Now let vs consider your foresayd causes ponder whether your booke haue or may do any such good as you say pretended whether it haue conuerted those sortes of people or els be any thyng lykely to do such a fact And first let vs sée what it profiteth y t first sort which are infidels not beleuyng in Christ nor his scripture Our sauiour Christ sayth he that beleueth is not damned Iohn Baptist confirmeth the same saying he that beleueth in y e sonne hath euerlastyng lyfe but he that beleueth not in the sonne shal not sée life but the wrath of God abydeth vpon hym Here it is euidēt not by my exposition but by the consent of all Christen men that those infidels are damned for what entent then should Rastell teach them that there is a Purgatory without Christ ther is no way but dānation as scripture all faythfull men testifie Then would I know by what way he wold persuade that there were a Purgatory which should be away a meane to saluation and not to damnatiō for thē which beleue not in Christ This I am sure of and I thinke Rastell be leueth it also that the infideles shall neuer come in it though there were one This you may sée that his first cause is very vayne and that if they dyd beleue it they were in déede deceyued Now let vs procéede vnto the second sort of people which beleue in Christ and his scripture and yet misconstrue it expoundyng it after theyr own willes And let vs sée what frute they take of this booke what it profiteth them we shall finde that it lesse serueth these men then the first for if this men beleue in Christ and in hys Scripture then is it not possible that they should receaue or admitte that thyng which is agaynst the Scripture both by the exposition of them selues of all the world For this is both agaynst Scripture and all faithfull mē that there should be any way to health if we exclude Christ and hys Scripture And sith Purgatory is counted away to health he that would go about to proue it secludyng Christ and Scripture is agaynst Scripture and all faythfull men Besides that if they be so obstinate that they will not receaue the verye Scripture but expounde it after their own willes wrest it after the same then wil they much lesse receaue your booke which is so playne agaynst scripture therfore if you would thinke that they could bee tamed by your booke which notwithstandyng so wresteth Scripture then may I very wel lyken you to hym that hath a wilde horse to tame which when he perceiueth that hee can not hold hym with a scoktishe snafle will yet labour to breake him with a rootē twine threde So that I can espye no maner of profite that cā come of your booke if you can alledge no better causes then you yet shew but that it had bene a great deale better vnwritten And brother Rastel where you say that I auaunce boast my selfe much more then becommeth me and that I detract and slaūder my neighbours that I prouoke all men that read my booke rather to vyce then to vertue with such other thynges as ye lay to my charge I trust I shall declare my inconuenience and geue you a sufficient aunswere ¶ An aunswere to Rastels first chapter which reproueth me for boastyng my selfe IN the first chapter of this booke Rastell laboureth to proue that I am sore ouer séene in laudyng boastyng my selfe that I lyke my selfe so well that he is sure that other men do lyke me the lesse and that he feareth that God will therfore lyke me fauour me rather the worse then the better Here he iuggeleth wyth me and would make me beleue that he tossed me mine own ball agayne but when I beholde it I perceaue it to be none of mine for he hath cut out all that shoulde make for me so that he hath geuen it cleane an other shape then euer I entended that it should haue as it appeareth by hys writing which rehearseth my words in this maner I am sure there are many that maruell that I being so yong dare attempt to dispute thys matter agaynst these thrée persons But my wordes are these I am sure that there are many that will much maruell that I being so yong and of so smal learning dare dispute this matter c. Here Rastell leaueth out the wordes and of so small learning for if he had put that in he had bewrayed himselfe For I thincke no man so mad as to say that he which sayeth himselfe to be both yong and of small learning shoulde prayse and boaste hym selfe Also immediatly after the wordes of hys first allegation I say on thys maner And as touching my lerning I must needes acknowledge as the truth is that it is very small which I thinke is but a base boasting and anone after I say I would not that any man should admit my wordes or learning except they will stand wyth the scripture and be approued therby Lay them to the touchstone and trye them with Gods word if they be found false and contrary then damne them and I also shall reuoke them with all mine hart c. Finally I exhorted them to read my booke not aduertising who speaketh the wordes but rather what is spoken by which wordes you might well see that I entended not to boast my selfe and all this haue I written and be left it out euē in the first page as he calleth it wherin he reporteth that I boast my selfe Notwithstanding one thing doth sore vexe him that I should recite the Epistle of S. Paule wherby he saith I would haue men beleue that I had the spirite of God and thinke that though I be young that I sée visions and espye the truth and that myne elders haue dreamed dreames and wandered in phantasies Thys he recounteth to be a great boast and that thys one place shoulde winne him the fielde whereunto I aunswer that indéede my wordes do not proue that thing which you séeme so surely to gather of them but my wordes do argue on this maner that no man ought to condemne a thing before he read it and then to geue sentence and because you séeme ignoraunt in the matter I shall declare it vnto you and how it standeth It is a coulour of Rhetorike and is called Auantopodosis that is to saye An aunswere to an obiection that a man might haue here made on thys maner thou grauntest thy self yong and of so small learnyng doost thou then thinke that we shall once read or regard thy booke specially sith it is written against auncient mē both of great wit dignity To these two pointes I aunswer preuenting theyr obiection that they should not despise it because of my youth for as the spirite of God is bound to
no place euen so is he not addict to any age or person but enspyreth where he will when he will and bring in for an example that he enspyred yong Timothy prouing thereby that the youth of it selfe is not to be despised but according to the learning which it bringeth and that therfore they may not despise my youth but first read what doctrine I bring and therafter to iudge it No more in this I proue not that I am enspyred and haue the spirite of God as Timothie had but onely proue that God may enspyre youth as he did Tymothe and that therefore ye ought first to read before you condemne for you know not who is enspyred and who not vntill you haue read theyr workes or séene theyr factes Thus you may sée that my wordes define not that all youth is enspired although some may be but I exhort that no man despise prophesies but proue all and approue that is good And to make the matter more playne I shall bring you an example out of Paule to the Hebrues which exhorteth them to hospitalitie for by that some men vnwares haue receaued Angels to harbour be not therefore vnmindfull of it Here Paule exhorteth you to hospitalitie and shewing you that by those meanes some men haue receaued angels into their house he would not haue you thinke y t all the gestes that you shall receaue shall be angels but some shall be leud losels And likewise I in exhorting you to read my booke and not despising my youth because that sometime God enspireth the yong would not haue you thinke that the bookes made of yong men which ye shall receaue shall be holesome doctrine but some men be lewd and vnfruitfull neuerthelesse euen as if they receaued not those gests they should also put away angels if any came So if you despise to read such bookes as be written by young men you may also fortune to despise them which are written by the inspiration of Christes spirit and therefore ye ought to read But be it in case I had indéed praised my selfe as I haue not and that I had sayd that I had the Spirite of God what inconuenience should folow thereof would you therof argue that my doctrine were false If that were a good argument then were Christes Doctrine false then were Paule a false prophet and our fayth nothing for Christ said to the Iewes that he was the light of the worlde And againe he sayd It is my Father that glorified me whome ye call your God Now if it had bene a sufficient argument to condemne hys doctrine because the world calleth it boasting thē should we haue beleued no truth at all Besides that Paul séemeth not a little to boast him selfe if men looke on it with a carnall eye for he sayth that he thincketh not him selfe inferiour vnto y t hyest Apostles and sayth againe that if they glory to be the ministers of Christ though he speake vnwisely he is more copious in labours in stripes aboue measure in prison more often often at the poynt of death c. Should we for these words thinke that his doctrine were not right Nayverely that doth not improue the doctrine but that it may be good holesome for a man may boast him selfe do well so he referre y t prayse to God from whom all goodnes commeth but be it in case that I should say that God of hys mere mercy and for the loue that he oweth me in Christ and hys bloud had geuen me hys spirite that I might be to his laude prayse to whom be thankes for euer Amen would you thinke that this were so greate a boastyng that the doctrine should be impayred therby Ah blinde guides I pray God geue you the light of vnderstandyng I beseche you brother Rastell be not discōtent with me if I aske you one question be ye a Christen man or no I am sure you will aunswere yes then if I brought you the text of Paule which sayth he that hath not y t spirite of God is none of his I pray you how will you auoyde it notwithstādyng if you wold auoyde y t text yet will I lay an other blocke in the way that you shal not be able to remoue and that is the saying of Paule 2. Corin. 13. Know ye not your selues that Christ is in you except ye be reprobate persons now how soeuer you would iudge of your selues I thinke verely that I am no such therfore whereas before I dyd not so write Now I certifie you that I am Christes cōclude what ye wil the day shall come that you shall surely know that so it is albeit in meane season I be reputed a laughyng stoke in this world for I know in whom I trust and he can not deceaue me Then bryngeth he against me that I say we haue bene long secluded frō the Scripture and also that our fore fathers haue not had y t light of Gods word opened vnto them I maruell what Rastell meaneth by bryngyng this for his purpose for I thinke it no boastyng of my selfe but if ye thinke that it be vntrue I thinke he is very blynde For what Scripture hath the poore commons bene admitted vnto euen til this day It hath bene hid and locked vp in a straunge tounge and from them that haue attayned the knowledge of that toung hath it bene locked with a thousand false gloses of Antichristes makyng and innumerable lawes And where I say our forefathers haue not had the light of Gods worde opened vnto them I meane that they haue not the Scripture in their owne mother toung that they might haue conferred these iugglyng mistes with the light of Gods word as the processe of my wordes can testifie which he hath holy left out but I besech the Christē reader once to read the place for my discharge and his confusion ye shall finde it in the secōd leafe of my booke And now he alledgeth agaynst me that I should say this iudge Christen reader what reasons Rastell hath brought and how he hath soluted thē for in my minde both his reasons and solutions are so childish and vnsauery so vnlearned and baren so full of faultes and phantasies that I rather pitie the mans déepe ignoraunce and blyndnes which hath so deceiued him selfe through Philosophie and naturall reason then I feare that he by his vayne probations should allure any man to consent vnto hym I thinke Rastell layeth not this agaynst me because I boast my selfe in these wordes And verely as touchyng the truth of those woordes I will adde thus much more vnto thē that I neuer wyst man y t was coūted wise whiche hath brought so slender reasons except he entended to destroy a thing which ye séeme to haue build And finally where as I exhorte all men to iudge and conferre the Scriptures which Syr Thomas
onely in number exceedyng but in knowledge also excellyng both by preaching and Printing doe so garnishe the Church in euery respecte that it may seeme and so peraduenture wil be thought this time of ours to stand now in little neede of such bookes and momumentes as these of former antiquitie yet notwithstandyng I am not of that mynde so to thinke For albeit increasing of learning of tonges and sciences wyth quicknes of wit in youth and other doth maruailously shut vp as is to be seene to the sufficient furnishyng of Christes Church yet so it happeneth I can not tell how the farther I looke backe into those former tymes of Tyndall Frith and others lyke more simplicitie wyth true zeale and humble modestie I see wyth lesse corruption of affections in them and yet wyth these dayes of ours I finde no fault As by reading and conferring their workes togither may eftsoones appeare In opening the Scriptures what trueth what soundnes can a man require more or what more is to be sayd then is to be founde in Tyndall In his Prologues vppon the fiue bookes of Moses vppon Ionas vppon the Gospelles and Epistles of S. Paule namely to the Romaines how perfectly doth he hit the right sence and true meaning in euery thing In his obedience how fruitfully teacheth he euery person his dutie In his expositions and vppon the parable of the wicked Mammon how pithely doth he perswade how grauely doth he exhort how louingly doth he comforte simply without ostentation vehement without contention Which two faultes as they cōmonly are wont to folow the most part of writers so how farre the same were from him and he from them his replies and aunsweres to Syr Thomas More doe well declare in doctrine sound in hart humble in life vnrebukeable in disputation modest in rebuking charitable in trueth feruent and yet no lesse prudent in dispensing with the same and bearyng with time and with weakenes of men as much as he might sauing onely where mere necessitie constrayned hym otherwise to doe for defence of trueth against wilfull blyndnes and subtile hypocrisie as in the Practise of Prelates is notorious to be seene Briefly such was his modestie zeale charitie and painefull trauaile that he neuer sought for any thing lesse then for hymselfe for nothyng more then for Christes glory and edification of other for whose cause not onely he bestowed his labours but hys life and bloud also Wherfore not vnrightly he might be then as he is yet cauled the Apostle of England as Paule cauleth Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philippians for his singular care and affection toward them For as the Apostles in the primatiue age first planted the Church in trueth of the Gospell so the same trueth beyng agayne defaced and decayed by enemies in thys our latter tyme there was none that trauayled more earnestly in restoring of the same in this Realme of England then dyd William Tyndall With which William Tyndall no lesse may be adioyned also Iohn Frith and D. Barnes both for that they togither with him in one cause and about one tyme sustayned the first brunt in this our latter age and gaue the first onset agaynst the enemies as also for the speciall giftes of fruitfull erudition and plentifull knowledge wrought in them by God and so by them left vnto vs in their writinges Wherfore accordyng to our promise in the booke of Actes and Monumentes wee thought good herein to spend a litle diligence in collecting and setting abroad their bookes togither so many as could be founde to remaine as perpetuall Lāpes shyning in the Church of Christ to geeue lyght to all posteritie And although the Printer herein taking great paynes coulde not paraduenture come by all howbeit I trust there lacke not many yet the Lord be thanked for those which he hath gotte and here published vnto vs. And woulde God the like diligence had beene vsed of our auncient forelders in the tyme of Wickliffe Puruey Clerke Brute Thorpe Husse Hierome and such other in searching and collecting their workes and writings No doubt but many thinges had remayned in lyght which now be lefte in obliuion But by reason the Arte of Printing was not yet inuented their worthy bookes were the sooner abolyshed Such was then the wickednes of those dayes and the practise of those Prelates then so craftie that no good booke coulde appeare though it were the Scripture it selfe in Englyshe but it was restrayned and so consumed Whereby ignoraunce and blyndnes so preuayled amonge the people tyll at the last it so pleased the goodnes of our God to prouide a remedy for that mischiefe by multiplying good bookes by the Printers penne in such sort as no earthly power was able after that though they did their best to stoppe the course thereof were he neuer so myghtie and all for the fartheraunce of Christes Church Wherefore receaue gracious Reader the Bookes here collected and offered to thy hand and thanke God thou hast them and reade them whilest thou mayst while time life and memory serueth thee In reading wherof the Lord graunt thou mayst receaue no lesse fruit by them then the harty desire of the setter forth is to wishe well vnto thee And the same Lord also graunt I beseech him that this my exhortation wishe so may worke in all that not onely the good but the enemies also which be not yet wonne to the worde of trueth setting aside all partialitie and preiudice of opinion woulde with indifferent iudgementes bestow some reading and hearyng likewise of these to taste what they doe teach to vewe their reasons and to trye their spirite to marke the expositions of Tyndall the argumentes of Frith the Articles and allegations of Barnes Which if they shall finde agreable to the tyme and antiquitie of the Apostles doctrine and touchstone of Gods worde to vse them to their instruction If not then to myslike them as they finde cause after they haue first tryed them and not before And thus not to deteine thee with longer processe from the reading of better matter I referre and commende thee and thy studies gentle reader with my harty wishe and prayer to the grace of Christ Iesu and direction of hys holy spirite desiryng thee lykewyse to doe the same for mee Iohn Foxe The Martyrdome and burning of William Tyndall in Brabant by Filford Castell Lord opē the K. of Englāds eyes Here foloweth the historie and discourse of the lyfe of William Tyndall out of the booke of Actes and Monumentes Briefly extracted FOr somuch as the lyfe of W. Tyndall author of this treatise immediately folowing is sufficiently at large discoursed in the booke of Actes and Monumentes by reason whereof we shall not néede greatly to intermedle with any new repetition therof yet notwithstanding because as we haue takē in hand to collect and set forth his whole workes togither so we thought it not vnconuenient to collecte likewise some briefe notes concerning the order of his
DIEV ET MON DRIOT ¶ THE WHOLE workes of W. Tyndall Iohn Frith and Doct. Barnes three worthy Martyrs and principall teachers of this Churche of England collected and compiled in one Tome togither beyng before scattered now in Print here exhibited to the Church To the prayse of God and profite of all good Christian Readers Mortui resurgent AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye and are to be sold at his shop vnder Aldersgate An. 1573. ¶ Cum gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis ARISE FOR IT IS DAY A Table of the seuerall Treatises conteyned in M. William Tyndals workes A Preface to the Christian Reader The lyfe of Wylliam Tyndall A protestation of the state of the soules departed A preface that he made before the v. bookes of Moses A prologue shewyng the vse of the Scripture Seuerall prologues that he made to the v. bookes of Moses fol. 2. 7. 11. 15. 21. Certaine harde wordes expounded by him in the fyrst second and fourth booke of Moses fol. 5. 10. 16. A prologue vpon the Prophet Ionas 23. Prologues vpon the iiij Euangelistes 32. Prologues vpon the Epistles of S. Paule 39. Prologues vpon the Epistles of S. Peter 54. Prologues vpon the iij. Epistles of S. Iohn 55. The parable of the wicked Mammon 59. The obedience of a Christian man and how Christian rulers ought to gouerne 97. An exposition vpon the v. vj. vij chapters of S. Ma. thewes Gospell 184. An answere to Syr Thomas Mores dialogues 244 The practise of popishe Prelates 340. A pathway into the holy Scripture 377. The exposition vpon the first Epistle of S. Iohn 387. The exposition vpon M. William Tracies will 429. A fruitfull treatise vpon signes Sacraments 436. Two notable letters that he sent vnto Iohn Frith 453. The Supper of the Lord wherein is confuted the letter of M. More sent vnto Iohn Frith supposed to be written by Tyndall 457. ¶ The Epistle or Preface to the Christian Reader AS we haue great cause to geeue thankes to the high prouidence of almighty God for the excellent arte of Printing most happely of late found out and now commonly practised euery where to the singular benefite of Christes Church wherby great increase of learnyng and knowledge with innumerable commodities els haue ensued and dayly doe ensue to the lyfe of man and especially to the fartheraunce of true Religion so agayne of our parte it is both of vs all in generall to be wished and especially of them to be procured who occupie the trade therof rightly to vse the same to the glory of hym which gaue it and to the ende wherefore it was ordayned and not to abuse vnworthely that worthy facultie eyther in thrusting into the worlde euery vnworthy trifle that commeth to hand or hauing respecte more to their owne priuate gayne then regarde to the publike edifiyng of Christes Church or necessary preferment of Religion For therefore I suppose this science of Printing first to be set vp and sent of God to mans vse not so much for temporall commoditie to be taken or mans glory to be sought thereby but rather for the spirituall and inwarde supportation of soulehealth helpe of Religion restoring of true doctrine repayring of Christes Church and repressing of corrupt abuses which had heretofore ouerdarckened the doctrine of fayth to reuiue agayne the lost lyght of knowledge to these blynde tymes by renuing of holsome and auncient writers whose doinges and teachinges otherwise had lyen in obliuion had not the benefite of Printing brought them agayne to light or vs rather to light by them Wherfore such Printers in my mynde are not to be defrauded of their due commendation who in pretermitting other light triflyng pamflets of matter vnneedful and impertinent little seruing to purpose lesse to necessitie doe employe their endeuour and workemanship chiefly to restore such fruitfull workes and monumentes of auncient writers and blessed Martyrs who as by their godly lyfe and constant death gaue testimonie to the trueth in tyme wherein they suffered so by their doctrine and learning geeue now no lesse lyght to all ages and posteritie after them In the number of whome may rightly be accompted and no lesse recommended to the studious Christen Reader these three learned fathers of blessed memory whom the Printer of this booke hath diligently collected in one volume togither inclosed the workes I meane of William Tyndall Iohn Frith and Robart Barnes chiefe ryngleaders in these latter tymes of thys Church of England Wherein as we haue much to prayse God for such good bookes left to the Church and also for such Printers in preseruing by their industrie and charges such bookes from perishing so haue I to exhorte all studious readers wyth lyke diligence to embrace the benefite of God offered and seriously to occupie them selues in markyng and folowing both the valiaunt actes and excellent wrytinges of the sayd godly persons Concernyng the prayse whereof I shall not neede in thys place to bestow much commendation because neither is it the prayse of men but profite of the godly that they doe seeke nor yet the contempt of the vngodly that they doe feare Moreouer what is to be sayde or thought of them rather by their owne workes then by other mens wordes by readyng their bookes then by my preface is to be seene In perusing whereof thou shalt fynde gentle Reader whether thou bee ignoraunt what to learne or whether thou be learned what to folowe and what to sticke to Briefly whatsoeuer thou art if thou be yong of Iohn Frith if thou be in middle age of W. Tyndall if in elder yeares of D. Barnes matter is here to be founde not onely of doctrine to enforme thee of comfort to delyte thee of godly ensample to directe thee but also of speciall admiration to make thee to wonder at the workes of the Lord so mightely workyng in these men so oportunely in stirryng them vp so graciously in assisting them Albeit diuers other also besides these I say not nay as well before them as after through the secrete operation of Gods mighty prouidence haue beene raysed vp both famous in learnyng florishyng in witte and stout in zeale who labouryng in the same cause haue no lesse valiantly and doughtely stoode in the like defence of Christes true Religion agaynst blynde errour pestilent superstition and perillous hypocrisie namely agaynst the Arche enemye of Christ and hys flocke the Byshop I meane of Rome with hys tyrannicall seate as namely here in England Iohn Wicklyffe Rigge Aston Swynderby W. Thorpe Walter Brute L. Cobham wyth the residue of that former age And also after them many other moe freshe wittes faythfull preachers and learned writers haue sprong vp by the Lord of hoastes to furnishe hys fielde Briefly no age nor tyme hath euerlacked some or other styll bayting at the beast but especially nowe in these our present dayes such plenty yea whole armyes the Lord hath powred vppon hys Church of heauenly souldiours who not
