speake it to our owne confusion to hurt our brethren to displease God Beware sayth Christ least ye iustifie your selues before men to bee praysed of them For else you lose the rewarde at your father his handes If in the defending of dreames in maintayning mans doctrine and in shadowing the truth we did so deale as we might seeme in mans sight to deserue great praise yet weying our owne workes to be weake séeing how fond it is that we defende howe hollowe is the grounde and how soone it maye be shaken what shoulde we abuse learning anye longer why séeke we to defend with eloquence with wit with subtiltie the suburbes of iniquitie the houses of harlots the shoppes of trumperie the pallaice of vanitie it is no rebuke no slaunder to turn vnto the Lord it is for our profite to get our fathers fauor againe for in steade of Acornes he offereth to féede vs with most deintie dishes in stead of cloutes and ragges he hath for vs newe clothes I say againe let vs not be ashamed S. Paule began euill yet ended he well of a persecutor he became y e seruant of God he professed he embraced he preached Christ he died in the defence of the faith God grauÌ„t that all we renouncing foolish dreames and light legendes retracting fonde assertions and rightlye adiudging of mens doinges may so doe Well to the intent it maye euidently appeare whether I am thus nowe mooued to write through feare or by a frée motion whether I am perswaded thervnto through the desire of gaine of frendship of fauor or rather in hope of a rewarde at Gods hands to be receiued with others for the knowledging and setting foorth according vnto my small talent of the truth I thinke it not amisse here this much to protest That were my iudgement at hande the place of execution appointed the maner of death determined were I already condemned yea were I warned to prepare my selfe yet shoulde feare make mee graunt no further than I would doe of frée minde no torment should enforce me to write against my faith against the thing I vndoubtedly beléeued It is true that I meaned before as I wrote I followed alwayes my conscience I hated flatterie I loued to vtter what I thought that fréely I folowed as néere as nede were my former example I woulde not graunt nor did to any thing being a prisoner whervnto I would not agree or doe not and that willingly being at liberty Let no man therfore reprehende mée in that I haue written before in one manner and now in another yea though the one be contrarie vnto the other For therein the matter being rightlye weyed is no inconstancie there is no euill meaning in neither a zeale there is in the one although not according to knowledge and a zeale there is in the other confirmed by authorities by conscience by Scripture Touching the offence in the one thoughe I might remoue the fault and laye the same in others yet to haue offeÌ„ded I knowledge I confesse I graunt Neyther yet ought any to obiect it vnto my reproche the déede was not so haynous as the repentaunce for the same may be gracious What sayth Cyprian herein what sayth S. Paule ignosci potest simpliciter erranti sicut de seipso Paulus Apostolus dicit qui primus fui blasphemus persecutor iniuriosus sed misericordiam merui quia ignorans seci He that sinneth not hauing an euill meaning may be the rather forgiuen â–ª â—…s the Apostle S. Paule speaketh of himself when before I was a blasphemer a persecutour and one that did wrong but I obtained mercy bicause I did it through ignorance No man therfore that I may vse S. Augustines words except he be rash will finde fault and reprehend me bicause I rebuke and blame mine owne faults What should I be so arrogant as to confesse that I was neuer ignorant or shoulde I in well doing bée ashamed to do that which Augustine and others haue done Let him sayth he that might not attaine vnto the chiefe and first point of wisedome endeuor to obtaine though the seconde part of modestie that hauing spoken some thinges to be repented he may be sorie and knowledge that such things ought not to haue bene sayde S. Augustine was not ashamed so to doe and shoulde I if all the Prophetes if all the Apostles if all the Doctors haue so done were it not a thing insolent yea a thing impudent for vs so not to doe Let others estéeme their credite as they sée cause I will saye what I thinke by the meanes of man I will neuer bee smothered in ignorancie I will fréelye speake my conscience no terror no threatnings no death shal let me Were I enclosed vp with Pantaleon or shot into y e hart with Praxaspis sonne yet dreames shall be dreames truth shall be truth a spade shall be a spade I can giue it none other name I neuer laboured for gaine I neuer looked for glorie what I did was done fréely it was and it is done of a good meaning and voluntarily For mine owne part I beare euill will to none I wish well to all and that faithfully vnfeynedly Though I think otherwise than they doe if I thinke the truth and if good causes doe moue me therevnto why shoulde anye blame mée why shoulde they rebuke him which yeeldeth vnto truth and giueth place to reason authorities and holye scripture But what was the cause and how came to passe wil some say this sodeine conuersion obiections I know will be deuised flowts will be framed iestes toyes for ydle walkers idle dreamers there are inough will be inuented The conuersion sir is not so sodain as of such who say Masse in y e one day subscribe to the contrary in the other And yet I speake it not to reprehend them for S. Paule I knowe was conuerted in a moment sodainelye going by the way to Damasco Whether they be likewise coÌ„uerted in déede or no betwene God and them I leaue it I will be no iudge But what I coulde hereof saye and what I knowe for some causes I will omitte What made me to alter my mynd and how it happened you shall briefely heare Heare me then I pray you without parciallitie Hauing alwayes from my childhood detested this way which to doe well we must tearme the reformation and cleansing of Christianitye from vnprofitable cloddes from wéedes and bryars wherewith the house of God was in a maner ouergrowne hauing oft heare in talke as to many can witnesse resisted the same hauing passed ouer the Seas moued with a vayne zeale to chunne it and hauing at the length by translations toyes wrytten against it I returned priuilie as occasion serued me into Englande againe of that minde to depart hence as soone and as secretly as I coulde In the meane tyme I was aprehended and so committed to prison Being then there and looking for some extreme kinde
