majestati videbitur, libenter concedere convenit. Quum itaq; nos perdilectum Commissarium nostrum Thomam Cromwell Nobilis ordinis Garterii Militem, Dominum Cromwell et de Wymolden nostri privati Sigilli Custodem, nostrumq; ad quascunq; causas Ecclesiasticas nostra Authoritate, uti Supremi Capitis dictæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, quomodolibet tractand. sive ventiland. Vicem gerentem, Vicarium Generalem et Officialem Principalem, per alias Literas Patentes sigillo nostro Majori communitas, constituerimus et præfecerimus. Quia tamen ipse Thomas Cromwell nostris et hujus Regni Angliæ tot et tam h recovered, i travails. III. BOOK arduis negotiis adeo præpeditus existit, quod ad omnem Jurisdictionem nobis, uti Supremo Capiti hujusmodi competentem, ubiq; locorum infra hoc Regnum nostrum præfatum, in his quæ moram commode non patiuntur aut sine nostrorum subditorum injuria differri non possunt, in sua persona expediend. non sufficiet, Nos tuis in hac parte supplicationibus humilibus inclinati, et nostrorum subditorum commodis consulere cupientes, Tibi vices nostras sub modo et forma inferius descriptis committendas fore, Teq; licentiandum esse decernimus, ad ordinandum igitur quoscunq; infra Dioc. tuam London. ubicunq; oriundos, quos moribus et literatura prævio diligenti et rigoroso examine idoneos fore compereris, ad omnes etiam Sacros et Presbyteratus ordines promovendum, præsentatosque ad beneficia Ecclesiastica quæcunque infra Dioc. tuam London. constituta, si ad curam beneficiis hujusmodi imminentem sustinend. habiles reperti fuerunt et idonei, admittendum ac in et de iisdem instituendum et investigandum; Ac etiam si res ita exigat destituendum, beneficiaq; Ecclesiastica quæcunq; ad tuam collationem sive dispositionem spectantia et pertinentia personis idoneis conferendum, atq; approbandum testamenta et ultimas voluntates quorumcunq; tuæ Diocæseos, bona, jura, sive credita non ultra summam centum librarum in bonis suis vitæ et mortis suarum temporibus habend. necnon administrationes quorumcunq; subditorum nostrorum tuæ Dioc. ab intestato decedend. quorum bona, jura, sive credita non ultra summam prædictam vitæ et mortis suarum temporibus sese extendent, quatenus hujusmodi testatorum approbatio atq; administrationis commissio sive concessio per prædecessores tuos aut eorum alicujus respective Commissarios retroactis temporibus fiebat ac fieri et committi potuit, et non aliter committendum, Calculumq; ratiocinium et alia in ea parte expedienda causasq; lites et negotia coram te aut tuis deputatis pendend. indecis. necnon alias sive alia, quascunq; sive quæcunq; ad forum Ecclesiastícum pertinentia ad te aut tuos deputatos sive deputand. per viam querelæ aut appellationis sive ex offic. devolvend. sive deducen. quæ extra legum nostrarum et statutorum Reg. nostri offens. coram te aut tuis Deputatis agitari, aut ad tuam sive alicujus Commissariorum per te vigore hujus Commissionis nos III. træ deputandorum cognitionem devolvi aut deduci valeant et BOOK possint, examinand. et decidend. Ad visitandum insuper Capitulum Ecclesiæ tuæ Cathedral. London. civitatemq; London. necnon omnia et singula Monasteria, Abbatias et Prioratus, Collegia et alia loca pia, tam Religiosa quam Hospitalia, quæcunq; clerumq; et populum dict. Dioc. London. quatenus Ecclesiæ, Monasterii, Abbatiæ, per te sive Prædecessores tuos London. Episcopos visitatio hujusmodi temporibus retroactis exerceri potuit, ac per te sive per eosdem de legibus et statutis ac juribus Regni nostri exerceri potuit et potest, et non aliter: Necnon ad inquirendum per te, vel alium seu alios ad id per te deputandum sive deputandos, tam ex officio mero mixto quam promoto super quorumcunq; excessibus, criminibus seu delictis quibuscunq; ad forum Ecclesiasticum spectantibus infra Dioc. London. ac delinquentes sive criminosos, juxta comperta per te in ea parte per Licita Juris remedia pro modo culpæ, prout natura et qualitas delicti poposcerit, coercendum et puniendum, cæteraq; omnia et singula in Præmissis seu aliquo præmissorum, aut circa ea necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna, ac alia quæcunq; Autoritatem et Jurisdictionem Episcopalem quovis modo respiciend. et concernend. præter et ultra ea quæ tibi ex Sacris Literis divinitus commissa esse dignoscantur, vice, nomine, et Autoritate nostris exequendum, Tibi, de cujus sana doctrina, conscientiæ puritate, vitæq; et morum integritate, ac in rebus gerendis fide et industria plurimum confidimus, vices nostras cum potestate alium vel alios, Commissarium vel Commissarios, ad præmissa seu eorum aliqua surrogandi et substituendi, eosdemq; ad placitum revocand. tenore præsentium committimus, ac liberam facultatem concedimus; Teq; licentiam per præsentes ad nostri bene placiti duntaxat duraturas cum cujuslibet congruæ et Ecclesiasticæ coercionis potestate quacunq; inhibitione in te datam præsentium emanata in aliquo non obstante Tuam Conscientiam coram Deo strictissime onerantes, et ut summo omnium judici aliquando rationem reddere, et coram nobis tuo cum periculo corporali respondere intendis: te admonentes ut interim tuum officium juxta Evangelii normam pie et sancte exercere studeas, et ne quem ullo tempore unquam vel ad sacros ordines promoveas, vel ad BOOK curam animarum gerend. quovis modo admittas, nisi eos dunIII. taxat quos ad tanti et tam venerabilis Officii functionem vitæ et morum integritas certissimis testimoniis approbata, literarum scientiæ et aliæ qualitates requisitæ ad hoc habiles et idoneos clare et luculenter ostenderint et declaraverint; Nam ut maxime compertum cognitumq; habemus morum omnium, et Maxime Christianæ Religionis corruptelam à malis Pastoribus in populum emanasse, sic ut veram Christi Religionem, vitæq; et morum emendationem à bonis Pastoribus iterum delectis et assumptis in integrum restitutum iri haud dubie speramus. In cujus rei testimonium præsentes Literas nostras inde fieri, et Sigilli nostri quo ad Causas Ecclesiasticas utimur appensione jussimus Communiri. Dat. 12. die mensis Novemb. Anno Dom. 1539. et Regni nostri Anno 31. XV.. The King's Letters Patents for printing the Bible in English. Rot. Pat. HENRY the Eighth, &c. To all and singular Printers and 31. Hen. 8. Sellers of Books within this our Realm, and all other Officers, Ministers, and Subjects, these our Letters hearing or seeing, Greeting. We let you wit, That being desirous to have our People at all times convenient, give themselves to the attaining the knowledg of God's Word, whereby they will the better honour him, and observe and keep his Commandments; and also do their Duties better to us, being their Prince and Sovereign Lord: And considering that this our Zeal and Desire cannot by any mean take so good effect, as by the granting to them the free and liberal use of the Bible in our own natural English Tongue: so unless it be foreseen that the same pass at the beginning by one Translation to be perused and considered; The frailty of Men is such, that the diversity thereof may breed and bring forth manifold Inconveniences; as when wilful and heady Folk shall confer upon the diversity of the said Translations. We have therefore appointed our right |