lyfe and godly conuersation that both his teaching lyuing going togither as the one may edifie by doctrine so the other may profit by example First touching the birth and parentage of this blessed Martyre in Christ hée was borne in the edge of Wales and brought vp from a childe in the vniuersitie of Oxforde where hée by long continuance grew and encreased aswell in the knowledge of tongues and other liberall artes as especially in the knowlege of Scriptures whereunto his mind was singularly addicted Insomuch that hée liyng in Magdalene hall read priuelye to certaine studentes and felowes of Magdalene College some percell of Diuinitie instructing them in the knowlege and trueth of the Scriptures Whose maners also and conuersation being correspondent to the same were such that all they which knewe him reputed and estéemed him to bée a man of most verteous disposition and of a life vnspotted Thus hée in the vniuersitie of Oxford encreasyng more and more in learning and procéeding in degrées of the schooles spiyng his tyme remoued from thence to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge where after hée had likewise made his abode a certayne space and béeing now farther rypened in the knowledge of Gods worde leauing that vniuersitie also hée resorted to one M. Welshe a knyght of Glocester sheare and was there schoole master to his children and in very good fauour with his master This gentleman as hée kept a very good ordinary commonly at his table there resorted vnto him many tymes sondry Abbottes Deanes Archdeacons with other diuers Doctours and great beneficed men Who there togither with M. Tyndall sittyng at the same table did vse many tymes to enter communication and talke of learned men as of Luther and Erasmus and of diuerse controuersies and questions vpon the scripture At which time M. Tyndall as he was learned wel practised in Gods matters so he spared not to shew to them simply and playnely his iudgement in matters as he thought And when as they at that tyme did varie from Tyndall in opinions and iudgment he would shewe them the booke and lay playnely before them the open and manifest places of the scriptures to confute their errours and to confirme his sayinges And thus continued they for a season reasoning and contending togither diuers and sondry tymes till at the length they waxed wery of him and bare a secret grudge in their hartes against hym Not long after this it happened that certaine of these great Doctours had inuited M. Welshe and his wife to a banket where they had talke at will and pleasure vttering their blindnes and ignoraunce without any resistaunce or gayne saying Then M. Welshe and his wife comming home and calling for M. Tyndall beganne to reason with him about those matters wherof the Priestes had talked before at their banket M. Tyndall aunswering by Scriptures mainteyned the trueth reproued their false opinions Then sayd the Lady Welshe a stoute and wise woman as Tyndall him selfe reporteth well sayd she there was such a Doctour which may dispend a C. l. an other CC. l. and an other CCC poūdes And what were it reason thinke you that we should beléeue you before them M. Tyndall gaue her no aunswere at that tyme nor also after that because he saw it would not auayle he talked but litle in those matters At that tyme he was about the translation of a booke called Enchiridon militis Christiani Which being translated he delyuered to his Master and lady Who after they bad read and well perused the same the doctourly Prelates were no more so often called to the house nether had they the Chere nor countenaunce when they came as before they had which thing they well marking and perceiuing and supposing no lesse but it came by the meanes of Tyndall refrayned thē selues and at the last vtterly withdrewe them selues and came no more there As this grewe on the Priestes of the countrey clustering togither beganne to grudge and storme against Tyndall rayling at him in houses and other méeting places Of whom Tyndall him selfe in his first Prologue before the first booke of Moses testifieth in his owne wordes and reporteth that hée suffered much in that countrey by a sort of vnlearned Priestes being full rude and ignoraunt sayth hée God knoweth which haue séene no more Latyn then that onely which they reade in their Porteasses and Missalles which yet many of them can skarsely reade except it bée Albertus de Secretis mulierum in which yet though they bée neuer so sorely learned they pore daye and night and make notes therein and all to teach the mydwifes as they say and also an other booke called Lynwood a Booke of Constitutions to gather tythes mortuaryes Offeringes Customes and other pillage which they call not theirs but Gods part the duetie of holy Church to discharge their consciences with all For they are bound that they shall not deminishe but encrease all thinges to the vttermost of their powers which perteineth to holy Church Thus these blinde and rude Priestes flocking togither to the Alehouse for that was their preaching place raged and rayled against him affirming that his sayengs were heresy addyng moreouer vnto his sayenges of their owne heades more then euer hée spake and so accused him secretly to y t Chauncelour and other of the Bishops officers It folowed not long after this that there was a sitting of the Byshops Chaūcelour appointed and warning was geuen to the Priestes to apere amōgest whom M. Tyndall was warned to bée there And whether hée had any misdoubt by their threatenings or knowledge geuen him that they would lay some thinges to his charge it is vncerteyne But certaine this is as hée him selfe declareth that hée doubted their preuy accusations so that hée by the way in going thitherwardes cryed in his mynde hartely vnto God to geue him strength to stand fast in the trueth of his worde When the tyme came of his apperaunce before the Chaūcelour hée threatened him greuously reuiling and rating him as though hée had béene a dogg and layed to his charge many thinges whereof no accuser could yet bée brought forth as commonly their maner is not to bring forth the accuser notwithstanding that the Priestes of the countrye the same time were there present And thus M. Tyndall after those examinations escaping out of their handes departed home and returned to his Master againe There dwelt not farre of a certaine Doctour that had béene an olde Chauncelor before to a Bishop who had béene of olde famyliar acquaintaunce with M. Tyndall and also fauoured him well Vnto whom M. Tyndall went and opened his mynde vpon diuers questions of the Scripture For to him hée durst bée bolde to disclose his harte Vnto whom the Doctour sayd Doe you not knowe that the Pope is very Antechrist whom the Scripture speaketh of But béeware what you say for if you shall bée perceaued to bée of that opinion it will cost you your
as God it knoweth there are a full ignoraunt sorte whiche haue sene no more Latin then that they read in their Portesses and Missales which yet many of them can scarcely read except it be Albertus de secretis mulierū in which yet though they be neuer so sorily learned they poore day and night and make notes therein all to teach the mydwiues as they say and Linwode a booke of constitutions to gather tithes mortuaries offeringes customes and other pillage whiche they call not theirs but Gods part and the duety of holy church to discharge their consciences with all for they are boūd that they shall not diminishe but encrease all thyng vnto the vttermost of their powers therfore because they are thus vnlearned thought I when they come together to the Alehouse whiche is their preachyng place they affirme that my sayinges are heresie And besides that they adde to of their own heades which I neuer spake as the maner is to prolōg the tale to short the time with all and accused me secretly to the Chauncellour and other the Byshops officers And in dede when I came before the Chauncellour hee threatned me greuously and reuiled me and rated me as though I had ben a dogge and layd to my charge wherof there could be none accuser brought forth as their maner is not to bryng forth the accuser and yet all y t Priestes of the coūtrey were the same day there As I this thought the Byshop of London came to my remembraunce whom Erasmus whose toung maketh of litles gnattes great Elephants and lifteth vp aboue the Starres whosoeuer geueth him a litle exhibition prayseth excedyngly amōg other in his annotations on the new Testament for hys great learnyng Then thought I if I might come to this mans seruice I were happy And so I gatte me to London and thorow the acquaintance of my master came to Syr Harry Gilford the Kynges graces Controller and brought hym an Oration of Isocrates whiche I had translated out of greeke into English desired hym to speake vnto my Lorde of London for me whiche hee also dyd as he shewed me and willed me to write an Epistle to my Lord and to go to hym my selfe whiche I also dyd and deliuered my Epistle to a seruaunt of his own one William Hebilthwayte ' a man of myne old acquaintaunce But God which knoweth what is within hypocrites saw that I was begyled and that that counsayle was not the next way vnto my purpose And therfore he gatte me no fauour in my Lordes sight Whereupon my Lord aunswered me his house was full he had mo then he could well finde and aduised me to seeke in Londō where he sayd I could not lacke a seruice And so in London I abode almost a yeare and marked the course of the world and heard our praters I would say our Preachers how they boasted thēselues and theyr hye authoritie and beheld the pompe of our Prelates and how busie they were as they yet are to set peace and vnite in the world thoughe it be not possible for them that walke in darkenesse to continue long in peace for they cā not but either stomble or dash themselues at one thyng or an other y t shall cleane vnquiet all together and sawe thynges wherof I deferre to speake at this tyme vnderstode at the last not onely that there was no rowme in my Lord of Londons Palace to translate the new Testamēt but also that there was no place to do it in all Englād as experience doth now openly declare Vnder what maner therfore should I now submit this booke to be corrected and amended of them whiche can suffer nothyng to bee well Or what protestation should I make in such a maner vnto our Prelates those stubburne Nimrothes whiche so mightely fight against God and resiste hys holy spirite enforcyng with all crafte and sutletie to quench y t lyght of the euerlastyng Testament promises and appointement made betwene God and vs and heapyng the fierce wrath of God vpō all Princes and rulers mockyng them with false fayned names of hypocrisie and seruyng their lustes at all pointes and dispensyng with them euē of the very lawes of God of which Christe hym selfe testifieth Mathew 5. That not so much as one title therof may perish or be broken And of whiche the Prophet sayth Psalme cxviij Thou hast commaunded thy lawes to bee kept meod that is in Hebrew excedyngly with all diligence might and power and haue made thē so mad with their iugglyng charmes and craftie persuasiōs that they thinke it a ful satisfactiō for all their wicked lyuing to torment such as tell them trouth and to burne y t word of their soules health and slea who soeuer beleue thereon Notwithstandyng yet I submitte this booke and all other that I haue either made or translated or shall in tyme to come if it bee Gods will that I shall further labour in his haruest vnto all them that submit them selues vnto the word of God to be corrected of them yea and moreouer to be disalowed and also burnt if it seme worthy when they haue examined it with the Hebrue so that they first put forth of their owne trāslatyng an other that is more correct A prologue by Williā Tyndall shewyng the vse of the Scripture which he wrote before the fiue bookes of Moses THough a man had a precious iuell a rich yet if hee wiste not the value therof nor wherfore it serued he were neither the better nor richer of a straw Euē so though we read the Scripture and bable of it neuer so much yet if we know not the vse of it and wherfore it was geuen and what is therein to be sought it profiteth vs nothyng at all It is not enough therfore to read and talke of it onely but we must also desire God day and night instantly to open our eyes and to make vs vnderstand and feele wherefore the Scripture was geuen that we may applye the medicine of the Scripture euery man to his own sores vnlesse then we entend to be idle disputers and braulers about vaine wordes euer gnawyng vppon the bitter barcke without and neuer attaynyng vnto the sweete pith within and persecuting one an other in defendyng of lewde imaginations and phantasies of our owne inuentions Paule in thyrd of the second Epistle to Timothe sayth That the Scripture is good to teache for that ought men to teach and not dreames of their owne makyng as the Pope doth and also to improue for the Scripture is the touch stone that tryeth all doctrines and by that we know the false from the true And in the vj. to the Ephesians he calleth it the sword of the spirite by cause it killeth hypocrites and vttereth and and improueth their false inuentions And in the xv to y t Romains he saith All that are written are written for our learnyng that we thorow patience
God would not haue the secrets of Christ generally known saue vnto a fewe familiare frendes which in that infaÌ„cy he made of mans wit to helpe the other babes yet as they had a generall promise that one of the seede of Abraham shoulde come and blesse them euen so they had a generall fayth that God woulde by the same man saue them thoughe they wist not by what meanes as the very apostles when it was oft tolde them yee they could neuer comprehende it till it was fulfilled in dede And beyond all this their sacrifices and ceremonies as far forth as the promises annexed vnto them extend so far forth they saued theÌ„ and iustified theÌ„ and stoode them in the same steade as our Sacramentes doe vs not by the power of the sacrifice or deede it selfe but by the vertue of the fayth in y e promise which the sacrifice or Ceremonye preached and whereof it was a token or signe For the ceremonies and sacrifices were left with them commauÌ„ded them to keepe the promise in remembraunce and to wake vp theyr fayth As it is not enough to send many on errandes and to tell them what they shall do but they must haue a remembraunce with them and it be but a ringe of a rushe aboute one of their fingers And as it is not inoughe to make a bargayne with wordes onely but we must put therto an othe geue earnest to confirme the fayth of y e person with whom it is made And in like manner if a man promise whatsoeuer trifle it be it is not beleued excepte he hold vp hys finger also suche is the weakenesse of the world And therfore Christe himselfe vsed ofttymes diuers ceremonies in curyng y e sicke to stirre vp their fayth with al. As for example it was not y e bloud of y e Lambe that saued theÌ„ in Egipt when y e angell smote the Egiptians but the mercy of God and hys truth wherof that bloud was a token and remembrance to stirre vp their faythes withall For though god make a promise yet it saueth none finally but them that long for it pray God with a strong fayth to fulfil it for hys mercy and truth only and knowledge their vnworthinesse And euen so our sacramentes if they be truly ministred preach Christ vnto vs lead our faithe vnto Christe by which faith our sinnes are done away and not by the deede or worke of the Sacrament For as it was impossible that y t bloud of calues should put away sinne euen so is it impossible that the water of the riuer should wash our hartes Neuerthelesse the sacramentes clense vs and absolue vs of our sinnes as the priests do in preaching of repentance fayth for whiche cause either other of them were ordayned but if they preach not whether it be the priest or the Sacrament so profite they not And if a man alledge Christ Iohn in the iij. Chapter saying Except a man be borne agayne of water and the holy Ghost hee can not see the kyngdome of GOD and will therfore that the holy ghost be present in the water and therfore the very deede or worke doth put away sinne then I will send hym vnto Paul which asketh his GalathiaÌ„s whether they receaued the holy ghost by the dede of the law or by preachyng of fayth and there concludeth that the holy ghost accoÌ„panyeth the preachyng of faith and with the word of faith entreth the hart and purgeth it whiche thou mayest also vnderstand by Saint Pauls saying Ye are borne a new out of the water through the worde So now if Baptisme preach me the washyng in Christes bloud so doth the holy ghost accompany it and that deede of preachyng throughe fayth doth put away my sinnes For the holy Ghost is no dome God nor no God that goeth a mummynge If a man say of the Sacrament of Christes body and bloud that it is a sacrifice as well for the dead as for the quicke and therfore the very dede it self iustifieth and putteth away sinne I aunswere that a sacrifice is the sleyng of the body of a beast or a man wherefore if it be a sacrifice then is Christes body there slayne and his bloud there shed but that is not so And therfore it is properly no sacrifice but a Sacrament and a memoriall of that euerlastyng sacrifice once for all which he offered vpon crosse now vppon a xv hundred yeares ago preacheth onely vnto them that are alyâ—e And as for them that be dead it is as profitable vnto them as is a caÌ„dle in a LaÌ„terne without light vnto them that walke by the way in darke night and as the Gospell song in Latine is vnto them that vnderstand none at all and as a Sermon preached to him that is dead and heareth it not It preacheth vnto them that are a lyue onely for they that bee dead if they dyed in the fayth whiche that Sacrament preacheth they bee safe and are past all ieopardy For when they were alyue their hartes loued the law of GOD and therfore sinned not and were sory that their members synned and euer moued to sinne and therfore thorough fayth it was forgeuen them And now their synnefull members be dead so that they can now sinne no more wherfore it is vnto them that bee dead neither Sacrament nor sacrifice But vnder the pretence of their soule health it is a seruauÌ„t vnto our spiritualties holy coueteousnesse and an extorcioner and a builder of Abbayes Colledges Chauntryes and Cathedral Churches with false gotten good a pickepurse a polar and a bottomlesse bagge Some man would happely say that the prayers of the Masse helpe much not the liuing onely but also the dead Of the hoate fire of their feruent prayer whiche consumeth faster then all the world is able to bring sacrifice I haue sayd sufficiently in other places How beit it is not possible to bryng me in belief that the prayer whiche helpeth her own master vnto no vertue shuld purchase me the forgeuenes of sinnes If I saw that their prayers had obtained them grace to lyue suche a lyfe as Gods word dyd not rebuke the could I soone be borne in hand that what so euer they asked GOD their prayers shuld not be in vayne But now what good caÌ„ he wish me in his prayers that enuieth Christe the fode and the lyfe of my soule What good can hee wishe me whose hart cleaueth a sonder for payne when I am taught to repent of my euill Furthermore because that fewe know the vse of the old TestameÌ„t and the most part thinke it nothyng necessarie but to make allegories whiche they fayne euery man after hys owne brayne at all wyld aduenture without any certaine rule therefore though I haue spoken of them in an other place yet lest the boke come not to all mens handes that shall read this I will speake of them
quicke witted and printe wisdome in hym and maketh it to abide where bare wordes go but in at the one eare and out at the other As this with such lyke sayings put salt to all your sacrifices in steade of this senteÌ„ce do all your dedes wyth discretion greeteth and biteth if it bee vnderstand more then plain wordes And when I say in stede of these wordes boast not your selfe of your good dedes eate not the bloud nor the fat of your sacrifice there is as greate difference betwene them as there is distance betwene heauen and earth For the lyfe and beauty of all good dedes is of God and we are but the caren lean we are onely the instrument whereby God worketh onely but the power is his As God created Paul a new poured hys wisdome into hym gaue hym might promised hym that his grace should neuer fayle him c. and al with out deseruinges except that nurtering the sayntes and making them curse rayle on Christ bee meritorious Now as it is death to eate the bloud or fatte of any sacrifice is it not thinke ye daÌ„nable to robbe God of hys honour to glorify my selfe with hys honour An exposition of certayne wordes of the fourth booke of Moses called Numeri AVims a kynde of Giauntes and the worde signifieth crooked vnright or weaked Beliall weaked or weakeuesse hee that hath cast the yoke of God of his necke and will not obey God Bruterer prophesies or southsayers Emims a kynde of gyantes so called because they were terrible and cruell for Emim signifieth terriblenes Enacke a kinde of Giauntes so called happly because they ware chaynes about their neckes Horims a kynde of Giauntes and signifieth noble because that of pride they called themselues nobles or gentles Rocke God is called a rocke because both he and hys word lasteth for euer Whet them on thy children that is exercise thy children in them and put them in vre Zamzumims a kynde of Gyauntes and signifieth mischeuous or that be alway imagining The Prologue into the fourth boke of Moses called Numeri IN the second and thirde booke they receaued the law And in this fourth they beginne to worke to practise Of whiche practising ye see manye good examples of vnbeliefe and what freewill doth when she taketh in hand to kepe y t law of her own power with out helpe of faith in y t promises of god how she leaueth her maisters carkasses by the way in the wildernesse and bringeth them not into the lande of rest Why could they not enter in Because of their vnbeliefe Hebrue 3. For had they beleued so had they bene vnder grace and their old sinnes had ben forgeueÌ„ them and power should haue bene geuen them to haue fulfilled the law thenceforth and they should haue bene kepte from all temptations that had bene to strong for them For it is writen Iohn 1. He gaue them power to be the sonnes of God thorow beleuyng in hys name Now to be y t sonne of God is to loue God and hys commaundementes and to walke in hys way after the ensample of hys sonne Christ But these people tooke vppon them to worke without fayth as thou seest in the 14. of this boke where they would fight and also did without the woorde of promise euen when they were warned that they shoulde not And in the 16. agayne they woulde please God with their holye faythlesse workes for where Gods woorde is not there can be no fayth but the fire of God consumed their holy workes as it did Nadab and Abihu Leuit. 10. And from these vnbeleuers turn thine eyes vnto the Pharises whiche before the commyng of Christ in hys fleshe had layde the foundation of freewyll after the same ensample Wheron they built holy workes after their owne imagination without fayth of y t word so feruently that for the great zeale of them they slewe the king of all holye workes and the lord of freewil which onely thorowe hys grace maketh the will free and looseth her from boÌ„dage of sinne and geueth her loue and luste vnto the lawes of God and power to fulfill them And so through their holy workes done by the power of freewil they excluded themselues out of the holy rest of forgeuenes of sinnes by fayth in the bloud of Christ And then looke on our hipocrites which in lyke manner followyng the doctrine of Aristotle and other hethen Paganes haue agaynst all the Scripture set vp freewill again vnto whose power they ascribe the kepyng of the commaundementes of God For they haue set vp wilfull pouerty of another maner then any is coÌ„maunded of god And y t chastitie of matrimony vtterly defied they haue set vp another wilful chastitie not required of God whiche they swere vowe and professe to geue God whether he wyll geue it them or no and compel all their disciples thervnto saying that it is in the power of euery mans freewill to obserue it contrary to Christ and his apostle Paul And the obedience of God and man excluded they haue vowed an other wilfull obedience condemned of all the scripture which they wil yet geue god whether he wyll or will not And what is become of their wilfull pouerty hath it not robbed the whole worlde and brought and vnder them Can there be either kyng or emperor or of whatsoeuer degree it be except he will hold of them and be sworne vnto them to be their seruaunte to goe and come at their lust and to defende â–ª their quarels bee they false or true Their wilful pouertie hath alredy eaten vp y â— who le world is yet stil gredier then euer it was in so muche that teune worldes mo were not inough to satisfie the honger thereof Moreouer besides daily corruptyng of other mens wiues and open whore dome vnto what abhominacions to filthy to be spoken of hath their voluÌ„tary chastitie brought them And as for their wilfull obedience what is it but the disobedience and the diffiaunce both of al the lawes of God and man in so much that if any Prince begyn to execute any law of man vpon them they curse him vnto the bottome of hâ—l proclayme him no right kyng and that hys Lordes ought no longer to obey hym and interdite his commoÌ„ people as they were heathen Turkes or Saracenes And if any man preach them gods law him they make an hereticke and burne him to ashes And in sieade of Gods lawe and mans they haue set vp one of their owne imagination whiche they obserue with dispensations And yet in these workes they haue so great confidence that they not onely trust to be saued therby and to be hyer in heauen then they y t be saued through Christ but also promise to all other for geuenâ—uâ— of their sinnes thorough the merites of the same Wherin they rest and teach other to rest also excludyng the whole world from the rest
