Abraham, cum ancilla pellice, conscia uxore, atque etiam id ultro suadente, nempe Sara; eundem ipsum uxorem suam, adhuc juvenculam, ac formosam, sororem nominasse, eamque regibus, Pharaoni et Abimelech, ultro in concubitum permisisse; præterea, unum sæpe hominem plures habuisse uxores, ut Jacob et Mosen ipsum, legis latorem a Deo constitutum; postremo, principes multos, eosque nec illaudatos, præter uxorum numerosa contubernia, concubinarum etiam greges aluisse, ut Davidem, Solomonem, &c. Nec Assuero vitio datur, quod singulis pæne noctibus concubinam novam asciverit. Et Hester fœmina laudatissima, utpote quam ad salutem populi sui Deus excitavit, quum esset Judæa, et legi Mosaicæ obnoxia, Assueri regis cubiculum ante nuptias intravit. Quid pluribus opus, quum gravissimi autores Ambrosius et Augustinus disertis verbis affirment, hic polygamiam, ille concubinatum, peccato tum caruisse, quando nec contra morem, nec contra præceptum fierent; quæ nunc et legibus et moribus pronuntiant esse contraria? Talia, inquam, constat apud veteres fuisse usitata, nec a bonis quidem viris tunc temporis improbata. Quæ vel omnia probabunt novi isti homines, et rerum novarum introductores, vel aliqua, vel nulla. Quod si nulla dicant nobis, cur ista admiserunt? Si aliqua, cur non et reliqua? Et præscribant nobis regulam, qua sciamus, quæ sunt admittenda, quæ vero rejicienda. Si omnia, (in qua sententia videtur esse Bucerus), quæso te, qualem rerum faciem, quantumque a priore mutatam in ecclesia videbimus? Quam erunt confusa, inversa atque præpostera omnia? Sed adhuc proprius urgebimus eos, interrogabimusque : an non tantum quæ sub lege facta sunt, sed etiam quæ 56 ante legem; et an non tantum, quæ a Judæis, sed et quæ a gentibus fuerint usitata, veluti jure postliminii, ad exemplum revocabunt? Et si illa tantum, cur non hæc æque atque illa? Præsertim quæ a sanctioribus et sapientioribus viris, ut Socrate, Platone, Cicerone, &c. fuerint vel facta, vel approbata. Quod si utraque concedant et nobis Britannis, more majorum nostrorum, denas, duodenasque uxores habere insimul communes, et maxime fratres cum fratribus, parentes cum liberis: quod aliquando in hac insula usitatum fuisse, Cæsar, non ignobilis auctor, testatur in Commentariis. Concedant fæminis Christianis, quod Solon suis Atheniensibus concesserat, ut quæ viros parum ad rem veneream idoneos sortitæ fuissent, aliquem ex mariti propinquis impune admitterent. Concedunt quod Lycurgus concessit viris Lacedæmoniis, ut qui minus esset ad procreandam prolem idoneus, alteri cui vellet suam conjugem impregnandam daret, et prolem precario sibi natam, ut propriam, suo nomine nuncuparet. Aut denique quod Romanorum legibus permissum erat, ut qui satis liberorum procreasset, uxorem suam alteri commodaret prolem desideranti: id quod et Cato, vir gravissimus sapientissimusque habitus, Hortensio amico suo legitur fecisse. Talia cum probata fuerint antiquitus viris sapientissimis, ac philosophorum legumque latorum optimis et sanctissimis, ut Platoni, Xenophonti, Catoni, &c. quum eadem fuerint moribus recepta Hebræorum, Græcorum, Latinorum, (quorum populorum respublicas et politias constat optime fuisse constitutas, et ab omnibus scriptoribus maxime celebratas), age, faciamus et nos, si Deo placet, similia, et Christianis fratribus permittamus facienda. Imo Christus Opt. Max. tam fœda, tamque incestuosa connubiorum portenta a sua sancta ecclesia dignetur avertere, nunc et in diem Domini! Amen. Hæc ego ad te potissimum, charissime Osiander, in præsentia scribenda duxi, propter eam, quæ inter nos est, et jam diu fuit, summa necessitudo et familiaritas; quamvis putem, atque adeo certo sciam, te ab hujusmodi tam absurdis et moribus et opinionibus quam alienissimum esse. Cum cæteris vestratibus doctoribus levior et minus arcta mihi intercedit amicitia; cujus ipsius quoque (fateor) me multum pœniteret, si scirem hos esse fructus novi evangelii ab ipsius tantopere jactitati, et a vobis quoque hactenus, ut putabamus, non temere aliqua ex parte probati. Bene vale. Dat. Lambeth, 27mo Decembr. [1540.] Tui amantissimus, NUMBER XXX. T. CANTUARIEN. THE FRENCH KING'S LICENSE TO PRINT THE ENGLISH bible IN PARIS. MSS.] FRANCISCUS, &c. dilectis nobis Richardo Grafton et [Cotton Edwardo Whitchurch, Anglis, et civibus Londini, salutem. Cleop. E.5. Quia fide digna testimonia accepimus, quod carissimus P. 326. b. [British frater noster Anglorum rex, vobis cujus subditi estis Museum. Original.] sacram Bibliam tam Latine quam Britannice, sive