notices of fragments occupying the place leaves and end papers in volumes with which EF IRST where as often
[they had no connexion. Among them is the follow- fynde a smal letter in the text, it sygnifieth]
[ing. The Rev. S. R. Maitland, the librarian, says: that so moch as in (sic) the small letter doth]
[“Two leaves, each containing the PROLOGUE abounde & is more in the common translació]
[TO CRANMER’S BIBLE on one side, and the in Latyne then is founde ether in the Hebrue]
[usual matter on the other side.” One of these is the or in ye Greke, Moreouer where as ye finde]
[prologue to the edition of December 1541, and re- this sygne o+ it betokeneth a dyuersite & dif-]
[quires no description; but the other is, as far as I ference of readyng betwene the Hebrues and]
[can find, unique. Mr Lea Wilson, whose magni- the Chaldees in the same place, whych diuersytes]
[ficent collection of bibles contains (as a very small of readynges we were purposed to haue set forth]
[part of its treasures) twelve copies exhibiting every perticularly vnto you. But for so moch as they are]
[variety of Cranmer’s Bible, and who has spared very large and tedyous, & thys volume is very]
[neither pains nor expense in making himself fully great and houge allready, we haue therfore left thé]
[acquainted with the details of the subject, informs out. We haue also (as ye maye se) added many]
[me that he had never before seen it. I am in- handes both in the mergent of this volume and also]
[debted to the same gentleman for the suggestion, in the text, vpon the whyche we purposed to haue]
[that these two leaves so differing from each other, made in the ende of the Byble (in a table by them-]
[and both found together in the binding of one selues) certen annotaciós: but for so moch as yet]
[volume, that volume being a Salisbury Breviary, there hath not bene suffycyent tyme mynistred to]
[printed by Francis Regnault, at Paris, in 1535, the Kynges mooste honorable councell, for the ouer-]
[agrees with the notion, supported by other evidence, syght and correcion of the sayde annotacions, we do]
[that this bible was printed in France. Certainly therfore omyt them, tyll theyr more conuenyent]
[the large black letter of this prologue, and of the leysoure. Doynge nowe no more but beseake the,]
[Breviary, are as like as can be imagined. Under moost gentle reader, that when thou commest at]
[these circumstances, it seems worth while to reprint soch a place where a hande doth stande (or any]
[this prologue in something like the form in which other where, in the Byble) and thou canst not]
[it stands, premising that it is all in black letter, and attayne to the meanynge & true knowledge of that]
[that the initial F. is not, as in some copies of the sentence, then do not rashly presume to make any]
[prologue, a Roman letter, but the same flourishing pryuate interpretacyon thereof: but submytte thy]
[capital as appears in the edition of December, 1541. self to the iudgement of those that are learned.]
[It should I presume be headed, A prologue ex- Ἶ]
[pressynge what is meant by certaine sygnes and God saue the Kynge.]
[tokens that we have set in the Byble;’ but what]
[the Archbishop’s Speech at the Coronation of Edward Feb. 20, 1547.!]
Most dread and royal sovereign: The promises your highness hath made here at your coronation, to forsake the devil and all his works, are not to be taken in the bishop of Rome’s sense, when you commit any thing distasteful to that see, to hit your majesty in the teeth; as pope Paul the third, late bishop of Rome, sent to your royal father, saying, Didst thou not promise, at our permission of thy coronation, to forsake the devil and all his works, and dost thou turn to heresy? For the breach of this thy promise, knowest thou not, that ‘tis in our power to dispose of the sword and sceptre to whom we please?” We, your majesty’s clergy, do humbly conceive, that this promise reacheth not at your highness sword, spiritual or temporal, or in the least at your highness swaying the sceptre of this your dominion, as you and your predecessors have had them from God. Neither could your ancestors lawfully resign up their crowns to the bishop of Rome or to his legates, according to their ancient oaths then taken upon that ceremony.
The bishops of Canterbury for the most part have crowned your predecessors, and anointed them kings of this land: yet it was not in their power to receive or reject them, neither did it give them authority to prescribe them conditions to take or to leave their crowns; although the bishops of Rome would encroach upon your predecessors by his bishops’ act and oil”, that in the end they might possess those bishops with an interest to dispose of their crowns at their pleasure. But the wiser sort will look to their claws and clip them.
The solemn rites of coronation have their ends and utility, yet neither direct force or necessity: they be good admonitions to put kings in mind of their duty to God, but no increasement of their dignity. For they be God’s anointed, not in respect of the oil which the bishop useth, but in consideration of their power which is ordained, of the sword which is authorised, of their persons which are elected by God, and endued with the gifts of his Spirit for the better ruling and guiding of his people. The oil if added, is but a ceremony; if it be wanting, that king is yet a perfect monaxch notwithstanding, and God’s anointed, as well as if he was inoiled. Now for the person or bishop that doth anoint a king, it is proper to be done by the chiefest; but if they cannot, or will not, any bishop may perform this ceremony.
To condition with monarchs upon these ceremonies, the bishop of Rome (or other bishops owning his supremacy) hath no authority, but he may faithfully declare what God requires at the hands of kings and rulers; that is, religion and virtue. Therefore not from the bishop of Rome, but as a messenger from my Saviour Jesus Christ, I shall most humbly admonish your royal majesty, what things your highness is to perform.
[[^ Strype asserts, that ‘“at this coronation, (Edw. Warre, (Ed. Dublin, 1682, pp. 2—9.) who says that]
[VI.) there was no sermon, but that was supplied by the collections in this second part are most of]
[an excellent speech, which was made by the arch- them either out of the memorials of that great]
[bishop,” and that “it was found among the inesti- minister of state, the lord Cecil, or from the testi-]
[mable collections of archbishop Usher.” Dr Jenkyns monies of persons that are still living.” Part I. To]
[was unable to meet with the original, search having the reader, A.4.]]
[been made in vain for itin Dublin, (Vol. II. p. 118, [? Run to heresy, Strype.]]
[n.) A farther search for it has also been made [8 That itis in our power to dispose of thy sword,]
[for the present edition, but equally without suc- Ibid.] [^ Or his legates, Ibid.]]
[cess. It is here printed from the second part of [5 By their act and oil, Ibid.]]
[Foxes and Firebrands,” published by Robert [^ Elected of God, Ibid.]]
Your majesty is God’s vice-gerent and Christ’s vicar within your own dominions, and to see, with your predecessor Josiah’, God truly worshipped, and idolatry destroyed, the tyranny of the bishops of Rome banished from your subjects, and images removed. These acts be signs of a second Josiah”, who reformed the church of God in his days. You are to reward virtue, to revenge sin, to justify the innocent, to relieve the poor, to procure peace, to repress violence, and to execute justice throughout your realms. For precedents?, on those kings who performed not these things, the old law shews how the Lord revenged his quarrel; and on those kings who fulfilled these things, he poured forth his blessings in abundance. For example, it is written of Josiah in the book of the Kings thus: “Like unto him there was no king before him that turned? to the Lord with all his heart, according to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him.” This was to that prince a perpetual fame of dignity, to remain to the end of days.
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