accordyng to the true doctrine of y t church of Christ And note this that as satisfaction or ameÌ„des makyng is counted righteousnesse before the world and a purgyng of sinne so that the world wheÌ„ I haue made a full mendes hath no further to complayne Euen so fayth in Christes bloud is counted righteousnesse and a purging of all sinne before God Moreouer he that sinneth agaynst his brother sinneth also against his father almighty God and as the synne committed agaynst his brother is purged before the world with makyng amendes or asking forgeuenes euen so is the sinne committed agaynst God purged thorow fayth in christes bloud onely For Christ sayth Iohn 8. Except ye beleue that I am be ye shal die in your sinnes That is to say if ye thinke that there is any other sacrifice or satisfaction to Godward than me ye remayne euer in sinne before God howsoeuer righteous ye appeare before the worlde Wherfore now whether ye call this Metonoia repeÌ„tance conuersion or turning agayne to god either amendyng c. or whether ye say repent be conuerted turne to god amend your liuing or what ye lust I â—n content so ye vnderstande what is ment therby as I haue now declared ¶ Elders IN the olde testament the temporall heads rulers of the Iewes which had the gouernaunce ouer the laye or common people are called Elders as ye may see in the foure Euangelistes Out of which custome Paule in his epistle and also Peter call the prelates and spirituall gouernours whiche are Bishops and priestes Elders Nowe whether ye call them elders or priests it is to me all one so that ye vnderstaÌ„d that they be officers and seruaunts of the worde of God vnto the which all men both hie and lowe that will not rebell against Christ must obey as loÌ„g as they preach and rule truely and no longer A Prologue made vppon the Gospell of S. Marke by M. William Tyndall OF Marke read Act. 12. how Peter after he was loosed out of prison by the Angell came to Markes mothers house where many of the Disciples were praying for hys deliueraunce And Paul and Barnabas tooke hym with them from Ierusalem brought hym to Antioche Act. 12. and Acts. 13. Paule and Barnabas tooke Marke with them when they were sente to preach from whome he also departed as it appeareth in y t said chapter and returned to Ierusalem agayne And Act. 15. Paule and Barnabas were at variaunce about hym Paule not willing to take hym with them because he forsoke them in their first iorney Notwithstanding yet when Paule wrote the epistle to the Collossians Marke was with hym as he sayth in y t fourth Chapter of whoÌ„ Paule also testifieth both that hee was Barnabas sisters sonne and also his fellowe worker in the kyngdome of God And 2. Timothie 4. Paul coÌ„maundeth Timothie to bring Marke wyth hym affirmyng that he was needefull to hym to minister to hym Finally he was also with Peter when he wrote hys first Epistle and so familiar that Peter calleth hym hys sonne whereof ye see of whom he learned hys gospel euen of the very apostles with whom he had hys continuall conuersation also of what authoritie his writing is and how worthy of credence A Prologue made vppon the Gospell of S. Luke by M. William Tyndall LVcas was Paules companion at the least way from the 16. of the Actes forth and with hym in all his tribulation and he went with Paule at hys last goyng vp to Ierusalem And from thence he followed Paul to Cesarea where he lay two yere in prison And from Cesarea he went with Paul to Rome where he lay ij other yeares in prison And he was with Paul wheÌ„ he wrote to the Colossians as he testifieth in the fourth chapter saying The beloued Lucas the Phisitian saluteth you And he was with Paul when he wrote the second epistle to Timothie as he sayeth in the 4. chapter saying Onely Lucas is with me Wherby ye see the autoritie of the man of what credence and reuerence hys writing is worthy of and thereto of whome he learned the story of his Gospell as he hymselfe sayth how that he learned it and searched it out with all diligence of them that saw it and were also partakers at the doyng And as for the Actes of the Apostles he himselfe was at the doyng of them at the least of the most parte and had his part therin and therefore wrote of hys owne experience A Prologue made vppon the Gospell of S. Iohn by William Tyndall IOhn what he was is manifest by the thre first euangelistes First christes Apostle and y t one of the chiefe Then christes nie kinsman and for his syngular innocency and softenesse singularly beloued and of singular familiaritie with Christ and euer one of y t thre witnesses of most secret things The cause of his writing was certaine heresies that arose in his tyme namely ij of which one denyed Christ to be very God and the other to be very man and to become in the very fleshe nature of man Agaynst the whiche ij heresies he wrote both his Gospell and also his first epistle and in the beginnyng of his gospell sayth That the worde or thing was at the beginning and was with God and was also very God and that all thinges were created by it and that it was also made flesh that is to say became very man and he dwelt among vs sayth he and we saw his glory And in the beginnyng of hys epistle he sayth we shewe you of the thyng that was from the beginnyng whiche also we heard saw with our eyes and our handes handled And agayne we shewe you euerlastyng lyfe that was with the father and appeared to vs we heard and saw c. In that he sayeth that it was from the beginning and that it was eternal lyfe and that it was with God he affirmeth hym to be very God And that he saith we heard saw and felt he witnesseth y â— he was very man also Iohn also wrote last and therefore touched not the story that the other had compiled But writeth most of faith and promises and of the Sermons of Christe This be sufficieÌ„t concernyng the foure Euangelistes and their authoritie and worthines to be beleued A Prologue vpon the Epistle of S. Paule to the Romaines by M. William Tyndall FOrasmuch as this epistle is the principal and most excellent part of the new testament and most pure Euangelion that is to say glad ridings and that we call gospell and also a light and a way in vnto the whole scripture I thinke it meete that euery christen man not onely know it by roate and without the boke but also exercise himself therin euermore continually as with the daily bread of the soule No man verily can read it to oft or study it to well for the more it is studied the easier it is the more
teaching other to pray to them None of them also which taketh vpon them to saue other wyth their prayers trusteth to be saued thereby themselues but hyre other to pray for them Moyses taketh recorde of God that he tooke not of any of the people so much as an Asse neither vexed any of them Numeri xvj Samuell in y t fyrst booke of kynges the xij chapter asked all Israell whether he had taken any mans Oxe or Asse or had vexed any man or had taken any gift or rewarde of any man And all the people testified nay yet these two both taught the people and also prayed for them as much as our prelates doe Peter j. Peter v. exhorteth the elders to take the ouersight of Christes flocke not for filthy lucre but of a good will euen for loue Paul Act. xx taketh the Priestes or elders to recorde that he had taught repentaunce and fayth and all y â— councell of God And yet had desired no mans golde siluer or vesture but fedde himselfe with the labour of hys handes And yet these two taught and prayed for the people as much as our Prelates doe wyth whom it goeth after the common saying no penny no Pater noster Which Prelates yet as they teach not but beate onely so wote they not what prayer meaneth Moreouer the lawe of loue which Christ left among vs is to geue and not to receaue What prayer is it then that thus robbeth all the world coÌ„trary to that great commaundemeÌ„t which is the ende of all commaundementes and in which all other are conteyned If men should continue to buie prayer foure or fiue hundred yeares moe as they haue done there would not be a foote of grounde in Christendome neither any worldly thyng which they y â— will be called spirituall onely shoulde not possesse And thus all shoulde be called spirituall Wo be to you Lawyers for ye lade men wyth burdeÌ„s which they are not able to beare ye yours selues touch not the packes wyth one of your fingers saith Christ Luke xj Our Lawyers verely haue laden vs a thousand tymes more What spirituall kynred haue they made in baptime to let matrimonie besides that they haue added certaine degrees vnto the law naturall for the same purpose What an vnbearable burthen of chastitie do they violently thrust on other meÌ„s backes and how easely beare they it themselues How sore a burden How cruell a haÌ„gman How greuous a torment yea how paynefull an hell is this eare confession vnto mens consciences For the people are brought in beliefe that with out that they can not be saued In so much that some faste certayne dayes in the yeare and pray certayne superstitious prayers all their lyues longe that they may not die without confession In perill of death if the Priest be not by the shippemen shriue themselues vnto the Mast If any be present they runne then euery maÌ„ into his eare but to gods promises flye they not for they know them not If any man haue a deathes wounde he cryeth immediatly for a Priest If a man die without shrift many take it for a signe of damnation Many by reason of that false beliefe die in desperation Many for shame keepe backe of their confession xx xxx yeares and thinke all the while that they be damned I knew a poore woman with childe which longed and being ouercomen of her passion eate fleshe on a Friday which thing she durst not confesse in the space of xviij yeares and thought all that while that she had ben damned and yet sinned she not at all Is not this a sore burden that so weyeth downe the soule vnto the bottome of hell What shoulde I say A great booke were not sufficient to rehearse y â— snares which they haue layde to robbe men both of their goodes and also of the trust which they shoulde haue in Gods worde The Scribes and Phariseis do all their workes to be sene of men They set abroade their Philacteries make long borders on their garmentes and loue to sit vppermost at feastes and to haue the chiefe seates in the synagoges that is in the congregations or councels and to be called Rabby that is to saye maisters sayth Christ Math. xxiij Beholde the deedes of our spiritualtie and how many thousand fashions are among them to be knowen by Which as none is like an other so loueth none an other For euery one of them supposeth that all other polle to fast and make to many captiues yet to resiste Christ are they all agreed least they shoulde be all compeld to deliuer vp their prisoners to hym Beholde the monsters how they are disguised with miters croses and hattâ—s with crosses pillers and pollaxes and wyth thre crownes What names haue they my Lord Prior my Lord Abbot my Lord Byshop my Lord Archbishop Cardinall and Legate if it please your fatherhod if it please your Lordship if it please your grace if it please your holines and innumerable such like Beholde how they are esteemed and how hie they be crept vp aboue all not into worldly seates onely but into the seate of God the hartes of men where they sit aboue God himselfe For both they whatsoeuer they make of their owne heades is more feared and dread then God and his commaundements In them and their deseruinges put we more trust then in Christ and hys merites To their promises geue we more fayth then to the promises which God hath sworne in Christes bloud The hypocrites say vnto the kings and Lordes these heretickes would haue vs downe first and then you to make of all coÌ„mon Nay ye hypocrites and right heretickes approued by open Scripture the kinges and Lordes are downe already that so low that they can not go lower Ye treade them vnder your feete and lead theÌ„ captiue and haue made them your bonde seruaunts to waite on your filthy lustes and to auenge your malice on euery man contrary vnto the right of Gods word Ye haue not onely robbed them of their laÌ„d authoritie honour and due obedieÌ„ce which ye owe vnto them but also of their wittes so that they are not without vnderstaÌ„dyng in Gods word onely but eueÌ„ in worldly matters that pertaine vnto their offices they are more then children Ye beare them in hand what ye will and haue brought them eueÌ„ in case like vnto them which when they daunce naked in nettes beleue they are inuisible We would haue them vp agayne and restored vnto the rowme and authoritie which GOD hath geuen them and whereof ye haue robbed them And your inward falsehode we do but vtter onely with the light of Gods word that your hypocrisie might be sene Be learned therfore ye that iudge the world lest God be angry with you and ye perish from the right way Wo be to you Scribes and Phariseis hypocrites For ye make cleane y t vtterside of the cuppe and of the platter
for the electe onely in whose hartes God hath written hys lawe with his holy spirite and geuen them a feeling faith of the mercy that is in Christ Iesu our Lord. ¶ Why Tindall vsed this worde congregation rather theÌ„ church in the translation of the new Testament WHerefore in as much as the clergy as the nature of those hard indurat AdamaÌ„tstones is to draw all to them had appropriat vnto themselues the terme that of right is common vnto all the whole congregation of them that beleue in Christ wyth their false and subtil wyles had beguiled and mocked the people brought them into the ignoraunce of the word making theÌ„ vnderstand by this worde church nothing but the shauen flocke of them that shore the whole worlde therefore in the translation of the new Testament where I found this word Ecclesia I enterpreted it by thys word congregation Euen therfore did I it and not of any mischeuous mynde or purpose to stablâ—she heresie as master More vntruely reporteth of me in hys Dialoge where he rayleth on y t translation of the new Testament And when M. More sayth that this word Church is knowen wel inough I report me vnto the conscieÌ„ces of all the land whether he say truth or other wise or whether the lay people vnderstand by Church the whole multitude of all that professe Christ or the iugglyng spirites onely And wheÌ„ he saith that congregation is a more generall terme if it were it hurteth not For the circumstance doth euer tell what coÌ„gregation is ment Neuerthelesse yet sayth he not the truth For whersoeuer I may say a congregation there may I say a Church also as the Church of the deuill the Church of Sathan the Church of wretches y t Church of wickedmen the Churche of lyers and a Church of Turkes therto For M. More must graunt if he will haue Ecclesia translated throughout all the new Testament by this woorde Church that Church is as commoÌ„ as Ecclesia Now is Ecclesia a Greeke word and was in vse before the tyme of the Apostles and taken for a coÌ„gregation among the heatheÌ„ where was no congregation of God or of Christ And also Lucas him selfe vseth Ecclesia for a Church or congregation of heathen people thrise in one Chapter eueÌ„ in the xix of the Actes where Demetrius the goldsmith or siluersmith had gathered a company agaynst Paule for preachyng agaynst Images Howbeit M. More hath so long vsed â–ª his figures of Poetry that I suppose wheÌ„ he erreth most he now by the reason oâ— a long custome beleueth himself that he sayth most true Or els as the wise people which when they daunce naked in nettes beleue that no man seeth them euen so M. More thinketh that his errours be so subtilly couched that no man can espy them So blinde he counteth all other men in comparison of his great vnderstandyng But charitably I exhorte him in Christ to take hede for though Iudas were wilier then his felowes to get lucre yet he proued not most wise at y t last end Neither though Balam the false Prophet had a cleare sight to bryng y â— curse of God vpon the childreÌ„ of Israell for honours sake yet his couetousnesse did so blind his prophesie that he could not see his owne end Let therfore M. More and his coÌ„pany awake be tymes ere euer their sinne be ripe lest y e voyce of their wickednesse ascenoâ— vp and awake God out of his slepe to loke vpoÌ„ them and to how his eares vnto theyr cursed blasphemies agaynst the open truth and to send his haruest men and mowares of vengeaunce to repe it But how happeth it that M. More hath not contended in likewise against hys derelyng Erasmus all this longe while Doth not he chauÌ„ge this word Ecclesia into congregatioÌ„ and that not seldome in the new TestameÌ„t peraduenture he oweth him fauour because he made Moria in hys house Whiche booke if it were in English theÌ„ should euery man see how that he then was farre otherwise mynded then he now writeth But verely I thinke that as Iudas betrayd not Christ for any loue that he had vnto the hyghe Priestes Scribes and Phariseis but onely to come by that wherfore he thirsted eueÌ„ so M. More as there are tokens euideÌ„t wrote not these bookes for any affectioÌ„ that he bare vnto the spiritualty or vnto the opinions which he so barely defeÌ„deth but to obtaine onely that which he was an hungred for I pray God that he eate not to hastly lest he be chokeo at the latter end but that he repeÌ„t and resist not the spirite of God which openeth light vnto the worlde ¶ Why he vseth this woorde Elder and not Priest AN other thyng which he rebuketh is that I interprete this Greeke worde Presbiteros by this worde Senior Of a truth Senior is no very good Englishe though Senior and Iuniot be vsed in the vniuersities but there came no better in my mynde at that tyme. Howbeit I spied my fault since long yer M. More tolde it me and haue â—…ded it in all the woorkes which I sens made and call it an Elder And in that he maketh hereâ—ie of it to call Presbiteros an Elder he condemneth their owne old Latin text of heresie also which they vse yet dayly myâ—â—…ch and haue vsed I suppose this I suppose this run huÌ„dred yeares For that text doth 〈…〉 an elder likewise In the. 1. Pet. 5. â—…s standeth it in y e Latin text Seâ—…ores qui in vobis sunt obsecro ego conâ—… pascite qui in vobis est gregem Chriâ—… 〈…〉 elders that are among you I 〈…〉 which am an elder also that ye sedâ—… flocke of Christ which is among 〈…〉 There is Presbyteros calle◠〈…〉 And in y t he sayth fede Chrisâ—… he meaneth euen the Ministeâ—… chosen to teach the people to 〈…〉 them in Gods word no â—ay 〈…〉 And in the 2. Epâ—stâ—e of Ioh◠〈…〉 text Senior electae Dominae 〈…〉 The elder vnto the eleâ—t Lady 〈…〉 her children And in the 〈…〉 Iohn Senior Gaâ—o dilecto 〈…〉 vnto the beloued Gaiâ—s In these 〈…〉 pistles Presbyteros is calleâ— an 〈…〉 And in the xx of the Actes y â— text sâ—… Paule sent for maiores natu Eccleâ—… 〈…〉 elders in byrth of the congregation or Church and sayd vnto them take 〈…〉 vnto your selues vnto y â— whoâ—e 〈◊〉 ouer which the holy ghosâ— hath 〈…〉 you Episcopos ad regendum Eccleâ—… Dei Byshops ouerâ—caâ—s to 〈…〉 the Church of God There is â—…teros called an Elder in byrth 〈…〉 same immediately called a 〈…〉 ouersear to declare what pâ—… ment Hereof ye see that I haue 〈…〉 more erred then their owne text 〈…〉 they haue vsed sence the scripture waâ— first in the Latin â—oung and that their owne text vnderstandeth by Presbyâ—eros nothyng saue an Elder And they were called
for his death sake and neuer thinke on thē more then it serueth me I not it doth me y e same seruice as if I read the Testament in a booke or as if the preacher preached it vnto me And in lyke maner if I make a crosse in my forehead in a remembraunce that God hath promised assistaunce vnto all that beleue in him for his sake that dyed on the crosse then doth the crosse serue me and I not if And in like maner if I beare on me or looke vpon a crosse of what soeuer matter it be or make a crosse vpon me in remembraunce that who soeuer wil be Christes Disciple must suffer a crosse of aduersitie tribulations and persecution so doth the crosse serue me and I not it And this was the vse of the crosse once and for this cause it was at the begynnyng set vp in the Churches And so if I make an image of Christ or of any thyng that Christ hath done for me in a memory it is good and not euill vntill it be abused And euen so if I take the true lyfe of a Saint and cause it to be painted or carued to put me in remembraunce of the Saintes lyfe to folow the Saint as the Saint did Christ and to put me in remembraunce of the great fayth of the Saint to God and how true God was to helpe him out of all tribulatiō and to see the Saintes loue towardes his neighbour in that he so paciently suffered so paynefull a death so cruell Martyrdome to testifie the truth for to saue other and all to strength my soule with all and my fayth to God and loue to my neighbour then doth the image serue me and I not it And this was the vse of images at the begynnyng of reliques also And to knele before the crosse vnto the word of God which the crosse preacheth is not euill Neither to knele downe before an image in a mans meditations to call the liuyng of the saint to mynde for to desire God of lyke grace to folow the exāple is not euill But the abuse of the thing is euill and to haue a false fayth as to beare a pece of the crosse about a mā thinking that so long as that is about him spirites shall not come at hym his enemyes shall do hym no bodely harme all causes shal go on his side euen for bearing it about him and to thinke that if it were not about hym it would not be so and to thinke if any misfortune chaūce that it came for leauing it of or because this or that ceremonie was left vndone and not rather because we haue broken Gods cōmaundemēts or that God tēpteth vs to proue our patience This is playne idolatry here a man is captiue bond seruaūt vnto a false fayth a false imagination that is neyther God nor his worde Now am I Gods onely and ought to serue nothing but God and his worde My body must serue y t rulers of this world and my neighbour as God hath appointed it and so must all my goods but my soule must serue God onely to loue his lawe and to trust in hys promises of mercy in all my deedes And in like manner it is that thousandes while the Priest pattereth S. Iohns Gospell in Latine ouer their heades crosse themselues with I trow a legion of crosses behynde and before and wyth reuerence on the very arses and as Iacke of napes when hee claweth himselfe plucke vp their legges and crosse so much as their heeles and the very soles of their fete and beleue that if it be done in the time that he readeth the gospel and els not that there shal no mischaunce happen them that day because onely of those crosses And where he should crosse hymselfe to be armed and to make himselfe strong to beare the crosse with Christ be crosseth himselfe to driue the crosse from hym and blesseth hymselfe with a crosse frō the crosse And if he leaue it vndone he thinketh it no smal sinne and that god is highly displeased with him and it any misfortune chaunce thinketh it is therefore which is also Idolatry and not Gods worde And such is the confidēce in the place or image or whatsoeuer bodely obseruaunce it be such is S Agathes letter written in the Gospell tyme. And such are y e crosses on palmesonday made in the passion tyme. And such is the bearing of holy waxe about a man And such is that some hang a pece of S. Iohns Gospell about their neckes And such is to beare y e names of god with crosses betwene ech name about them Such is the saying of gospels vnto women in childbed Such is the limeteriers saying of in principio erat verbum from house to house Such is the saying of Gospels to the corne in the field in the procession weeke that it should the better grow And such is holy bread holy water and seruing of all ceremonies and sacramentes in generall without signification And I pray you how is it possible that y e people can worship images reliques ceremonies and sacramentes saue superstitiously so long as they know not the true meaning neyther wyll y e Prelates suffer any man to tell them yea and the very meaning of some and right vse no man can tell And as for the riches that is bestowed on images and reliques they can not proue but that it is abhominable as long as the poore are dispised and vncared for and not first serued for whose sakes and to finde preachers offeringes tithes landes rentes and all that they haue was geuen the spiritualitie They wil say we may do both May or not may I see that the one most necessary of both is not done but the poore are bereued of the spiritualtie of all that was in tyme passed offered vnto thē Moreouer though both were done they shall neuer proue that the sight of golde and siluer and of precious stones should moue a mās hart to dispise such thinges after the doctrine of Christ Neither can the rich coat helpe to moue thy mynde to follow the ensample of the Saint but rather if he were purtrayde as he suffered in the most vngoodly wise Which thing taken away that such thynges with all other seruice as sticking vp candels moue not thy mynde to follow the ensample of the Saint nor teach thy soule any godly learning thē the image serueth not thee but thou y t Image and so art thou an Idolater that is to say in Englishe a serue Image And thus it appeareth that your vngodly and belly doctrine wherwith ye so magnifie the deedes of your ceremonies and of your pilgrimages and offering for the deede it selfe to please God and to obtaine the fauour of dead Saintes and not to moue you and to put you in remembraunce of the lawe of God and of the promises which are in his sonne