An57 glice imprimendi, et imprimi curandi, et in suum regnum apportandi et transferendi libertatem sufficientem et legitimam concesserit: et vos, tum propter chartam, tum propter alias honestas considerationes, animos vestros in hac parte juste moventes, dictam Bibliam sic imprimendam Parisiis infra hoc nostrum regnum curaveritis, ac in Angliam quamprimum transmittere intenderitis: Nos, ut hæc vobis facere liceat potestatem facientes, vobis conjunctim et divisim, ac procuratoribus, factoribus, et agentibus vestris et cujuslibet vestrum, ut in regno nostro apud chalcographum quemcunque dictam sacram Bibliam tam Latina quam Anglicana lingua, tuto imprimere, et excudere possitis, et possint: necnon excussa et impressa in Angliam duntaxat sine ulla perturbatione, aut molestia, vel impedimento quocunque, transmittere et apportare: dummodo quod sic imprimetis et excudetis, sincere et pure, quantum in vobis erit, citra ullas privatas aut illegitimas opiniones, impressum et excusum fuerit: et onera ac officia mercatoria nobis et ministris nostris, debite in hac parte extiterint persoluta; licentiam nostram impartimur et concedimus specialem per præsentes. Dat. &c. Cotton [NUMBER XXX.* TO CRUMWELL. My very singular good lord, after my most hearty Cleop. E. 4. commendations; these shall be to advertise your lordship, that I have received your letters dated the xxvii. day of November: and therewith a bill concerning the deviced for the new establishment to be made in the metropolitan Hist. of Re-church of Canterbury; by which your lordship requireth fol. 302. British Museum. Original. Burnet, format. vol. iii. part ii. mine advice thereupon by writing, for our mutual B. iii. No. 65. pp. consents. 213-216. ed. Oxon. 1829. Surely, my lord, as touching the book drawn and the order of the same, I think that it will be a very substantial and godly foundation; nevertheless in my opinion the prebendaries, which be allowed 401. apiece yearly, might be altered to a more expedient use. And this is my consideration; for having experience both in time past and also in our days, how the said sect of prebendaries have not only spent their time in much idleness, and their substance in superfluous belly cheer, I think it not to be a convenient state or degree to be maintained and established, considering first, that d [The bill concerning the device follows this letter. It was laid before James V. king of Scotland, by Sadler, the English am commonly a prebendary is bassador at the Scottish court, by Henry VIII.'s directions. See Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 44ed. Edinb. 1809.] neither a learner nor a teacher, but a good viander. Then by the same name they look to be chief, and to bear all the whole rule and preeminence in the college where they be resident: by means whereof the younger, of their own nature given more to pleasure, good cheer, and pastime, than to abstinence, study, and learning, shall easily be brought from their books to follow the appetite and example of the said prebendaries, being their heads and rulers. And the state of prebendaries hath been so excessively abused, that when learned men hath been admitted unto such room, many times they have desisted from their good and godly studies, and all other Christian exercises of preaching and teaching. Wherefore, if it may so stand with the king's gracious pleasure, I would wish that not only the name of a prebendary were exiled his grace's foundations, but also the superfluous conditions of such persons. I cannot deny but that the beginning of prebendaries was no less purposed for the maintenance of good learning and good conversation of living, than religious men were: but forasmuch as both be gone from their first estate and order, and the one is found like offender with the other, it maketh no great matter if they perish both together: for to say the truth, it is an estate which St. Paul, reckoning up the degrees and estates allowed in his time, could not find in the church of Christ. And I assure you, my lord, that I think it will better stand with the maintenance of Christian religion, that in the stead of the said prebendaries were twenty divines at £10 apiece, like as it is appointed to be at Oxford and Cambridge; and forty students in the tongues, and sciences, and French, to have 10 marks apiece; for if such a number be not there resident, to what intent should so many readers be there? And surely it were great pity that so many good lectures should be |