as we haue sinned be in sinne or do sinne or shal sinne so farforth must faith in Christes bloud iustifie vs onely and els nothing To loue is to be righteous so farforth as thou louest but not to make righteous nor to make peace To beleue in Christes bloud with a repēting hart is to make righteous and the onely makyng of peace and satisfaction to Godwarde And thus because termes be darcke to them that be not expert and exercised we alway set out our meaning wyth cleare ensamples reporting our selues vnto the hartes and consciences of all men M. The blasphemous wordes of Luther seme to signifie that both Iohn Baptiste and our Lady were sinners Tyndall Iohn Baptiste sayde to Christ Mat. 3. I had neede to be baptised of thee and commest thou to me Wherof did Iohn confesse that he had nede to be washed purged by Christ of his holynes and good deedes When Iohn saide beholde y e Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of y e worlde he was not of that sorte nor had any sinnes to be taken away at any time nor any part in Christs bloud which dyed for sinners onely Iohn came to restore all thyng sayth Christ That is he came to enterprete the law of God truely and to proue all fleshe sinners to send thē to Christ as Paul doth in the beginning of y e Romanes Which lawe if M. More coulde vnderstand how spirituall it is and what it requireth of vs he woulde not so dispute And if there were no imperfectnesse in our Ladies deedes why dyd Christ rebuke her Iohn 2. when he ought rather to haue honoured his mother and why did he make her secke him three dayes Chrisostomus dare say that our Lady was now and then taken with a little vayne glory She ioked for the promises of him that should come and blesse her from what She beleued to be saued by Christ from what This I graunt that our Lady Iohn Baptiste Isaac Iacob Ioseph Moses and many like did neuer consent to sinne to follow it But had the holy ghost from the beginning Neuer the later while they folowed the spirite and wrought their best yet chaunces met them by the way and temptations that made their woorkes come sometimes vnperfectly to passe as a potter that hath his craft neuer so wel meteth a chaunce now and then that maketh him fashion a pot a misse So that I thinke the perfectest of them all as we haue ensamples of some were compelled to say with Paul that good that I would I do not and that euill that I would not that I do I would not sweare on a booke that if our Lady had bene let slip as we other were and as hard apposed with as present death before her eyes that she would not haue denyed somethinges that she knew true ye but she was preserued by grace that she was not No but though she were kept by grace from y e outwarde deede yet if there were such wickednes in her fleshe she had sinne And the grace was that she knew it and was meeke to beleue in Christ to haue it forgeuen her and to be preserued that it should not bud forth Iohn the Euangelist when he was as holy as euer was Iohn the Baptist sayd if we say we haue no sinne we deceaue our selues Then he compareth fayth deedes together and will that fayth shoulde stand in no better seruice of right then deedes Yes for the deedes be examined by the lawe and therfore it is not inough to do them onely or to do thē with loue but I must do them wyth as great loue as Christ did for me and as I receaue a good deede at my nede But faith is vnder no lawe and therfore be she neuer so feeble she shall receaue according to the truth of the promiser M. What thing coulde we aske God of right because we beleue him Tyndall Verely all that he promiseth may we be bolde to aske of right and dutie and by good obligation More Ferman sayd that all workes be good inough in thē that god hath chosē Tyndall I am sure it is vntrue for their best be not good inough though God forgeueth them their euill of hys mercy at y e repentaunce of their harts Then he endeth in his schole doctrine contrary vnto all the scripture that God remitteth not the sinne of hys chosen people because that he hath chosen thē not of his mercy but of a towardnes that is more in one then in an other saying God saw before that Peter should repent and Iudas woulde dispaire and therefore chose Peter If God chose Peter because he did repent why chose he not Iudas to which repented as much as he knowledged his sinne and brought the money agayne O this blindnesse as God had wrought nothing in the repentaunce of Peter Sayde not Christ before that Peter should falle And sayd he not that he had prayed for him that he shoulde be holpe vppe agayne Christ prayed a strong prayer for Peter to helpe hym vp agayne and suffered a strong death thereto And before his death he committed them vnto his father saying I haue kept them in thy name and I depart keepe them now from euill Peter had a good hart to God and loued his lawe and beleued in Christ had the spirite of God in him which neuer left him for all his falle Peter sinned of no malice but of frailtie and sodaine feare of death And the goodnesse of God wrought his repentaunce and all the meanes by which he was brought vp againe at Christes requeste And Iudas was neuer good nor came to Christ for loue of his doctrine but of couetousnesse nor did euer beleue in Christ Iudas was by nature and birth as we all be heyre of the wrath of God in whome the deuill wrought his will and blinded his hart with ignoraunce In which ignorannce and blindnes he grew as he grew in age and fell deeper and deeper therein and thereby wrought all his wickednesse and the deuilles will and perished therin Frō which ignoraunce God purged Peter of his mercy and gaue him light and his spirite to gouerne him and not of any towardnesse that was in Peter of hys owne byrth but for the mercy that we haue in the birth of Christes death And how will M. More proue that God chuseth not of his goodnes but of our towardnes What good towardnes can he haue and endeuour that is altogether blinde and caryed away at the will of the deuill till the deuill be cast out Are we not robbed of all towardnes in Adam and be by nature made the children of sinne so that we sinne naturally and to sinne is our nature So that as now though we would do well the flesh yet sinneth naturally neither ceaseth to sinne but so farforth as it is kept vnder with
Scriptures although S. Paule or Peter should preach it vnto vs as we see experience Actes xvij that whē Paule preached the audience dayly searched the Scriptures whether it were as he sayd But you haue bene of long continuance secluded from the scriptures whiche is cause of such grosse errours as ye are now fallen in so that ye could neither search them nor yet once looke on them Alas what blindnes doth occupy our eyes Are ye so childish to beleue that the same worde whiche hath made the vnfaythfull and heretickes faythfull and Christen in tymes past is nowe so farre altered that it should cause the faythfull and Christen to become heretickes I praye God open your eyes Howbeit wee may nowe well tast at our fingers endes that we haue long bene in that miserable case that Paule prophesied vppon vs. ij Thes ij that God hath sent vs strong delusions because we would not receaue y e knowledge of the truth what greater delusion can we haue then to thinke that the very woorde of God whiche was written for our comforte which is the very fode and sustenaunce of our soules whiche is the sure metyarde and perfect touchstone that iudgeth and examineth all thynges to thinke I saye that this wholesome worde should be our poyson and condemnation And all be it our forefathers haue lyued without it and receaued all for truth that our Prelates belyes haue imagined yet is not theyr fault ours a like although I can not excuse their ignoraunce but that it is sinne before the face of God for they had not the light of Gods word opened vnto thē Nowe sith we haue the light declared vnto vs and yet will procede in blynd ignorauncie and not conferre and examine these iugglyng mistes with the light of Gods word our ignoraunce is wilfull and without excuse Suffer therefore all thynges what soeuer they be to be tryed and examined by the Scripture If they be true then shall the Scripture doe them no hurt but stablish and strēgthen them for the Scripture discloseth nothyng but falsehead and cōdemneth nothyng but that is damnable And now to descend vnto our matter and disputation whiche is of Purgatory I shall shew you what occasiō I had to take it in hand I wrote a letter vnto a certaine frende in England desiryng hym instantly to send me certaine bookes which I though necessary for my vse and were not to be gotten in these parties as the Chronicles Syr Thomas Mores booke agaynst the Supplication of Beggers and certein other These bookes I receaued vpon S. Thomas day before Christmasse the yeare of our Sauiour a. M. ccccc xxx with a letter written in this forme Sir I haue sent you such bokes as you wrote for and one moe of Rastels makyng wherin he goeth about to proue Purgatory by naturall Philosophie whiche thyng quoth he I thinke be more easie to do thē to proue it by any good Scripture c. This stuffe receaued I was meruelously desirous and tickled to see what reasons he brought for his probations And in the begynnyng and Prologe of the booke he set seuen reasons which he sayd that fonde felowes alledged for thē to proue that there could be no Purgatory And in deede they are very fonde that would deny Purgatory if there were no better Argumentes to confute it then hee assigneth But by Gods grace I will propounde vij times seuen which shal haue such pith that their paineful purgatory shall not bee able to abyde the worst of them for these seuē that Rastell assigneth are not worth one Beane When I had read and well pondered these reasons I thought that hee should sharpely haue confuted thē as he might full well haue done specially sith they were but of his owne imagination Neuerthesse when I came vnto his solutions I founde not one but it had certaine poyntes repugnaūt vnto the Scripture vnto which our reason must euer be obediēt yea and also they were extremely iniurious vnto Christ and his precious bloud Then left I him read Syr Thomas Mores booke to see what Scripture might bee brought for that purpose and after that made I diligēt enquire to come by my Lord of Rochesters booke which also writeth on the same matter and when I had well examined their reasons and had sene the order and processe of the Scriptures whiche they alledged I founde that clearely verified whiche Aulus Gellius sayeth that it were a great deale better for a man to bee sharpely rebuked yea and openly to haue his faultes published of his enemy then to bee coldly and slenderly praysed of his frende For a mans enemy ensearcheth narrowly and gathereth together all that he can imagine and so accuseth a man more of a fumous heate then of any veritie and therfore the audience if they be wise consider his woordes therafter and so geue very small credence or els none vnto them But if a mans frende before audience doe prayse hym slenderly and coldly it is an argument that the person is very faultie for a frende beholdeth all qualities and circumstaunces his byrth bringyng vp what feates hee hath done all hys lyfe long yea and applieth many thynges vnto his frendes prayse whiche serue but sinally for it for he will leane nothing behynd that may be imagined to employ his frendes fame and honour Now if in all these pointes he can not colour out a glorious apparant laud but is compelled for lacke of matter to prayse his frēd slenderly then if the audiēce be wise they may soone cōiecture that he is no prayse worthy also may well doubt whether that small prayse which he gaue him be true or not Euē so when I had read these bookes of Syr Thomas More and my Lord of Rochester and saw the small probations slender reasons that those two witty and learned men had brought to confirme Purgatory considering also that they are the chiefest frendes proctours and patrones therof and that they had applied many reasons and Scriptures for their purpose for lacke of matter that rather made against them yea and not that onely but also that they dissented betwene them selues in their probations for M. More sayth that there is no water in Purgatory And my Lord of Rochester sayth that there is water Master More sayth that the ministers of the punishmēt are deuils And my Lord of Rochester sayth that the ministers of the punishment are aungels Master More sayth that both the grace and charitie of them that lye in the paynes of Purgatory are increased My Lord of Rochester saith that the soules in Purgatory obtain there neither more fayth nor grace nor charitie then they brought in with them These thynges cōsidered it made mine hart yerne and fully to cōsent that this their paynefull Purgatory was but a vayne imagination and that it hath of long time but deceaued the people and milked them from their
also coueteth to counterfayte his kinsmaÌ„ although the beames of his braines be nothyng so radiaunt nor his coÌ„ueyaunce so commendable in the eyes of the wise Notwithstandyng this Rastell hath enterprised to dilate this matter and hath diuided it into three Dialoges imaginyng that two men dispute this matter by natural reason and Philosophie secludyng Christ and all Scripture The one of them that should dispute this matter he calleth Gingemen fayneth hym to be a Turke and of Mahometes law The second he nameth Comingo an Almany of Christes fayth And he maketh the Turke to teach the Christen maÌ„ what he should beleue The first Dialoge goeth about to proue by reason that there is a God which is mercyfull and righteous The second entendeth to proue that the soule of a man is immortall Agaynst these two Dialogues I will not dispute partly because this treatise should not be ouer long and tedious and partly because that those twoo poyntes which he there laboureth to proue are such as no Christen man will deny although many of his probations are so slender that they may well be improued but as concerning his thyrd Dialogue wherin he would proue Purgatory it is wholly iniurious vnto the bloude of Christe and the destruction of all Christen fayth if men were so mad as to beleue his vayne persuasions And therfore I thought expedient to coÌ„pare this third Dialoge with all the deceitfull reasons vnto the true light and pure worde of God that at the least Rastell hym selfe might perceiue his owne blind ignoraunce and returne agayne into the right way And if any man haue bene deceiued through his booke as I trust there are but few except they bee very ignoraunt that they may repent with hym and glorifie GOD for his inestimable mercy which hath sent his light into this world to disclose and expell theyr darke and blynd ignorauncy that they may see his wayes and walke in them praysing the Lord eternally Amen The first Booke whiche is an aunswere vnto Rastelles Dialogue THere is no man as I thinke that hath a naturall wytte but hee will graunt me that this booke of Rastels making is either true or false If it be false theÌ„ how so euer it séeme to agrée with naturall reason it is not to be allowed if it be true then must we approue it Naturall reason must bee ruled by Scripture If naturall reason conclude agaynst the Scripture so is it false but if it be agréeyng to Scripture then is it to be heard Of this may I conclude that if Rastels booke be agréeyng to Scripture then is it true and to be allowed if it determine coÌ„trary to the Scripture then is it false and to bee abhorred how soeuer it séeme to agrée with naturall reason Now is there no Christen maÌ„ but hee beleueth surely that if Christ had not dyed for our sinnes we should all haue bene damned perpetually neuer haue entred into the ioyes of heauen whiche thyng is easie to be proued for Paule sayth Rom. 5. As thorough one maÌ„s sinne that is AdaÌ„ ensued death in all meÌ„ vnto condeÌ„natioÌ„ Euen so thorough one mans righteousnes which is Christ came righteousnes in al men vnto y e iustification of lyfe Also Iohn xi It is necessary that one man dye for the people that all the people perishe not so that we had ben condemned and had perished perpetually if Christ had not dyed for vs. But Rastel with his Turke Gingemin excludeth Christ and knoweth not of his death wherfore al y t reasoÌ„s that they can make vnto domesday caÌ„ neuer proue Purgatory except they imagine y â— we must first go to Purgatory and then after to hell for this is a playne coÌ„clusioÌ„ that without Christ whom they exclude we can neuer come to heauen what fondnes were it then to inuent a Purgatory Now may you sée that Rastels booke is fully aunswered and lieth already in the dyrte and that his thyrd Dialogue is all false and iniurious vnto the bloud of Christ As for the first and second Dialogue although there be some errours both agaynst Diuinitie and all good Philosophy yet wil I passe them ouer for they are not so blasphemous agaynst God and his Christe as the thyrd is Notwithstandyng I will not thus leaue his booke although I might full well but I will declare vnto you what solutions he maketh to these seueÌ„ weake reasons which he hath propounded hym selfe for hee auoydeth them so slenderly that if a man had any doubte of Purgatory before it would make hym sweare on a booke that there were none at all Besides that it hath not one solutioÌ„ but there are in it certaine pointes repugnauÌ„t vnto Scripture so that it is greate shame that any Christen man should Printe it and much more shame that it should be Printed with the kynges priuilege The first and chiefest reason that moueth this man yea and all other to affirme Purgatory is this whiche he putteth both in the first Chapter of his third Dialogue and also in y â— last Man sayth he is made to serue and honour God now if man be negligent about the commaundements of God and committe some veniall sinne for which he ought to be punished by the iustice of God dye sodenly without repentaunce and haue not made sufficieÌ„t satisfactioÌ„ vnto God here in the worlde hys soule ought neither immediatly to come into the glorious place of heauen because it is somewhat defouled with sinne neither ought it to go to hell vnto eternal daÌ„natioÌ„ but by al good order of iustice that soule must bee purged in an other place to make satisfactioÌ„ for those offences that it may afterward â—ee receiued into the glorious place of heaueÌ„ And so by the iustice of God there must nedes be a Purgatory Forsoth this reason hath some apperaunce of truth and the similitude of wisedome howbeit in déede it is nothyng but mans imagination and phantasie For if we compare it vnto Gods word then vanisheth it away But we regarde not the word of the Lord and therfore chaunceth eueÌ„ the same thyng vnto vs that happened before vnto the children of Israell Psal 81. My people regarded not my voyce and Israell gaue no bede vnto me therfore let I them go after the appetites of their owne harts They shall wander in their owne imaginations Now what goe they about in this their inuention and imaginatioÌ„ of Purgatory but to ponder the iustice of God in the balance of maÌ„s iustice saying It is no reason that we should enter into heauen which haue not here satisfied vnto God for our iniquitie except that we should be tormeÌ„ted and purified in an other place We were surely in euill takyng if God were of mans coÌ„plection which remitteth the fault and reserueth the payne Nay nay Christ is not gredy to be auenged He thirsteth not after our bloud but suffered all
although they haue not yet the rest but must suffer before in Purgatory that euasion will not this text suffer for the text sayth that they rest and are in peace as Esayas also sayth in the. lvij that the righteous and euery faythfull man is righteous in the sight of God as we haue often proued before when he departeth resteth in peace as in a bed And Sapiē iij. it is sayd that the righteous soules are in peace so is it not possible that there should be such a paynefull Purgatory Thus haue we confuted Rastell both his argumentes and also solutions for all that he writeth is false agaynst Scripture Furthermore we haue brought in to proue that there cā be no such Purgatory l. argumētes all grounded on Scripture And if néede were a mā might make a thousand of which our Clergy should not be able to auoyde one Here I thinke some mē will wonder that I haue the Scripture so full on my side because that there are certaine mē as my Lord of Rochester Syr Thomas More which by Scripture go about to proue Purgatory this is sure that Scripture is not contrary vnto it selfe Therfore it is necessary that we examine the textes which they bring in for their purpose in markyng the processe both what goeth before and what cōmeth after And then shal we easely perceaue the truth how these ij men haue bene piteously deceaued First I will aunswere vnto M. More which hath in a maner nothyng but that he tooke out of my Lord of Rochester although he handle it more suttelly And what soeuer is not aunswered in this parte shal be touched and fully conuinced in the third whiche shall be a seuerall booke agaynst my Lord of Rochester ¶ Thus endeth the first Booke The second booke which is an aunwere vnto Syr Thomas More MAister More begynneth with the sely soules of Purgatory and maketh them to wayle and lamēt that they heare the world waxe so faynte in the fayth of Christ that any mā should neede now to proue Purgatory to Christē mē or that any mā could be found which would in so great a thyng so fully and fastly beleued for an vndoubted article this xv hundred yeare begyn now to staggar and stand in doubt c. Verely me thinketh it a foule faute so sore to stomble euen at the first It were a great blot for him if he should be compelled by good authoritie to cut of iiij hundred of his foresayd nūber Now if we can not onely proue that he must cut of that iiij hundred yeare but also bryng witnesse that it was neither at that time beleued for an article of y t fayth nor yet for an vndoubted truth thē I thinke ye would suppose this man somewhat out of the way And that will I proue by Gods grace S. Austen was foure hundred yere after Christ And yet in his time was it not fully and fastly beleued for an article of the fayth no nor yet fully and fastly beleued to bee true For hee him selfe writeth in his Enchiridion on this maner speakyng of Purgatory After he expounded the place of Paul 1. Cor. 3. and had taken this word fire not for Purgatory but for temptation and tribulation he added these wordes in the. 69. chapter It is not incredible that such a thyng shuld also chaūce after this life whether it be so or not it may be questioned c. Of these woordes may we well perceaue that he counted it not for an article of y t fayth neither yet for an vndoubted truth for if it had bene an article of y e faith or an vndoubted truth then would hee not haue sayd Potest etiā queri that is to say it may be questioned doubted or moued for those holy fathers vsed not to make questions doubtes in articles of the fayth among thē selues neither yet in such things as were vndoubted true they vsed not to dispute whether Christe dyed for our sinnes rose agayne for our iustificatiō but onely beleued it Beside that the occasion why hée wrote the booke entitled Enchiridion was this There was one Laurētius a Christē man which instantly required of S. Austen that he would write him a forme of his belefe whiche hée might continually beare in hand and whereunto he should sticke Vpō this wrote him S. Austen this litle booke where in he commaundeth hym not fully and fastly to beleue these are M. Mores wordes that there was a Purgatory but sayth that it may be questioned doubted or moued whether there be such a place or not Of this haue we playne euidence that it was none article of y t fayth in S. Austens tyme which was foure hūdred yeare after Christ neither yet vndoubted truth And so may all men sée that M. More is sore deceaued and set on the sand euen at the first brunte and in the begynnyng of his viage His second reason that he hath to proue Purgatory is this The very miscreauntes Idolaters Turkes Saracenes and Paynimes haue euer for the most part thought and beleued that after the bodyes are deceased the soules of such as were neither deadly dampned wretches for euer nor on the other side so good but that their offences done in this world haue deserued more punishment then they had suffered and sustained there were purged and punished by payne after the death ere euer they were admitted vnto their wealth and rest And so must there nedes be a Purgatory I aūswere if it were lawfull to require wisedome in a man so wise as M. More is counted here would I wish him a litle more wit for I thinke there is no wiseman that will graunt this to be a good argumēt y t Turkes Saracenes Paynimes Iewes beleue it to be true Ergo we must beleue that it is true for I will shewe you a like argument The Turkes Saracenes Paynimes Iewes beleue that we haue not y t right Christ but that we are all damned which beleue in Christ Is it therfore true shal we turne our fayth because they beleue that we be deceaued I thinke there is no man so foolish as to graūt him this But if M. More will haue his reasō hold he must argue on this maner The miscreauntes and infidels before named beleue that there is a Purgatory their belefe is true therfore we must beleue that there is a Purgatory Now foloweth this argument somewhat more formally Here might I put him to the profe of his Minor which is that their belefe in beleuyng Purgatory is true which thyng he shall neuer be able to proue But I haue such confidence of the truth on my side that I will take vpon me to proue the negatiue Cut̄ that their belefe is not true as cōcernyng Purgatory For these miscreauntes which beleue Purgatory beleue that there is a Purgatory for vs that be
authoritie For he that admitteth prayers and sacrifice to be done for the dead yea also affirmeth that they are holy and whole some for such sinnes as are dāned by the law of God which are in déede very mortall doth not he agaynst the word of God yea and also agaynst the cōmon consent of all mē But this booke doth so which admitteth prayer and sacrifice to bée done for the dead that were slayne in the battayle for theyr offence yea and also damned by the law Deut. 7. Now conclude your selues what ye thinke of this booke Thus much hath M. More brought to proue his purpose out of the old Testament and I thinke ye sée it sufficiently aunswered And now he entendeth to proue hys Purgatory by good and substaunciall authoritie in the new Testament also FIrst let vs consider sayth Master More the wordes of the blessed Apostle and Euangelist S. Iohn where he sayth Est peccatum ad mortem non dico vt pro eo roget quis There is sayth hee some sinne that is vnto the death I byd not that any man should pray for that this sinne as the interpreters agree is vnderstād of desperation and impenitēce as though Saint Iohn would say that who departe out of this world impenitent or in despayre any prayer after made can neuer stand hym in stede Then it appeareth clearely that S. Iohn meaneth that there are other whiche dye not in such case for whom hee would men should pray because that prayer to such soules may be profitable But that profite can no man take beyng in heauen where it needeth not nor beyng in hell where it boteth not wherefore it appeareth that such prayer helpeth onely for Purgatory which thou must therfore nedes graunt except thou deny S. Iohn The text is written 1. Iohn 5. which sayth there is a sinne vnto the death I byd not that any man shall pray for that In this place doth M. More vnderstād by this word death temporall death and then he taketh his pleasure But we will desire hym to looke two lynes aboue and not to snatch one péece of the text on this fashion I will rehearse you the whole text and then ye shal heare myne aunswere The text is this if any man perceaue that his brother doth sinne a sinne not vnto y t death let him aske and he shall geue hym lyfe to them that sinne not vnto death For there is some sinne that is vnto death I bid not that any mā should pray for that Now marke myne aunswere Death and life be contrary and both wordes are in this text therfore if you vnderstand this woord death for temporall death then must you also vnderstand by this word life temporall lyfe And so should our prayer restore men agayne vnto temporall lyfe But I ensure you M. More taketh this word death so confusedly that no mā can tel what he meaneth For in one place he taketh it for temporall death saying who so depart out of this world impenitent c. And in an other place he is compelled to take it for euerlastyng death Therfore will I shewe you the very vnderstandyng of y t text And better interpreters desire I none then Christ him selfe which sayd vnto the Phariseis euery blasphemy shall be forgeuen but y t blasphemy against the holy ghost which S. Iohn calleth a sinne vnto the death shall neuer be forgeuen but is giltie vnto euerlastyng damnation Marke iij. what sinne or blasphemie is this verely y t declareth S. Marke saying They sayd that he had an vncleane spirite y t was y t sinne vnto death euerlastyng that was the sinne that should neuer be forgeuen He proueth so euidently vnto thē that his miracles were done with y t spirite of God that they could not deny it And yet of an hard and obstinate hart euen knowyng the contrary they sayd that he had a deuill within hym These Phariseis dyed not forth with but lyued peraduenture many yeares after Notwithstāding if all the Apostles had prayed for these Phariseis whiles they were yet lyuing for all that their sinne should neuer haue bene forgeuen them And truth is that after they dyed in impenitencie and desperation which was the frute of that sinne but not the sinne it selfe Now sée ye the meanyng of this text and what the sinne vnto death or agaynst the holy ghost is If any man perceaue his brother to sinne a sinne not vnto death that is not against the holy ghost let him aske and he shall geue him life that is let him pray vnto God for his brother and his sinne shal be forgeuen him But if he sée his brother sinne a sinne vnto death that is agaynst the holy ghost let him neuer pray for him for it boteth not And so is not the text vnderstand of prayer after this lyfe as M. More imagineth but euen of prayer for our brother which is lyuing with vs. Notwithstanding this sinne is not lightly knowne excepte the person knowledge it hym selfe or els the spirite of God opē it vnto vs. Therfore may we pray for all men except we haue euident knowledge that they haue so offended as is before rehearsed And this is his text taken from him wherwith he laboureth to proue Purgatory What say they to the wordes of S. Iohn Apoc. 5. I haue heard sayth he euery creature that is in heauen and vppon the earth and vnder the earth and that be in the Sea and all thynges that be in them all these haue I heard say benediction and honour and glory and power for euer be to him that is sitting in the throne and vnto the lambe By the creatures in heauen hee meaneth aungels By the creatures vpon the earth he meaneth men By the creatures vnder the earth he meaneth the soules in Purgatory And by the creatures in the Sea hee meaneth men that sayle on the Sea By this text I vnderstand not onely aungels and men but also heauen and earth and all that is in them euē all beastes fishes wormes and other creatures thinke that all these creatures do prayse the Lord. And where he taketh the creatures vnder y t earth for the soules in Purgatory I take it for all maner of creatures vnder y t earth both wormes vermine and all other And where he draweth the text and maketh the creatures in the sea to signifie men that are sayling on the Sea I say that the creatures in the Sea do signifie fishes and such other thyngs and that S. Iohn by this textment euen playnly that all maner of thynges geue prayse vnto God and the lambe yea and I dare be bold to adde that euen the very deuils damned soules are compelled to prayse hym For their iust punishment commendeth his puysaunt power righteousnes Neither néedest thou to wōder or thinke this any new thyng for Dauid in the 148. byddeth Serpentes beastes and byrdes to prayse
And so must we graunt hym that this fire is very hote Now may you wel perceaue what a slender foūdation their hote purgatory hath For by this confutatiō may you easely sée that it hath no grounde nor authority of Scripture Notwithstandyng it is the foundation of all religions and cloysters yea and of all the goodes that nowe are in these spiritualtie Are not they witty worke men whiche can buylde so much on so slender a foundation Howbeit they haue made it so toppeheuye that it is surely lyke to haue a fall Thus hath Master More a full aunswere both to hys Scriptures whiche were to farre wrested out of theyr places and also to hys owne apparent reasons Howbeit if hys mastershyppe be not fully pacified let hym more groundly open hys mynde and bryng for his purpose all that he thinketh to make for it and I shall by Gods grace shortly make hym an aunswere and quyet his mynde ¶ Thus endeth the second booke ¶ The third booke which aunswereth vnto my Lord of Rochester and declareth the mynde of the old Doctours NOw will I addresse me to the thirde part which shall be an aunswere vnto my lord of Rochester And all his reasons and argumentes both of the Scriptures and doctoures which are not before dissouled in the seconde part wyll I clene confute by Gods grace in this thirde booke Howbeit the chéefest of his scriptures hath M. More perused and hath in a maner nothing but that was before writtē by my lord of Rochester sauing that he maketh the selye soules to pull to helpe his matter withall My lord of Rochester is the first patrone and defender of thys phantasie And euē as M. More tooke his worke out of my lord of Rochesters euen so plucked Rastell hys booke out of M. Mores My lord of Rochester to confirme hys sentence rekoneth vp the doctors by heape M. Iohn M. William M. Thomas omnes But as concerning the doctors that they are not so fully on hys side as he woulde make thē séeme is sone proued And where should I better begin to confute him then of hys owne wordes for he writeth himselfe vpon the xviij article on this maner THere is no man now a daies that doubteth of Purgatorye sayeth he and yet among the olde auncient fathers was there eyther none or els very seldome mention made of it And also among the Grecians euen vnto this day is not purgatory beleued Let him read that will the commentaries of the olde Grecians and as I suppose he shal finde eyther no worde spoken of it or els very few These are my lordes wordes I wonder what obliuiousnes is come vppon hym that he so cleaueth vnto the Doctors whome he affirmed before eyther to make no mention of it or els very seldome Notwythstanding I will declare you somewhat of the Doctors that you may the better know theyr meaning To speake of the Doctors what theyr minde was in thys matter it were necessarye to declare in what time they were and what condition the worlde was in theyr dayes S. Austine Ambrose Hierome were in one time euen about iiij hundred yeares after Christ and yet before theyr time were there arisen infinite heretikes by whole sectes as the Arrians Domitians Eunomians Vigilanttians Pelagians with infinite other which had so swerued from the truth and wrested the Scripture out of frame that it was not possible for one man no nor for one mans age to restore it agayne vnto the true sense Among these there were some which not onely fayned a purgatory but also doted so far that they affirmed that euery man were he neuer so vicious should be saued through that fire and aleaged for them the place of Paul 1. Corinthians 3. These holy doctours perceauing those greate erroures thought it not best by and by to condemne all thinges indifferētly but to suffer and dissemble wyth the lesse that they might wéede out the opinions which were most noysom as the Apostles graunted vnto the Iewes that the Gentiles should kéepe some of Moyses law Actes xv that they might the better com to their purpose to saue the Iewes with the Gentiles For if they had at the first vtterly set of the law then would the Iewes neuer haue geuen any audience vnto the Apostles And euen so S. Austen went wisely to worke First condemning by the Scripture that errour which was most noysome and wrote on thys maner Albeit some might be purged through fire yet not such as the Apostle condemneth when he sayeth that the persons which so do shal not possesse the kingdome of heauen And where they woulde haue stucke vnto Paules text 1. Cor. 3. and affirme that they shoulde be saued thorough fire S. Austen answered that Paules texte was vnderstande of the spirituall fire which is temptation affliction tribulation c. Thys wrote he in the 67. 68. of hys Enchiridion to subuert that grosse errour that all should be saued through y t fire of purgatory Yet in the 69. he goeth a litle neare them and sayth that it may be doubted whether there be any such purgatory or not He durst not yet openly cōdemne it because he thought that men could not at that time beare it But after in his booke which he entituled De vanitate huius soeculi there doth he fully shew his minde in these wordes Scitote quòd cum anima a corpore auellitur statim aut pro meritis bonis in Paradiso collocatur aut pro merit is malis in inferni tartara praecipitatur i. Wote ye well that when the soule is departed from the body eyther it is by and by put into paradise according to hys good desertes or els it is thrust hedlong into hell for hys sinnes Here he cleane condemneth purgatory for if thys be done by and by assoone as the soule is departed from the body then can there be no purgatory and so maketh S. Austen wholy with vs. Thinke ye that S. Austen dissenteth from his companion S. Hierome or from hys owne Master S. Ambrose Nay verely Howbeit I will alleage theyr owne wordes and then iudge SAint Ambrose dissenteth not from S. Austine but doth stablysh hys sentence as fully as is possible for he writeth in the second chapter of hys booke which is called De bono mortis on this maner bringing in the words of Dauid Psal 39. Aduena ego sum in terra peregrinus sicut omnes patres mei Et ideo tanquam peregrinus ad illā sanctorum communem omnium patriam festinabat Petens pro huius commorationis inquinamento remitti sibi peccata priusquam discederet de vita Qui enim hîc non acceperit remissionem peccatorum illic non erit Non erit autem quia ad vitam aeternam non potuerit peruenire quia vita aeterna remissio peccatorum est Ideoque dicit remitte mihi vt refrigerer priusquam abeam
c. that is I am a straunger and a pilgrime in the earth as all my fathers haue bene And therfore as a pilgrime he hasted vnto the common countrey of all saintes requiring for the filthines that he had receaued in this bodely mansion that his sinnes might be forgeuen him before he departed from thys lyfe For he that here hath not receaued forgeuenesse of hys sinnes shall not be there He shall not surely be there for he can not come vnto euerlasting life for euerlasting lyfe is the forgeuenes of sinnes And therfore he sayth forgeue me that I may be cooled before I depart Here may you euidently perceaue that S. Ambrose knew not of purgatory nor of any forgeuenesse that should be after thys lyfe But plainly affirmeth that he y t receaueth not forgeuenesse of hys sinnes here that is in thys life shall neuer come in heauen And for a more vehement affirmation he dubleth hys own wordes saying He that here hath not receyued forgeuenesse of hys sinnes he shall not be there he shall not surely be there He meaneth that he shall neuer come to Heauen which here hath not his remission SAint Hieromes minde may sone be gathered by hys exposition of the ix chapter of Ecclesiastes vpon thys text The dead haue no part in thys world nor in any worke that is done vnder the Sunne There addeth Sainte Hierome that the dead can adde nothing vnto that which they haue taken with them out of this life for they can neither do good nor sinne neyther can they encrease in vertue or vice Albeit sayth he some wyll contrarie thys exposition affirming also that we may encrease decrease after death Here are thrée things to be noted first that the Text sayth that the dead are not partakers of any work that is done vnder the sunne And there may you sée that all suffrages offringes and diriges for the dead are in vaine and profite them not for they are partakers of nothing vnder the sunne Secondarily you may sée S. Hieromes own minde that the dead can neyther do good nor euill neyther encrease in vertue nor vice And so is purgatory put out for if they can do no good what should they do in purgatory And agayne if they can not encrease in vertue they be lyke to lye long in purgatorye Peraduenture some man would thinke that they do no good but onely that they suffer good To that I aunswer that he that suffereth good doth good for if a man should suffer hys body to be burnt for the fayth of Christ would you not say that he did a good déed and yet doth he but suffer Thirdly ye may note that S. Hierome was not ignorant that certeine as they which did fayne purgatory would denye hys exposition and say that we might encrease and decrease in vertue and vyce after death yet notwithstanding he held his sentence condemning theyr opinion whych thing he would not haue done specially sith he knew that he should haue aduersaries for it except he had bene sure that his sentence was right Sée I pray you how that not onely scripture but euen theyr owne doctoures condemne this phantasticall purgatory and yet my lords are not ashamed to say that all make for them NEuerthelesse I wyll go further wyth hym Be it in case that all the Doctours dyd affirme purgatory as they do not what were my Lord the nearer hys purpose Verely not one iote for the authoritie of doctors by my lordes owne confession extendeth no further but is onely to be admitted whilest they confirme theyr wordes by Scripture or els by some probable reason For my Lorde writeth on this maner Article xxxvij The Pope hath not so allowed the whole doctrine of S. Thomas that men should beleue euery poynte he wrote were true Neither hath the church so approued eyther S. Austine or S. Hierome nor any other authors doctrine but that in some places we may dissent from them for they in many places haue openly declared themselues to be men and many times to haue erred These are my lordes owne words Now sith the doctours somtime erre and in certayne places are not to be admitted as he graunteth himselfe how should we know whē to approue them and when to deny them If we should hang on the Doctoures authority then should we as well alow the vntruth as the truth sith he affirmeth both Therfore we must haue a iudge to discerne betwéene truth and falsehode And who shoulde that be the pope Nay verely for he being a man as well as the Doctours were may erre as they did and so shall we euer be vncertaine Our Iudge therefore must not be parciall flexible nor ignoraunt and so are all naturall men excluded but he must be inalterable euen searching the bottome ground of all thing Who must that be Verely the scripture and woord of God which was geuen by his Sonne confirmed and sealed by the holy Ghost and testified by miracles and bloud of all martyres This word is the iudge that must examine the matter the perfit touchstone that tryeth al thing and day that discloseth all iuggeling mistes If the doctours say any thing not dissonant from this woord then it is to be admitted and holdē for truth But if any of theyr doctrine discorde from it it is to be abhorred and holden accurssed To this full well agréeth S. Austen whiche writeth vnto S. Hierome on this wise Deare brother I thinke that you wil not haue your bookes reputed lyke vnto the woorkes of the Prophetes and Apostles for I the Scripture reserued do read all other mens workes on that maner that I doe not beleue them because the author so sayth be he neuer so well learned and holy except that he can certifie me by the Scripture or cleare reason that he sayth true And euen so would I that other men should read my bookes as I read theirs These are S. Austēs wordes And thus haue I proued both by S. Austen and also by my Lordes owne wordes that no man is bound to beleue the Doctors except they can be proued true either by Scripture or good reason not repugnaunt to Scripture Therefore let vs sée what Scripture or good reason my Lord bryngeth to approue his doctours withall For els they can not helpe hym as we haue declared both by S. Austen my Lordes owne confession although they all made with hym as they do not First he bringeth in the sinne agaynst the holy ghost Math. 12. And Paule 1. Cor. 3. And. 1. Iohn 5. And Apoca. 5. which textes I passe ouer because I haue aunswered vnto them before in the seconde booke agaynst M. More THe first reason that my Lord hath which is not before soluted for as I sayd the reasons that are already dissolued will I now ouerhyp is this which he groundeth on diuers Scriptures Of the soules that are departed some
hathe appoynted to the entente that it should in time to come no more displease God our moste merciful father which of gentlenesse so often pardoneth and forgeueth vs as I haue touched before This is the maner of repentaunce which I finde in scripture but this helpeth that we shoulde sinne no more but what Rastell dreameth I wot not But to expresse to the vttermost what I meane by repentaunce marke this example If a man build an house which dothe cost him muche labor and money and haue layde no sure foundation but that when a tempest commeth hys house dothe fall then will he be very sory and repente that he hathe so foolishly bestowed his money and labor Not wtstanding all thys great sorow repentance can not set vp his house againe whych is fallen but only it taketh an occasion by the ruine of the house to teache the owner witte againste an other time that when he buildeth againe he may make a sure foundation Euen so though thou repent neuer so much that can not get remission for the sinnes that is past but that muste be pardoned onely by the faithe of Christes bloude Neuerthelesse it dothe teache thée witte and learne thée to tame thy body and subdue it and cast a lowe foūdacion that in time thou mayste the better resiste the assaultes of the deuill the worlde and the fleshe This doth Frith teach of repentaunce let the worlde take it as they will but Chrystes shéepe doe heare his voyce ¶ The third errour which Rastell layeth against me is that I would make men beleue that they need not to do penaunce for the satisfaction of their sinnes EVery childe may aunswer him to thys if he euer read or perceaue what I wrote before of repentaunce for as they take repentaunce for the sorow and mourning that followeth the crime euen so they call penaunce the good workes that ensue of repentaunce and these good woorks which folow do mortifie the members and exercise vs in Gods commaundementes that we sinne no more but they can get no more remission of the sinne which is once past then that which they call repentaunce and yet do we neyther destroy sorowing for sinne nor good workes as he falsly reporteth by vs but we teach you how they ought to be done and that they are fruites of fayth and mortifie our members and are profitable to our neighbour and a testinony vnto vs that we are the children of our heauenly Father as by example I say that neither the sunne nor the moone do iustiūe vs or purchase remission of our sinnes and yet I woulde not that Rastell should say that I deny or destroy the sunne and the moone for I say that without them we can haue no light and that we can not be without them And as touching the solution of this that penaunce taking in his largest signification both for good workes and taking of paynes is not satisfaction for sinnes I must tell you once againe that there are two manner of satisfactions the one is to God the other to my neighbour To God can not all the world make satisfaction for one crime insomuch that if euery grasse of the ground were a mā as holy as euer was Paule or Peter and shoulde pray vnto God all theyr life long for one crime yet could they not make satisfaction for it but it is onely the bloud of Christ that hath made ful satisfaction vnto God for all such crimes Heb. 7 or els were there none other remedye but wee should all perish There is an other satisfaction which is to my neighbour whom I haue offended whom I am bound to pacifie as we two can agrée and as the lawes of the realme determine betwéene vs as if I had defamed him then am I bound to pacifie hym and to restore hym to hys good name againe if I haue murdered any man then by the lawes of the Realme I must dye for it to pacifie my neighbour the common wealth But yet I am sure Rastell is not so childish as to thincke that thys ciuyle satisfaction is the verye satisfaction which pacifieth Gods wrath for breaking his law For if thou murther a man and should dye a hundred times for it yet except thou haue satisfaction of Christes bloud thou shalt be damned thereto and so I spake that no tēporall paine was instituted of God for the intent that we should satisfye Gods wrath therby as it is plaine in my booke if Rastell could sée ¶ The fourth errour that he layeth agaynst me is that I would perswade the people that good works ar nothing auailable NOw are we come to the fourthe errour where Rastell vntruly reporteth on me that I would persuade the people that good woorkes done by any man in thys worlde is nothing auayleable vnto him that doth them that it is no hurt nor hindraunce vnto any man though he neuer do none Because I say they iustifie not before God therfore he thinketh that other men would vnderstand me as wisely as he doth and argue that they are no thing auayleable but I must desire him to put on hys spectacles and looke agayne vppon my booke and he shall finde these woordes Peraduenture thou wilt aunswere vnto me shall I then do no good déedes I aunswere yes thou wilt aunswere me wherefore I aunswere thou must do them because God hath commaunded thē I aunswere thou art lyuing in thys worlde with men and hast conuersation with them therfore hath God appoynted thée what thou shalt do to the profite of thy neighbour and taming of thy flesh as Paule testifieth Ephe. 2. We are his worke in Christ Iesu vnto good woorkes which woorkes God hath prepared that we shoulde walke in them These woorkes God would haue vs do that the vnfaithfull might sée the godly and vertuous conuersation of his faythfull and therby be compelled to glorifie our Father which is in heauen Math. 5. and so are they both profitable vnto thy neighbour also a testimony vnto thée by the which a man may know that thou art the right sonne of thy heauēly Father and a very christ vnto thy neighbour and after teacheth that we ought to do these woorkes without hauyng respect eyther to heauen or hell but attending through charitie the wealth of our neighbour c. I wonder that Rastell is not ashamed to say that I would make them beleue that they are not auaylable therfore good reader note my wordes first I say we must do them because God hath commaūded them is it not auaylable to kéepe the commaundements of God secondaryly I say that they are to the profite of my neyghbour is it not auaylable thirdly I say that they tame our flesh is it not auailable fourthly I say they are to the glory of God is it not auailable Fiftly I say they are a testimony to them that doth them by the which mē may know y t he is
signification and sought their health and righteousnes in the bodely worke and in the sacrifice it selfe then were they abhominable in the sight of God and then he cryed out of them both by the Prophet Dauid and Esay And likewise it is with our Sacramentes let vs therefore séeke vp the significations and go to the very thing which the sacrament is set to present vnto vs. And there shal we finde such fruitfull foode as shall neuer fayle vs but comfort our soules into life euerlastyng Now will I in order answer to M. Mores booke and as I finde occasion geuen me I shall indeuoure my selfe to supply that thyng which lacked in the first treatise and I trust I shall shewe such lyght that all men whose eyes the Prince of this worlde hath not blynded shall perceiue the truth of the scriptures and glory of Christ And where as in my first treatise the truth was set forth with all simplicitie and nothing armed against the assault of sophisters that haue I somewhat redressed in this booke haue brought bones filte for their téeth which if they be to busie may chaunce to choke them ¶ Thus beginneth the Preface of M. Mores booke IN my most harty wyse I recommende me vnto you and send you by this bringer the wryting againe which I receiued from you Whereof I haue bene offered a cople of copies mo in the mean while as late as ye wot well it was Deare brethren consider these wordes and prepare you to the crosse that Christ shall lay vppon you as ye haue oft bene counsaylled For euen as when the Wolfe howleth y e shéepe had nede to gather thēselues to their shepheard to be deliuered from the assault of the bloudy beast likewyse had you nede to slye vnto the shepheard of your soules Christ Iesus to sell your coates and buye his spirituall sworde which is the word of God to defende and deliuer you in this present necessitie for now is the tyme that Christ tolde vs of Math. x. that he was come by his worde to set variaunce betwene the sonne and his father betwene the daughter and her mother betwene the daughter in lawe and her mother in lawe that in a mans owne householde shall be his enemies But be not dismayde nor thinke it no wonder for Christe those twelue and one of them was y e Deuill and betrayed his master And we that are his disciples may loke for no better than he had himself for the scholer is not aboue his mayster Saint Paule protesteth y e he was in perill among false brethren surely I suppose that we are in no lesse ieopardye For if it be so that hys mastership receiued one copye and had a cople of copyes moe offered in the meane while then may ye be sure that there are many false brethren which pretend to haue knowledge in déede are but pykethankes prouiding for their bellye prepare ye therfore clokes for the weather waxeth cloudy and rayne is like to followe I meane not false excuses and forswearing of your selues but that ye loke substantially vpon Gods worde that you may be able to answere their subtle obiections And rather chuse manfully to dye for Christ and hys worde than cowardlye to deny hym for thys vayne and transitory lyfe cōsidering that they haue no further power but ouer this corruptible bodye which if they put it not to death must yet at y e length perish of it selfe But I trust the Lord shall not suffer you to be tēpted aboue that you may beare but according to y e sprite that he shall poure vppon you shall he also sende you the scourge and make hym that hath receiued more of the sprite to suffer more and him that receiueth lesse thereof to suffer according to his Talent I thought it necessary first to admonishe you of this matter and now I will recite more of M. Mores boke Whereby men may see how gredely these newe named brethren writeit out secretly spread it abroade The name is of great antiquitie although you liste to ieste For they were called brethrē ere our Bishops were called Lordes and had y e name geuen them by Christ saying Math. xxiij all ye are brethren And Luke y ◠xxij Confirme they brethren And the name was cōtinued by the Apostles and is a name that nourisheth loue amitie And very glad I am to heare of their gredy affection in writing out and spreading abroade the worde of God for by that I do perceiue the prophesie of Amos to haue place which sayth In the person of God I will send hunger and thyrste into the earth not hunger for meate nor thurst for drinke But for to here the word of God Now begynneth the kyngdome of heauen to suffer violence Now runne the poore Publicanes which knowledge them selues sinners to the word of God puttyng both goodes and body in ieoperdy for the soule health And though our Byshops do call it heresie and all them heretickes that hunges after it yet do we know that it is the Gospell of the lyuyng God for the health and saluation of all that beleue And as for the name doth nothing offēde vs though they call it heresie a thousand tymes For S. Paule testifieth that the Phariseis and Priestes which were counted the very Church in hys tyme dyd so call it and therefore it foreceth not though they ruling in their rowmes vse the same names Which young mā I here say hath lately made diuers other thynges that yet runne in hoker moker so close amōg the brethren that there commeth no copies abroad I aunswere that surely I can not spynne and I thinke no mā more hateth to be idle then I do Wherfore in such thynges as I am able to doe I shal be diligēt as long as God lendeth me my lyfe And if ye thinke I be to busie you may rid me the sooner for euen as the shéepe is in the butchers handes ready bound and looketh but euen for the grace of the butcher whē he shall shed his bloud Euen so am I bounde at the Byshops pleasures euer lookyng for the day of my death In so much that playne worde was sent me that the Chauncelour of Lōdon sayd it should cost me the best bloud in my body whiche I would gladly were shed to morow if so be it might open the kyngs graces eyen And verely I maruell that any thing can runne in hoker moker or be hyd from you For sith you mought haue such store of copyes concernyng the thyng whiche I most desired to haue ben kept secret how should you then lacke a copye of those thynges which I most would haue published And hereof ye may be sure I care not though you and all the Byshops with in England looke on all that euer I wrote but rather would be glad that ye so dyd
very face in the glasse And euen so though the Sacrament doe represent the body of Christ yet the substaunce of the Sacrament is not hys very body no more then the glasse is my face neither is his very body in y e Sacrament no more then my very face is in the glasse and thus this exāple maketh well for vs. And for that one word comming whole to an hundreth eares I say that worde is but a sounde and a qualitie and not a substaunce and therfore it is nothyng to our purpose and can not be likened to Christs body which is a substaūce And as concernyng the sight of the litle eye I say that though the eye discry and sée an whole countrey yet is not that whole coūtrey in the eye but as the countrey is knowen by y e sight of eye though the countrey be not in it so is the death of Christ and hys bodye breakyng and bloude shedyng knowen by the Sacrament though his naturall body be not in it And thus his exāples make nothyng with hym but rather much agaynst hym And where hee sayth that the young man hym selfe can geue hym no reasō by what meane they may be done I may say vnto hys mastershyp that whē I was seuen yeare yonger then I am this day I would haue bene ashamed if I could not haue geuen an euident reason at the Austens in Oxford before y e whole Vniuersitie And albeit I now vouchsafe not to spend labour and paper about Aristotles doctrine yet haue I so much touched hys examples that he may be werye of them Also I can not see why it shoulde be more repugnaunt that one body may be by the power of God in two places at once then that two bodyes may bee together in one place at once And that poynte I thinke this young mā denieth not The beyng of our body in two places at once is against nature Scripture cā not alow it But that two bodyes should bee in one place séemeth more reasonable For I haue good experience that though my body cā not be in two places at once both in the Tower and where I would haue it beside yet blessed be God in this one place I am not without cōpany But if M. More meane that in one proper and seueral place may be two bodies at once that I will deny till he haue laysure to proue it And yet at the length I am sure his proue shall not be worth a poodyng pricke For I am sure it must bee Ratione porositatis vt in igne ferro nam penetrationem dimensionum nunq probabit And then he is as neare as he was before Now his last reason with whiche he proueth it impossible for the body of Christ to bee in two places at once is this you cā sayth he shew no reason why he should be in many places at once not in all But in all places he can not be Wherefore we must conclude that he can not be in many places at once This is a maruelous concluded argument I am sure that euery childe may soone see that this consequēt cā neuer folow vpon these two premisses of this antecedent When I made this reason compiled my treatise I had no regard to the cauillations of sutle Sophisters for I thought no Sophisters should haue medled with that meate But neuerthelesse sith nowe I perceiue that they principally are pouryng on it séekyng some pray to set their teeth a woorke In this booke I haue somewhat prouided for them and haue brought such hard bones that if they be to busie may chaunce to choke thē And yet is not the Argument so feble as he fayneth For the first part if he lyst to consider the sense and mynde and bee not to curious where I say that they can shew no reason why hée should bee in many places and not in all is thus to be vnderstand of wyse men that the very reason and cause that he shold be in many places must be because y ◠body is so annexed with the Godhead that it is in euery place as the Godhead is This I say must be the cause and reason of his beyng in many places And neither you nor no man els can iustly assigne any other Now of this maior or first proposition thus vnderstand doth the cōclusion folowe directly For if this should be y e cause as they must nedes graunt And this cause proued false by Scripture then must they néedes graunt that the thyng whiche so foloweth of this cause must néedes be false And so is my purpose proued they concluded As by example the Astronomers say that the naturall course of the Sunne is frō the weast to the East Now if a mā should aske them what is then the cause that we sée hym dayly take the cōtrary course from the East to the Weast agaynst hys nature they aunswere Because the hyghest sphere whose course is from the East to the Weast with his swift mouyng doth violently drawe the inferior spheres with hym This is the cause that they alleage and no man can assigne any other And now sith I cā proue this sense false by scripture And S. Austen for Scripture sayth that y e sphere is fastened Hebr. viij chap. And S. Austen expoundyng that text improueth the Astronomers whiche affirme that it moueth sith I say this cause is proued false by scripture they must néedes graūt that the thyng whiche foloweth of this cause must néedes be false And so we may conclude against them all that the naturall course of the Sunne is not frō the Weast to the East as the Astronomers say But contrary from the East to the West And lykewise sith the cause that Christes body should be in many places is assigned of learned men to be because hys body is so annexed with the Godhead which is in euery place that it is also in all places with it no man can assigne any other And that this cause is proued false by Scripture for when the women sought Christ at his graue an aungell gaue the aunswere that hée was not there But if his body had bene in euery place then the aungell lyed Also Christ sayd vnto his Disciples of Lazarus which died at Bethania Lazarus is dead And I am glad for your sakes that you may beleue because I was not there Now if hys body were in euery place as is the Godhead then Christ sayd not truly when he said he was not there Therfore sith as I sayd this is the cause assigned yet proued false by Scripture they must néedes graūt that the thyng whiche foloweth of this cause must also néedes be false And so we may cōclude against thē all y e Christs body is in one place onely And now you may sée how my consequent foloweth the premisses For he can no further conclude but that we can shewe no
speake This the old Doctours and faythfull fathers so taught or thought as ye fayne of them is very false For S. Austen as I haue shewed maketh wholly for vs. Besides that there is none of the old fathers but they call it a Sacrament a misterie and misticall meate whiche is not eaten with tooth or bely but with eares fayth And touchyng the honour and worshyp done vnto it I say it is playne Idolatry And I say that he falsely reporteth on the old holy doctours For they neuer taught men to worship it neither cā he alledge one place in any of them all which would haue men to worshyp the Sacrament Peraduenture he may alledge me certaine new fellowes for his purpose as Dunce Dorbell Durand such draffe which by their doctrine haue drenched the world with damnable Idolatrie But I speake of the old holy fathers Doctors as S. Austē Ambrose Hierom Cyprian Cirille Chrisostome Fulgentius and such other these I say do not teach mē to worshyp it and by that I dare abide Of this point I am so sure that I will vse it for a contrary argument that his naturall body is not there present For if the holy fathers before named had taken this text after the letter and not onely spiritually then in there woorkes they would haue taught men to worshyp it but they neuer taught men to worshyp this Sacrament therfore it foloweth they tooke not the text after the letter but onely spiritually Now do I prouoke you to séeke a proofe of your purpose Neuerthelesse I will not deny but y ◠these holy Doctors in diuers places do call it his body as Christ and Paule do so do we likewise and say also that his very body is there eaten But yet we meane that it is eaten with fayth that is to say by beleuing y t his body was brokē for vs and haue his body more in memory at this maundy then the meate that we there eate And therfore it hath the name of his body because the name it selfe should put vs in remembraunce of his body and that his body is there chiefly eaten euen more through fayth then the meate with the mouth And so are they also to be vnderstand Yet one great pleasure he doth vs in that he putteth vs all at libertie that we may without perill of damnatiō beleue as we did before that is to witte that in the blessed Sacrament the whole substance of the bread and the wine is transmuted chaunged into the very body and bloud of Christ For if we may without perill of damnation beleue thus as him selfe graunteth that we may then graunteth hee that we may also without perill of damnation beleue that him selfe lieth where hee sayth the truth of that beleefe is impossible The beleuing of thys poynt is of it self not damnable as it is not damnable to thinke that Christ is a very stone or a vine because the litterall sense so sayth or if you beleue that you ought to preach to fishes and goe Christen them an other while as ye do belles And I insure you if there were no worse mischiefe that ensued of thys beléefe then it is in it selfe I would neuer haue spoken agaynst it But now there followeth vppon it damnable idolatry For through the beléefe that thys body is there mē fall downe and worship it And thinking to please God do damnably sinne agaynst hym Thys I say is the cause that I so earnestly write agaynst it to auoyde the idolatry that is committed through it Part of the Germanes do thinke that his naturall body is present in the Sacrament and take the woordes fleshly as Martine taught them But none of them worshyp it for y ◠Martine forbyddeth both in hys wordes and workes and so blessed be god they auoyde that ieoperdy which thyng if you will also graunt and publish but this one proposition that it ought not to bee worshypped I promise you I will neuer write agaynst it For then is the ieoperdy taken away and then I am cōtent that your mastershyp thinke I lye But in the meane seasō I must thinke that ye fill the world with damnable Idolatry And thus haue you also aūswere vnto y e conclusion which you alledge out of the kynges graces booke For I say in your way is no hurt as lōg as you do but onely beleue the bare wordes of the text as S. Fraunces dyd whē he preached to fishes But if through the occasion of those wordes ye fall into the worshypping of it then I say that in your way is vndoubted damnation And so is there great ieoperdy in your way none at all in ours For though he were there in déede yet doe not we sinne if we worshyp it not for we are not commaunded to worshyp the Sacrament But if he be not there then do you commit damnable Idolatry ¶ The consecration of the Sacrament NOwe as for an other quietnes of euery mās conscience this young man biddeth euery mā be bold whether the blessed Sacrament be consecrate or vnconsecrate for though he most especially speaketh of the wyne yet he speaketh it of both byddeth vs not care but take it for all that vnblessed as it is because the Priest hee sayth can not deceiue vs nor take from vs the profit of Christes institution whether hee alter the woordes or leaue them all vnsayd Is not this a wonderful doctrine of this young man We wotte well all that the Priest can not hurt vs by his ouersight or malice if there be no fault vpon our owne partie for that perfection that lacketh on the Priestes part the great mercy of God as we trust of his owne goodnes supplyeth And therfore as holy Chrisostome sayth no man can take harme but of him selfe But now if we see the thyng disordered our owne selfe by the Priest and Christes institution broken if we then wittyngly receiue it vnblessed vnconsecrated care not whether Christes institutiō be kept and obserued or no but rekon that it is as good without it as with it then make we our selues partakers of the fault and leese the profit of the Sacramēt and receiue it with damnation not for the Priestes fault but for our owne I had thought that no Turke wold haue wrested a mans woordes so vnfaythfully for hee leaueth out all the pith of my matter for my wordes are these I will shew you a meanes how ye shall euer receiue it accordyng to Christes institution although the Priest would withdraw it from you First ye néede to haue no respect vnto the Priests wordes which ministreth it For if ye remember for what intēt Christ dyd institute this Sacrament and know that it was to put vs in remembraunce of hys body breakyng bloud shedding that we might geue hym thankes for it and bee as sure of it through fayth accordyng to his promises as we are sure
wicked eate not hys body it must also thereof néedes followe that the sacrament is not hys naturall bodye For they doe eate the sacrament as all mē know Besides that the faythfull doe not eate Christes body with their téeth And therefore it must followe that the wicked doe not eate it with their téeth The antecedent or first part of the reason is prooued by the wordes of Christ which sayth that the flesh profiteth nothyng at all meaning that it doth not profite as they vnderstoode hym that is to say it profiteth nothyng to bée eaten carnally with their téeth and belly as they vnderstoode hym For els it profiteth much to bée eaten spiritually that is to say to beléeue that through hys body breakyng bloud shedding our sinnes are purged And thus doth Origene S. Austen Beda Chrysostome and Athanasius expound it as appeareth in the booke before And therfore Frith sayth that onely faythfull men eate hys body not with their téeth and mouth but with their fayth and hart that digest it into y e bowells of their soules through beléeuing that it was broken on the crosse to washe away their sinnes And the wicked eate not hys body but onely the bread and their damnation because they eate hym not spiritually that is because they beléeue not in hys bodye breaking and bloud shedding †The third point wherin Frith dissenteth from our prelates and their proctoure 3. THe Prelates beléeue that men ought to worship the sacramēt But Frith sayth nay and affirmeth that it is Idolatry to worship it And hée sayth that Christ and his Apostles taught vs not so to doe neither did the holy fathers so teach vs. And Frith sayth that the authors of thys worshipping are the children of perdition which haue ouerwhelmed this world with sinne Neuerthelesse we must receaue it reuerently because of the doctrine that it bringeth vs. For it preacheth Christes death vnto vs and describeth it before our eyes euen as a faythfull preacher by the worde doth instill it into vs by our eares and hearing And that it supplyeth the roome of a preacher is euident by the woordes of S. Austen which sayth Paulus quamuis portaret farcinam corporis quod aggrauat animā potuit tamen significando predicare Dominum Iesum Christum aliter per linguam suam aliter per epistolam aliter per sacramentum corporis Christi That is to fay though Paule did bere the burthen of the body which doth honorate the soule yet was he able in signifiyng to preach y e lord Iesus Christ one way by his tonge and an other way by an epistle an other way by the sacrament of Christes body c. For as the people by vnderstanding the fignification of the wordes which he spake did heare the glorious Gospell of God and as by the reading of his pistle they vnderstoode his minde and receiued the word of the soules health so by the ministration of the sacrament they might sée with their eye the thing which they heard read and so haue their sences occupied about the mistery that they might the more earnestly print it in their minde As by example The Prophet Hieremie being in Hierusalem in the tyme of Sedechias king of the Iewes prophesyed and preached vnto them y t they should be takē prisoners of Nabugodonesar the king of Babilon the Iewes were angry with him and woulde not beléeue his wordes And therfore be made a chayne or fetters of wood and put them about his neke and prophesied agayne and preached that they should be taken prisoners led captiue into Babilon And as his wordes did certifie their eares y t they should be subdued so the chayne dyd represent their captiuitie euen before their eye Whiche thyng did more vehemently woorke in them then the bare wordes could doe and euen so it is in the Sacrament For likewise as the woordes dyd instill into our eares that his body was geuen for vs and his bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes euen so did the mynistration of the sacrament expresse y e same thing vnto our sight and doth more effectuously moue then the bare wordes might doe and make vs more attent vnto the thing that we may wholye geue thankes vnto God and prayse him for his bounteous benefites And therfore seyng it is a preacher expressing vnto our sight y e same thing that y e wordes doe to our eares represēt you must receyue it with reuerence sober behauiour aduertising y t thing that it representeth vnto you And euen y e same honour is dew vnto it which is geuen vnto the scripture that is the word of God For vnto y t must a man deuoutlye geue eare and reuerently take the booke in hys hande yea and if he kisse y t booke for the doctrines sake that he learenth thereout he is to bée cōmended Neuerthelesse if he should goe sence hys booke men might well thinke that he were very childishe But if he should knéele downe and pray to this booke then he dyd commyt playne Idolatrye Consider deare bretheren what I say and auoyde this Ieoperdye which thing auoyded I care not as touching the presence of his body though you beléeue that hys naturall flesh be there in déede and not onely in a misterye as I haue taught For when y t Ieoperdye is past he were a foole that would bee contētious for a thing as long as there cōmeth no hurt therbye The Germanes which beléeue the presence of his body do not worshyp it but playnly teach the contrary and in that poynt thankes be to God all they whom you call heretickes do agrée fulwell Onely auoyde this Idolatry and I desire no more ¶ The conclusion of this treatise NOwe deare brethren I beséech you for the mercy y t ye looke for in Christ Iesu that you accepte this worke with a single eye and no contentious hart For necessitie hath compelled me to write it because I was informed both of my Lord of Winchester and other credible persōs that I had by the meanes of my first treatise offended many men Which thing may well be true For it was to slender to instruct all them which haue since seene it albe 〈◊〉 it were sufficient for their vse to whō it was first deliuered And therfore I thought it not onely expedient but also necessary to instruct them further in the truth that they might sée plaine euidence of that thyng wherein they were offended By this worke you shal espye their blasphemyes the venemous toūges where with they flaunder not onelye them that publish the truth but euen the truth it selfe They shame not to say y t we affirme it to bee onely bread and nothing els And we say not so but we say that beside the substaunce of bread it is y e sacrament of Christes body and bloud As y e Iuye hanging before the tauerne doore is more then bare Iuye For beside the substaunce
draught But this meate y t I here receaue is spirituall meate receaued with fayth norisheth vs euerlastyngly both body soule neuer entreth into the draught And euē as before the outwarde eyen doe sée the bread yet the outward eyen doe not regarde that or thinke vpō it So likewise the outward man digesteth the bread casteth it into the draught And yet the inward man doth not regarde that nor thinke vppon it But thinketh on the thyng it selfe that is signified by that bread And therfore sayd Chrisostome euen a litle before the wordes whiche they here alleaged lift vp your minde hartes sayd hée whereby hée monisheth vs to looke vppon and consider those heauenly thinges which are represented and signified by the bread and wyne not to marke the bread and wyne in it selfe Here they will say vnto me that it is not Chrisostomes mynde for by his example hée playnly shewith that there remaneth no bread nor wyne that I deny For the example in this place proueth no more but y t ye shall not think on y t bread wine no more then if they were not there but onely on that thyng whiche is signified by them And that ye may euidently perceiue by the wordes folowyng where hée saith thinke that the misteries are cōsumed by the substance of the body Nowe whether Chrisostome thought that there remained bread or no both wayes shall our purpose bée proued First if hée thought there remained still bread and wyne then we haue our purpose Now if he thought that the bread wyne remayned not but were chaūged then are the bread and wyne neither mysteries nor Sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ For that that is not can neither bée mystery nor Sacrament Finally if hée speake of y e outward appearaunce of bread then we know that that remaineth still is not consumed by the substaunce of the body And therfore hée must néedes bée vnderstanded as I take him I thinke many men wonder how I can dye in this article seyng that it is no necessary article of our fayth for I graunt that neyther parte is an article necessary to bée beléeued vnder payne of damnation but leaue it as a thyng indifferent to thynke therein as God shall instill in euery mans mynde and that neyther parte condemne other for this matter but receiue eche other in brotherly loue reseruing eche others infirmitie to god The cause of my death is thys because I can not in conscience abiure and sweare that our Prelates opinion of the sacrament that is that the substaunce of bread and wine is verely chaunged into the fleshe and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ is an vndoubted article of the fayth necessary to bée beléeued vnder payne of damnation Now though this opinion were indéede true which thing they can neither proue true by scripture nor doctours yet coulde I not in conscience graunt that it shoulde bée an article of the fayth necessary to bée beléeued c. For there are many verities which yet may bée no such articles of our fayth It is true that I lay in yrons when I wrote this howbeit I would not haue you to receaue thys truth for an article of our fayth For you may thinke the contrary without all ieopardy of damnation ¶ The cause why I can not beleeue their opinion of transmutation is this 1 FIrst because I thinke verely that it is false and can neither hée proued by scripture nor faythfull doctours if they bée well pondered 2 The second cause is thys because I will not bynde the congregation of Christ by mine example to admitte any necessarye Article beside oure Creede and specially none such as can not bée prooued true by Scripture And I say that the Church as they caule it can not compell vs to receaue any such articles to bée of necessitie vnder payne of damnation 3 The thirde cause is because I dare not bée so presumptuous in entering into Gods iudgement as to make the prelates in this pointe a necessary article of our fayth For then I should damnably condemne all the Germanes Almaines with infinite moe which in déede doe not beléeue nor thinke that the substaūce of bread and wine is chaunged into the substaūce of Christes naturall body And surely I can not bée so foolishe hardy as to condemne such an infinite number for our prelates pleasures Thus all the Germaynes and Almaynes both of Luthers side and also of Oecolampadius doe wholy approue my matter And surely I thinke there is no man that hath a pure conscience but hée will thinke that I dye righteously For that this transubstantiation should bée a necessary article of the faith I thinke no man can say it with a good conscience although it were true in déede By me Iohn Frith An exact and diligent Table wherby you may readely turne to any speciall matter that is contained in all Iohn Frithes bookes 1572. A. ABraham 20 Abrahames bosome what it signified 55 Abraham by faith dyd eate Christes bodye and drinke Christes bloud 109 Ambrose opinion of Purgatory 52 Antithesis betweene Christ and the Pope 97 Argumentes to proue that Christes naturall body is not in the Sacrament 142 Articles of our faith are to bee beleeued vpon payne of damnation 111 Articles of our fayth are as many as are necessary for our saluation 145 Augustine beyng 400. yeares after Christ doubted of Purgatory 32 Augustines opinion of purgatory 52 B. BAptisme defined what it is 92 Baptisme is the founteine of our new byrth 94 Bishopricke in the primatiue church was a charge and not a Lordshyp 116 Blasphemie to saye that Christes bloud is not the full remission of our sinnes 11 Blessyng what it is 154 Bookes of the Machabees are not Canonicall 37 Bookes agaynst Rastall 60 Boasting that is modest is commendable 64 Body of Christe eaten by our fathers and his bloud dronke 109 Body of Christ is no more in the Sacrament thē a mans face in the glasse 146 Brethren is an auncient name in the holy Scripture 114 Bread and wyne remayne in the Sacrament 117 Bread why it is called our body 160 C. CAuse of our blyndnes and grosse errours 3 Causes why the Sacramentes were first instituted 112 Ceremonies of some sortes are guydes vnto the knowledge of God 95 Christ onely hath satisfied for our sinnes 14. 15 Christes merites putteth out the fier of Purgatory 14. 17. 18 Christ is our Aduocate 17 Christes sacrifice onely taketh away sinne 17. 38 Christ onely is our head 43 Christes death hath ouercōmed our death 55 Christ was meeke and gentle 57 Christ onely is the meane to put away our sinnes 73 Christes bloud is the strength of our Baptisme 94 Christ and the Pope compared togither 97. 98. 99. 100. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106 Christ is not to bee eatē carnally but spiritually 118. 119 Christes wordes are spirituall and not carnall 124 Christe gaue
king to kéepe thys contracte But yet you were not so content but afterward you found the meanes that this good kyng was poysoned by a traytorous Monke of Swinested because he should say that hée would make a halfepeny loafe worth xx shillinges if hée liued a yeare For the whiche word your holy Monke was moued and went and confessed hym selfe to the Abbot how that he would poyson the king for thys and the one deuill as good as the other the holy traytor absolued the holy murtherer before the déede was done and for thys holy murtherer is there founded v. masses for euer This is the blessed obedience of your holy Church How would you cry how would you yaulpe if wée had handled a gentlemans dogge on this fashion but you can call vs poore men traytors and in the meane season you bring both king kingdome into seruitude and bondage What is treason if this bée no treason to bring so honourable a kinge and hys lande into such bondage and compell hym to receiue his naturall and frée kingdome of such a vyllayne and lymme of y e deuell What can bée said or thought to defend this matter you haue not all onely done wrong to the kinge but vnto the yongest childe y e lyeth in the cradell y e which by your meanes is bonde And thinke it not sufficient to say that it is not your déede for first you are the children of these fathers and you haue alwayes alowed this acte This hath béene blased blowen preached and cryed out and all your bookes full of this matter and many a true mans bloud hath béene shed for speaking agaynst thys And yet was there neuer none of you y e did euer preach against this damnable facte but with full consent with full agréement both in worde déede and in wrytyng you haue alowed this treason Therfore I take you for the auctors as well as your forefathers I would not speake how dampnable it is to institute masses for a willing traytor and murtherer there was neuer no learninge that could allow this But there is no remedy hée that dyes agaynst his king and for the maintayning of your treason must néedes bée a saynt if masses blessinges and myracles wil helpe for all these bée at your commaundement to geue where you list So that we pore men must bée accused of insurrection and treason and we must bere al the blame we must bée driuen out of y e realme we must bée burned for it and as God knoweth there is no people vnder heauen that more abhorreth and with earnester hart resisteth more diligenly doth preach agaynst disobedience then we doe Yea I dare say boldely let all your bookes bée serched that were written this 500. years all they shall not declare the auctorite of a prince and the true obedience towarde hym as one of our litle bookes shall doe that bee condemned by you for heresy and all this will not helpe vs. But as for you you may preach you may wryte you may doe you maye sweare against your Princes and also assoyle all other men of their obedience towardes their princes You may compell princes to bée sworne to you and yet are you children of obedience and good christen men And if ye dye for this doctrine then is there no remedy but you must bée saintes and rather then fayle ye shall doe myracles To proue this I will tell you of a holy saynt of yours of whom your legend and cronicles maketh mencyon hys name as ye call him is s Germayne So it chaunced y e in the tyme of king Vortiger he came into England into a place where the king lay desired for hym his company lodging The king because hée kept no cōmō Inne would not receiue hym So hée departed very angerly and went to the kinges Neteherdes house and there desired lodginge and meate and drinke for hym and his companye The Neteherde was contēt to lodge him but hée sayd hée had no meate for hym sauyng a yong calfe that stode suckyng of the damme by the crybbe The byshop commaunded the calfe to bée slayne and to bée drest brought afore hym and hée and his company eate it vp and after commaunded the bones of the calfe to bée gathered togither and put in the calues skinne agayne and to bée layde in the cribbe by the damme and by and by y e calfe starte vp aliue agayne The next day the byshop went to king Vortiger reprooued him merueilous straightly because hée would not lodge hym and sayde that hée was vnworthey to bée kyng and therefore deposed hym made his Neteherde kyng in hys stede Of the which Neteherde as y e cronicles maketh mension came afterward many kings This is writen by one called Petrus de netalibus the which writeth the liues of all saintes I thinke no man will binde mée to proue this thing a lye but yet it must bee preached taught in your church it must bée writtē in holy saints liues hée must bée a saynt that did it and why because hée deposed a king and set in a Neteherde These shamefull and abhominable thinges doe you prayse and alowe and in the meane season condemne vs for heretickes and for traytours And if we chaunce moued by the abhomynablenes of your doctrine to geue you but one euyll worde then all the world rekoneth vs vncharitable But as for my parte I take God to recorde afore whome I shall bée saued or damned that though you haue done mée shamefull wronge and intollerable violēce yet with your owne persons am I neuer displeased nor angry but agaynst that horrible deuyll y e dwelleth in you that is the causer auctor and mayntayner of such abhominable doctrine that is against God and his blessed worde agaynst hym I say is my quarell and agaynst hym doe I striue this is the truth let men take my wordes as they will Is it not abhominable thinke you so shamfully to depose princes so to rebuke them so to handle them to compell them to bée sworne to you and to holde their lands of you to bée your ministers to the greate dishonour of the liuyng God and blaspheming of his blessed worde and to the great dispight of all noble potentates Ye remember the facte that is declared in your lawe of the noble Emperour Friderike and that wretch Innocent the fourth the thing was this The Pope by y e reasō of certayne complaintes made by the Emperours enemyes cited the Emperour to appeare at Rome and because the Emperour would not appeare he cursed hym with booke bell and candell and afterwarde deposed hym and commaunded the electours to chose an other This is the cause of your lawe briefely But your text declareth certayne artycles agaynst the Emperour which bée these The first that hée had sworne to kéepe peace with y e church of Rome which oth hée brake sayth y e
came to teach both Peter and Paule learned his Disciples not to vse thē selues as Lordes but as seruauntes And marke the occasion that hée had There bée two newe Disciples brought vnto him and the old beyng not yet perfite thought scorne that these two should sit aboue all other y e one of the right hand and the other of the left hād But our master Christ reproueth this proude stomacke of theirs very straitely saying How y e Princes rulers of the infidels hath power ouer their subiectes but so shal not ye For hée that will bée greatest amōg you shal bée least Here our master Christ learneth none hypocrisie that they shold bée called lest in name and bée greatest in very déede but hée will that this doctrine shalbée expressed in their déedes My Lord the pope calleth him selfe in woordes the seruaunt of all seruauntes but in very déede hée wil bée Lord ouer all Lords Yea and my Lordes Byshops will bée sworne to hym as vnto a Lord they wil reken them selues periured if they burne not all them that will take the Pope but for a seruaunt Is not this a marueilous hypocrisie to bée called seruaunt of all seruauntes and yet desire for to bée taken as Lord and Kyng ouer all Kynges Yea and vnto this bée our Byshops sworne because they wil bée obedient to their Princes But and their consciences were rypped you should finde no mā sit there as a Kyng but my losell the Pope And we poore men must bée cōdemned for reprouyng of this And why Verely because my Lords haue sworne to hym agaynst their Prince and all his true subiectes But howe standeth it with your othe toward your Prince for to bée sworne to the Pope which is not all onely an other Lorde but also contrary yea and as the worlde now is the greatest mortall ennemy that our Prince hath For I dare say that if this wretched Clemēt could drowne our noble Prince with one worde it shoulde not bée longe vndone sine Clementia The common sayinge went in Hamburgh that this caytyfe hath not al onely excōmunicated our noble prince but also geuen away the kingdome to an other And this facte must you defende for you are sworne to y e Pope Yea I dare say if you had conuenient occasion you would declare your fidelitie I doe Iudge after your factes that you haue done to kinges in tymes past whensoeuer that you had power might to bring to passe y e which you haue conceiued agaynst your Prince If you thinke I iudge a mysse or els doe you wrong let me bée put to my proofe and you shall sée what an heape of holy factes y e I will bring you out of your own chronicles and bookes for the which you will bée lauded and praysed hyely that you haue so faythfully stucke vnto this dānable Idole of Rome Yea I dare say it had béene heresie within this two yeares to haue written or sayd thus much agaynst the lymme of the deuyll on our princes side This all y e worlde can testefye wherefore I thinke you will put me to no tryall But to your othe Howe doth it stand with your allegyance toward your prince to bee sworne to the Pope your owne lawe sayth that a lege man can make none othe of fydelytye to none other man but to his owne kinge Moreouer you doe remēber your othe made vnto your prince wherein you doe renounce all clauses wordes and sentences made vnto the Pope which may bée hurtfull or preiudiciall to his highnes How agréeth these ij othes you may set them togither as well as you cā but I know no waies to auoyde your periury For the very truth is that the kinges grace and his councell considering your othe made to the Pope to bée periudiciall to his regall power causeth you in your othe afterwarde made vnto him to reuoke those thinges that you haue afore sworne to y e Pope to declare that his grace his counsell did reckon your othe made to y e pope to bée against him therfore he maketh you to reuoke it by name naming the same othe also the same Pope So that you may clearely perceiue how that our prince doth suspect you for your othe making And in very déede the popes meaning yours was none other but for to betray y e king and his realme And therfore as soone as there was any variance betwéene y e king y t pope thē were you first of all assoyled of your allegyance dew vnto our king and that absolucion was blasen and blowen preached and taught throughout all the world all dores and postes must bée decked with papers and bulles for your discharge But for to helpe your Prince you could neuer bée discharged of your hereticall trayterous othe made vnto the Pope agaynst your Prince Here neither Peter nor Paule can helpe nor there is no key y e can open that locke O Lord God how haue we beene blynded thus trayterously to handle our naturall Prince But how this Caterpiller is come to bée a Lorde and hath brought kinges vnder hys féete I will speake God willyng after this in a peculiar treatyse It foloweth and to his successours lawfully and regularly entryng in After what lawe I reade in your owne bookes of law after which me thinketh there bée very few byshops made wherein I finde among all other good thinges that hée shoulde bée chaste of lyuyng méeke gentle to speake to mercyful wel learned in y t new olde testamēt and y e we shoulde not forbyd maryage nor should blame the eating of fleshe and should also beléeue that all maner of synnes as well actuall as original bée clerely forgeuē in baptysme How many of these things the Popes holines is indewed with all and how many hée aloweth his owne bookes and déedes wil testelie Wherfore I recken that your othe doth not meane this laws nor yet y e lawe that blessed S. Paule writeth of For then I recken that by the vertue of your othe you haue not béene bound to one Pope this 400. yeares so that it must folowe that you haue other lawes then blessed S. Paule speaketh of or the councell of Charthaginence to chose your Pope by the which as farre as men can recken by common experience and practice bée these In primis Hee that shall bée able to bée Pope must bée a vēgeable tyraūt neuer kéepeing peace but all wayes warryng for the defence as yée call it of S. Peters patrimonye To suffer no Prince to dwell in rest by hym but to snatch his possessions to the vnholy Church of Rome To set princes together by the eares tyll they bée both weary and then to take y e matter in his hande and neuer to make an ende tyll both partyes hath geuen some possessiōs to his holy fatherhed to assoyle the soules that hath bene slayne through his packyng And hée
of thys bée their bagges so filled for such thinges as these bée will they bée rulers of the church as Deacons Archdeacons Byshoppes and Archbyshops c. My Lordes I had thought to haue added Cardinalles and Legates Abbottes and Pryors to haue made the company more holy but I ourst not How thinke you of whom doth hée speake when hée fayth Byshops and Archbyshops what holynes doth hée reprooue when hée spraketh of gorgious araye of harlottes deckyng of game players disguising of goulden spurres saddelles bridles If there were an C. that did vse it more then you yet must you néedes graunt that hée speaketh of you Hée passeth mée sore in condemning of your holy ornamentes for hee caulleth you the seruauntes of Antichrist and your holy ornamentes harlottes decking and game players disguising and hée saith that you are neyther the church nor of the church but the seruauntes of Antichrist how thinke you by S. Barnarde it is tyme to condemne hym for hée speaketh agaynst holy church and all her holy ornamentes thys dare I well say that if the best Christen man within the Realme should preach these wordes of Saint Barnarde you woulde not sticke to condemne hym for an beretike but you were wonte to call hym swéete Barnarde but mée thynketh that hée is soure inough in thys thynge Wherefore dispute the matter wyth hym that you may come into the Church and not wyth mée FINIS An other declaration of the Church wherein hee aunswereth to Maister More IN my first booke I dyd declare how that certayne men dyd take vppon them to bée counted of holy Church whose maners and lyuynges dyd nothyng agrée wyth holy church But after that commeth M. More and hée layeth to my charge that I counted all the spiritualtie to bée naught because hée would make my name somewhat odious vnto them But verely hée doth mée great wrōge for it was neuer my meanyng nor yet my saying But myne intent was to declare that neyther the Pope nor his colledge of Cardinalles nor yet all the Byshoppes in the worlde gathered togither did make holy Churche because of theyr names or else for theyr long gownes or for theyr shauen crownes or else annoynted fingers nor yet for any other exterior thynges that the worlde had in admiration But yet neuerthelesse I dyd graunt and also doe now confesse many good men to haue shauen crownes and also longe gownes But yet for these thyngs they were neuer the more of the church All the popes learning hath béene that hée and his hath béene y e church the which can not erre and all things that belong vnto them were called y e goods of holy church All lawes made by them were the lawes of holy Church They myght not bée conuēted before any temporall Prince because they were men of holy church They myght not bée hanged for murther because they were annoynted and of holy church Briefely there bée innumerable such thynges inuented of them to maynetayne and to defēde theyr holynesse and to proue that they bée holy Church the which thinges I thynke M. More can not denye And if hée woulde yet there bée a great many of bookes forth comming to proue my sentēce against him And also y e practise that hath béene vsed in y e worlde will testifie the same I thinke M. More nor yet any mā lyuyng dyd euer know in hys tyme that any man was iudged or taken to bée of the church but such men as I haue spoken of And I thynke thys name church was neuer named but it was taken specially and principally for those men that had shauen crownes and other lyke tokens Let mée bée reported to those men that bée alyue Now because I saw that these thynges were nothyng the cause of holy church nor yet belonged greatly to holy church therefore I say was I moued to declare what holy church was and who were thereof and by what signes and tokens men myght know her ¶ Now to declare this I brought certaine places of scripture to prooue that this worde Eccleasia was taken in scripture for the whole congregatiō both of good and bad But I sayd I would not greatly speake of that cōgregation for that was not it that could not erre of the which was mine intent to speake And I brought for me y e saying of S. Paule Christ hath geuen hym selfe for his Church that hée might sanctifie her and clense her in the fountaine of water through the worde of lyfe to make her to hym selfe a glorious church without spot or wrincle or any such thyng But that shée might bée holy and without blame To prooue that the Churche was clensed by Christ I brought the saying of S. Augustine for mée Of Christ is the church made fayre First was shée filthy in sinnes afterwarde by pardon and by grace was shée made fayre c. Moreouer to proue y e this church was made cleane by Christ and not by names or by clothyng or by any other exteriour thyng I brought for me y e saying of S. Iohn If y e sonne of God haue deliuered you then are you truely deliuered Also S. Paule You are washed you are sāctified you are iustified in y e name of Iesus Christ in the spirite of God But vnto these things doth M. More answere that I doe not well to exclude out of this Church bad mē for y e knowne church sayth hée standeth in a gathering togither of good mē and bad to prooue that hée bringeth in certeine parables of our Sauiour Christ To this I aunswere that I neuer denyed but that there was such a cōgregatiō of good and bad but I sayd that that was not y e very true church afore God though it beare the name of the Church and in very déede hys owne parables doth declare that our maister Christe shall at length géeue sentence agaynst them that call them selues falsely of the Churche Iudas was called an Apostle and taken so of all his company but yet our maister Christ calleth him the deuil Now if M. More will haue Iudas in hys Churche I must bee content that hée shall also betraye Christe The very trueth is that bad men bée mixt here in the Churche and after outwarde signes bée taken for members of the Churche specially if they bée not excommunicate But the Churche whiche I dyd speake of was not a felowship gathered togither in a cōsent of exteriour things and ceremonies as other politicke felowships bée But it is a felowshyp specially gathered in the vnitie of fayth hauyng the holy ghost within them to sanctifie their spirites whiche doth set their trust onely in the redemptiō promised thē in Christes blessed bloud This I say is the very true church of God let the worlde say what they will and let men call them selues as it pleaseth thē For as S. Paule saith hée that hath not the spirite of God is none of his Also M. Mores
spirituall teares and gronyng and all the common multitude in the Church fall on weeping After this first ariseth the Byshop and taketh vp those which lay on the ground Thē when hee hath competently prayed for them whiche haue repented hee demisseth them all But they of there owne accorde afflictyng them selues either with fastyng or abstinence from washing or forbearyng of meates or by other like things which they bee commaūded doe looke for the generall day which the Byshop assigneth The tyme beyng appoynted and they hauyng as it were fulfilled certaine dutyes and tendred the penaltie for their sinne then are they admitted to communicate with the people And this custome the aūcient byshops of Rome haue obserued euen vntil our dayes Moreouer at Constantinople there was a minister appoynted to attend vpon the penitēt vntill that time that a certaine noble woman when she had confessed her sinnes and the minister had cōmaūded her that she should fast and praye vnto God with good workes when she had this obserued she confessed that she had often tymes leyen with the Deacon When the people vnderstoode this they raged at the Priestes as though they had beene iniurious to the Church Then Nectarius the Bishop remoued the wicked Deacon and certaine persuadyng him that hee would leaue free for euery mans conscience to communicate when they thought good appoynted no more any Deacon to attend on the penitēts And from that tyme that auncient custome was taken away When as I thinke lesse offences were committed for the shame of confession and the subtill examination ¶ That Monkes bee no holyer thē lay men by reason of their coule or place translated into English out of his booke De Doctor Sent. ¶ S. Gregory in Ezech. Home 10 lib. 1. FOr often times we see certaine as it were stricken with remorse by the voyce of the preacher to haue chaūged their habite and not their mynde so that they would take vnto them a religions garment but they would not tread vnder foote their former vyces but were styrred outragiously with the prickes of anger or waxyng whote w t grief of theyr neighbours become proud with certain good gifts shewed in the sight of mē gape after the gayne of this present world and haue onely a cōfidence of holynes on their outward habit which they haue taken For it is of no matter of any merite to regarde what is outwardly done in our body but we must bee very carefull what is done in our mynde ¶ S. Gregory in Ezech. Home 9. lib. 1. FOr oftē tymes we complayne of our neighbours lyfe wee endeuour to chaunge our dwellyng place and to choose a secret place for a solitary lyfe not consideryng that if Gods spirite bee wantyng the place helpeth not Loth wēt out from the Sodomites holy but in the moūtaine hee sinned But that the place doth not strengthen the mynde the first father of all mankynd doth witnesse who fell by transgression in Paradise For if the place could haue saued Sathā had not fallen frō heauē ¶ The Councell of Gangrens IF any man shall thinke it requisite accordyng to his vow or purpose of continēcy to weare a coule as thereby to attaine righteousnes doth reprehend or iudge others who with reuerence doe weare a lay mans weede or other common garmentes vsed of the lay people let him bee accursed ¶ Out of the same Councell IF any sonnes shall forsake their fathers especially being faithful Christians vpō the pretence of religiō thin kyng it lawfull will not rather yeld due reuerēce to their parētes that they may in them worshyppe God for that they be faythfull be they accursed ¶ S. Barnard ad Guilhelmum Abba THe kyngdome of God is within you that is not outwardly in your apparell or nourishments of the body but in the vertue of the inward man Wherof y e Apostle sayth the kyngdome of God is not meate and drinke but righteousnes peace and ioy in the holy Ghost ¶ Distinctio 40. cap. Non loca NOt our place orders doth make vs nearest vnto our creatour but our good desertes doth either ioyne vs vnto hym or our euill desertes doth separate vs from him ¶ In the same place THey are not the sonnes of saintes which possesse the place of Saints but they whiche exercise theyr good workes ¶ In the same place cap. Multi THe place doth not sanctifie the mā but the man sanctifieth the place Euery Priest is not a holy man but euery holy man is a Priest Hee that sitteth well on the chaire receaueth the honour of the chayre but hee that sitteth euilly is iniurious to the chayre ¶ In the same place the wordes of S. Ambrose Cap. Illud autem BVt marke this one thyng that the mā was made out of Paradise and the woman in Paradise wherby thou mayest note that not by the worthines of y t kinred or place but by vertue euery man doth purchase to him selfe the fauour of God Finally out of Paradise that is in an inferiour place the man was made which proued the better and the woman which was made in the worthier place that is in Paradise is the inferiour creature ¶ In the same place Cap. Quaelibet NO secret places without grace can preserue the soule which we haue eftsoones perceaued in the faultes of y t elect For Loth in that peruers Citie was iust but on the mountaine hee sinned But what speake we of this whē as we haue greater exāples For what was more pleasaunt then Paradise What was more saffer then heauē and yet notwithstandyng man fell out of Paradise and the aungell from heauē ¶ Distinctione 41. Cap. Clericus WHosoeuer despising those things wherby hee presently liueth doth seeke either more delicate or more hom lyer apparell or foode then otherwise is commonly vsed hee is either vntemperate of him selfe or superstitious ¶ That the fastyng of Christians doth not cōsiste in choyse or difference of meates translated into Englishe out of his booke De Doctorum Sententijs ¶ Distinct 41. Cap. Quisquis Verba Augustini WHo soeuer doth vse thinges present more straitly then the maners of them is with whom hee liueth is either vntemperate or superstitious And who soeuer vseth thē in such sorte that it passeth y t boundes of good mēs vsage with whom hee liueth he either doth it to some speciall purpose or els is hee a wicked person For in all such cases not the vse of thyngs but the carnall lust is in fault What therfore is agreable to place tymes and persons we must diligently marke neither let vs rashly reprehend offences For it may come to passe that a wise mā may vse a most precious and delicate meate without any greedy lust or glotony that an vnwise person may haue an vnsatiable appetite to some grosse foode and that some man after the maner of Christ had leyther feede of fishe then fine brothe as dyd Esau Abrahames nephew or on coren as cattle
coÌ„maundementes 48. Gallat 6. Purgatory is nedelesse 49. Eccle. 14. Some imagine Purgatory to be a place of satisfaction 50 Apoca. 14 The dead that dye in the Lorde are blessed and therfore are not in Purgatory Esay 57. Sapien. 3. The coÌ„clusioÌ„ of Iohn Frith agaynst Rastels booke M. More begynneth pitifully Frith Purgatory in 400. yeare after Christ was neither beleued as an article of y t fayth nor yet for an vndoubted truth 1. Cor. 3. S. Austen doubted of Purgatory Roma 4. M. More much deceaued in the accomptyng of hys M. More M. Mores second reason Frith M. More maketh a false and fond argument Iohn Frith ameÌ„deth M. Mores argument Iohn Frith proueth the negatiue to be true Iohn 3. Rastell had his argumentes froÌ„ M. More M. More Ezechias Frith 4. Kinges 2 Esay 38. A question to Master More A very apt similitude Math. 26. M. More Frith 1. Kynges 2 M. More here semeth to be ignoraunt in the Hebrue toung Gene. 42. M. More 〈◊〉 of the maner of the speakyng of the Prophetes The Lord doth kill rayse again Iohn 11. Psal 78. â—hen God saith he killeth doth quicken againe what the meanyng therof is Daniell 3. A true interpretatioÌ„ of Scripture A foule fault in M. More M. More Zacharie Frith Zacharie 9 Psal 66. More and Rochester can not agree How the sauyng of the Prophete Zachary is to be vnderstand Roma 5. An obiectioÌ„ and aunswere therunto A question to master More A true and plaine exposition of the prophet Zachary M. More Machabeus Sore spoâ—… of M. More Frith 2 Mach. 12 The bokes of the Machabees are not in the Canon of y t Hebrues 〈◊〉 The meaning true exposition of the Machabees touching purgatory 〈◊〉 The slaughter of the Iewes was is for idolatry Deutro 7. Iudas Machabeus was deceaued in hys sacrifice 〈◊〉 Deut. 12. 4 By Christes death all sacrifices ceased 5 Heb. 〈◊〉 No sacrifice caÌ„ take away sinne but onely the sacrifice made by Christ 6 The holiest men haue fallen The example of Iudas Machabeus is profitable to y e church and therfore it must be folowed 7. Gallat 6. Actes 15. Rastell 8. The scholemeÌ„ say that in the tyme of the olde Testament there was no Purgatory 9. A declaration of the meanyng of Iudas Machabeus in offeryng hys sacrifice for the dead Deut. 7. Iudas Machabeus thought of no Purgatory M. More is like to be proued an insipient Iohn Frithes iudgement of y â— bookes of the Machabees M. More 1. Iohn 5. DesperatioÌ„ and impenitency are damnable sinners Frith 1. Iohn 5. M. More is confuse in the interpretation of the scriptures Marke 3. What blasphemy and sin against the holy ghost â—s The pure vnderstanding M. More Apoca. 5. Note Frith 〈◊〉 and More doth not agree A â–ª true exposition of the Scripture M More Frith More purposely corrupteth the sence of the Scripture More falsely descaÌ„teth vppon the Scriptures M. More a proctour for Purgatory M. More 1. Cor. 3. M. More would faine proue a purgatory Fâ—ith He shal laboreth much in Gods by 〈◊〉 nyard shall receaue much c. What it is to builde on gold siluer or precious stone What it is to buyld on wood haye or stubble Cyprian How euery mans work is tryed by fire Wordes figuratiuely spoken M. More Math. 12. Frith A subtile sophisme There is no remissioÌ„ of sinnes after this lyfe Marke 3. M. More Math. 12. Frith M. More doth quyte ouerthrow hym selfe Here by M. Mores argument Purgatory is quyte excluded M. More M. More is a subtill Sophister Esay 8. Truth is not to bee sought of the dead Luke 16. 1. Kinge â—3 An apparition of a spirite moued to certeine of Oxford M. More his solution of the two former reasons Frith M. More his argument is false Christ sayth M. Mâ—â—e 〈…〉 second reason Fâ—ith God caÌ„not be against himselfe Mâ— More Frith A penny offred into S. Dominickes boxe worketh great matter Note what veâ—… is in a pâ—…y M. More Frith Ioh. Frith declareth his opinion of Christes death How mens prayers good dedes do help one an other M. More Frith It is better not to beleue that which the scripture aloweth not theÌ„ to make a fayth where we should not M. More Frith What is heresie M. More is a sore iudge M. More The fire of purgatory is a meruellous hot fire Frith Beholde here the force of the fire of purgatory M. More fully aunswered to all that he can say for purgatory M. More was the Byshop of Rochesters Disciple Rochester the first patrone of Purgatory Rochester The Byshop of Rochesters owne wordes Frith Sectes of heretickes 1. Cor. 3. Actes 15. S. Austen S. Austen sheweth what hee thought of Purgatory Saint Ambrose S. Ambrose sheweth his opinioÌ„ of Purgatory Saint Hierome Eccle. 9. All suffrages prayers good dedes done for the dead are in vayne 1. 2. The dead can neither do good or euil nor increase in vertue 3 The sayinges of the Doctors are no farther to be credited then they agree with y t scripture Rochester The doctors haue erred in many thinges The worde of God is the touchstone tryeth all of all doctrine S. Austine S. Austen read old auctors and would also haue all meÌ„ read his workes Rochester Luc. 16. Parables in y t scripture proue nothing but only open and expound dark and hard thinges By Moses and the prophetes is meant the old Testament Rochester Frith There is but ii places after this life that is heauen and hell Abrahams bosome what it signifieth The elect are faithful the faythful are elect Abrahams bosome can proue no purgatory To rest in peace is not to lye in tormentes 1. Iohn 1. A good conclusion against purgatory Christes death hath ouercomâ—â— our death turned it into life Rochester Math. 12. Frith If there be any purgatory it must be after domesday for before there can be none Faythfull Vnfaythfull Men. Rochester Psal 66. Frith Zacharie 9 Rochester More agree not A true interpretatioÌ„ of the 66. Psalme More and Rochester caÌ„not agree Soules in purgatory caÌ„not offer Oxen nor goates in sacrifice Rochester Frith The chirch sayth Rochester meaning the popes church can not erre Luke 14. Frith The parable of Luke 14. truly interpreted How men should be compelled to beleue Christ was meeke and gentle and no tyrannous schole master Luke 9. Paul sayth he had no power ouer their fayth 1. Cor. 12. Fayth is not procured by violence but is the mere onely of gift of God Feare maketh fayth no fayth at all Fayth is first the gift of God and procedeth from the hart which may not be compelled Rochester Pardons Rochester sayth herein very truly and yet was not ware of it Purgatory and pardoÌ„s haue bene goodly marchaundise for the clergye Rochester Frith The kayes Luke 11. The kay of knowledge is the word of God Apoc. 3. Math. 16. Iohn 20. Luke 24. How christ gaue the kayes to Peter and the rest of the
Apostles To open to shut to binde to lose what it is The pope can deliuer no soule out of purgatory except he first go thether preach vnto them Math. 16. Purgatory is not on earth but as Rochester sayth is the third place in hel Rochester Rochester is in this place far beside himselfe Frith A playne declaration of y e popes tyranny Exod. 〈◊〉 Roma 9. The Pope a proude shamelesse tyranous Antichrist A blasphemous pope the deuils vicar The pope is the sonne of perdition worthy of more payne then can be imagined if Rochesters doctrine be true A subsedy defence or bulwarke Much ioy made for y t finding of purgatory although it were to small purpose Christ is deuided into Peter Paule Rochester More and Rastel are all three defenders of one herely More and 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 Rastel was but an â—…rior to Rochester and More More and Rochester thoughte foule â—…ne of Iohn Fâ—â—thâ—â— answere Rastel was not malicious but gladly recognised his ignorance 2. Cor. 4. Iohn Frith semeth that he could plaâ— well at tenâ—…e Rastell Rastel alleageth two causes why he made hys fyrst booke in the defence of purgatorie Iohn 3 Iohn Frith answereth to Rastels two causes Rastelles first cause proued to be in vaine In apt and good example Frith aunswereth gently Rastels bitter tauntes Rastell Frith Frith meteth here with a false ball Rastell Frith Note here the modesty of Iohn Frith Rastell Frith No man ought to coÌ„demne that which he hath not sene God inspireth youth aswell as age 〈◊〉 Thess 1. Hebr. 13. Frith speaketh to cauillers Iohn 8. A maÌ„ may vse godly modest boastyng 2. Cor. 11. This is a thankfull godly boasting Roma 8. 2. Cor. 13. Frith the faithful seruaunt and true martyr of Christ Rastell Frith Rastell sheweth himself to be very ignoraunt Frith sheweth his meaning how y t scripture was kept from our forefathers Rastell Frith Rastell Rastell cauileth Frith More would not be ignorant in any thing therfore vnderstood nothing as he should haue vnderstand neyther his duty to the prince nor yet to God A good conclusioÌ„ made by Iohn Frith against Rastels first chapter Rastell Rastell Frith Rastell Frith Rastell Frith Rastell Frith Rastell Frith Rochester contrary to More and More contrary to Rochester Rastell Frith Rastell Frith Rastell Rastell is a bitter taunter Frith Math. 3. The reprouing of the papisticall hypocrites must not be called rayling Luc. 13. Luc. 13. The Prophetes and Apostles were great reprouers of the vngodly and wicked Rastell As it is a fond exposition so it is false metre A sore and fond saying of Rastell Firth Frith is a good scholer sone hath lerned his lesson he will say no more they lye for that is bitter Rastell Frith Rastell Frith I goose would haue made better ryme and meter then Rastell did Frith taketh payne to amende Rastels meter but not his reason Rastell Ephe. 1. Frithes aunswere to Rastels thyrd chapter Frith How we are righteous in the sight of God yet â—…e sinners Roma 8. Roma 5. We are sinners in our selues and yet righteous in Christ Roma 4. Psal 31. Rastell Fiâ—â—h Rastell Rastell setteth a trap wherein he wil be taken hym selfe Frith The workes of the law can not iustifie vs. Rastell Rastelles blind argument Frith Note well this worthy learned argument Gallat 5. 1. Iohn 3. 1. Iohn 3. 〈◊〉 Iohn 2. Frith Such christen people as are the children of God will not dwell nor abide in sinâ—e and so for theÌ„ there is no hell Luke 12. The smaller number belong to Christ and not y â— greater Rom. 8. Here Rastel is taken in his owne trappe Maior Minor Rastel falsyfieth the scripture 1. Cor. 8. Galath 2. Roma 6. 1. Iohn 2. Phil. 2. Pet. 1. Roma 1. There is no hell to those that are in christ Iesu There is a â—…or suche as feare not God nor 〈◊〉 his coÌ„maundements As there is no heaueÌ„ for good euil so there is â–ª no hell for good and euill There are two partes in man that is the outwarde man and the inward man Howe the inward maÌ„ resisteth the assaultes of the outward man The faithful man feareth Gods displeasure Roma 7. How a maÌ„ may coÌ„mit sinne and yet sinne not Sinneremaineth in oure outward membres to exercise the inward maÌ„ in resisting of sinne Iohn 15. Rastell Frith Rastelwold faine canel but he cannot tell at what Rastell Frith There is no meane to put away sinne but only by Christe For suche as dwell in the lyght of Christ hys bloud onlye to sufficieÌ„t There are two maner of repentances True repeÌ„tance is a florishing frute of faith What pure fasting is RepentaÌ„ce liuely declared by an example How good workes do mortify our membres Good workes are the fruites of fayth There are two maner of satisfactions Hebr. 7. SatisfactioÌ„ to our neighbour Good workes are to be done and why Ephes 2. Good workes are profitable to our neighbour and also a testimony that we are the children of God Ephe. 2. We are iustified by grace and fayth whiche is not of our selues but is the gift of God Rastell hath here ouerthroweÌ„ all that he hath before built and set vp Ihon Frith was streightly kept Iohn 2. Iohn 15. Roma 12. Iohn 3. Luke 14. Phil. 1. Roma 21. 2. Ti. 3. Heb. 12. Cor. 10. Apoc. 12. Marke 1. Roma 15. Ephe. 1. Eccle. 1. Psal 62. Eccle. 5. Note Esay 40. Heb. 9. 〈…〉 Roâ—… Prouer. 1. Roma 8. Roma 7. Math. 25. Esay 14. Daniell 〈◊〉 Actes 12. Roma 3. â—am 1 Math. 6. Math. 5. Iames. 1 〈◊〉 Kinge 3 Mores miste M. More daunsing in a net thinketh hym selfe inuisible Iohn 15. Ephe. 2. Roma 11 1. Cor. 1. 1. Cor. 11. 1. Cor. 9. Ezech. 23. Obiection Solution Math. 7. Roma 11. 2. Pet. 2. 1. Cor. 12. Math. 3. Math. 21 Math. 12. Phil. 2. 2. Pet. 1. Math. 5. Agge 2. Luke 16. Ephes 4. Eccl. 34. 1. Tim. 6. Obiection Solution Eccle. 4. Esay 5. 2. Thess 3. Esai 5. Ierem. 7. Ierâ—m 12. Aâ—… 2. Ierem. 18. Iohn 10. 1. Cor. 2. Gods elect perceiue easely the spirituall meaning of his Sacramentes Walking in the truth bringeth rest of conscience Phil. 4. Papistes through the grosse vnderstanding of Baptisme condemne infantes vnbapâ—ized Externall signes with out spiritualâ— sense taught and beleued of the blinde papistes Three thinges ought to be coÌ„sidered in euery Sacrament Outwarde signes neyther minister vnto vs Gods spirit nor his grace Marke well this example He that receiueth the signe of a sacrament outwardly and not the significatioÌ„ inwardly in hart receaueth his damnation Note The spirite of God is not bounde to the outwarde signes of sacrameÌ„tes Actes 10. Gods spirite not bounde to any place Infidels must first beleue in Christ and after receiue Baptisme as the â—…ge of your fayth 〈…〉 〈◊〉 The desinition of Baptisme Fayth foloweth our election Actes 13. Rashe iudgement in misticall matters