preferre the deuine Scriptures before the Chaos of mans doctrine to embrace your most godly proceedings and to performe in all things towardes God your Maiestie and my countrie the part and dutie of a true subiect In token pledge wherof I haue aduentured in moste humble wise to dedicate these fewe leafes vnto your highnesse most imperiall protection beseeching of God to saue keepe and defend your Maiestie Your Maiesties most humble Orator Lewys Euans Romanes 1. I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for vnto all such as beleue it is the power of God vnto saluation Ephes 6. Put on the armour of â—od that you maye stande stedfast against the craftie assaults of the deuill For we wrestle not agaynst fleshe and bloude but against rule agaynst power and against worldly rulers of the darknesse of this world agaynst spirituall wickednesse for heauenly things 1. Coloss 2. Beware least any man come and spoile you through philosophy and deceitful vanitie through the traditions of men and ordinaunces after the worlde and not after Christ To his louing Friendes wheresoeuer Lewys Euans wisheth as vn to himselfe WHen Jweygh that frendship is nothing else louing friendes but an especiall agremeÌ„t with good wil and loue betwene mankinde as well in matters diuine as humane I do then somewhat doubt whether I were best to publish this smal booke or not The thing that seemeth to let me is the familiaritie friendship and amitie which hath bene and now yet is betweene vs. For I cannot but feare so loth am I to lose olde friends least by this mine alteration in iudgement you also though you haue no such cause will alter your loue and so withdraw your good willes In dede you your selues doe well know that I was neuer chargeable vnto you that I neuer sought friendship for gaine and that at no time I fawned vpon any for prayse estimation or profite Onelye did I accept the faithfull harts of my friends and I greatlye esteemed the gentle willing mindes and affability of mine acquaintance And this is it that maketh me the more sorowful wheÌ„ I feare to lose their good willes whose friendship I delighted in but of whose wealth and goodes I neyther had nor desired On the other side my duetie towardes God mine obedience due vnto the Queenes highnesse and the vnfeyned good will that I beare towardes my countrie these do in dede now coÌ„pell me to professe the truth that I see to renounce obstinacie to knowledge the right way and to bid defiance vnto Idolatrie I haue therefore in this treatise though not eloquently yet faithfully brought forth reason authoritie and Scripture and that to defende the Catholike fayth and to chase away the smoke of hell the mist of Antichrist and the false long mayntayned merchandise of Satan I treade herein I trust the path of our perfite forefathers I defende the Church I giue a foyle to pride I commende prayers penance and fasting I cut down peruerse hypocrisie deceite and blind iugling I extoll honorable mariage and chastity I the cause that I labour indifferently you shal plainly perceiue that I speake nothing against holinesse but that I endeuour to doe what I can to further deuotion and godlynesse Why then shoulde our friendship cease why should it not these thinges considered increase yet some I know there are whose breasts be stopped with such pelting disdaine and ignorancie that hauing a sounde of the Catholike fayth in their mouthes they neyther know what faith nor fidelitie meaneth Some others there are who thoughe they be worldly wise and learned yet they so leane vnto self will and estimation that they leane not in a maner but altogither besides their profession These be not father Adams children they are made as they thinke of a finer moulde they carie such a toye in their heads and yet know not they what whereby they suppose themselues to passe all other men Alas is it not knowen what they are bee they not terrigeni fratres bee they not of an earthlye moulde is not the trade ouer earthly that they leade yea and to vtter them further touching manners be they not intollerable and concerning religion are not their errors in a manner palpable they will haue no man to be like vnto them they thinke that in comparison of them there is none worthie to be looked vpon none meete to be hearkened vnto they adiudge their owne persons their owne dreames and fantasies to excel surmount to passe all Who can away with such Pryde who can suffer suche selfe will such disdayne suche arrogancie But to omitte these I shall craue of you deare friendes if for nothing else yet for olde familiaritie that you will reade ouer these fewe leaues before you doe infringe our amitie and that you will reade as friends and then iudge indifferently And for my part this promise I make though we disagree in Religion and that but for a time vntill you receyue the grace that God offereth you the light which shineth before you and the Gospell which is preached vnto you yet in friendship Orestes shall find me Pylades Damon shall trie me to be Pythias Theseus shall not misse Perithous Patroclus shall not want hys Achilles Nisus shall not lacke Eurialus Lelius shall be assured of his friende Scipio Dauid shall trie me to be Ionathas This seing I speake from the heart and faithfully shew your good natures performe the part of friends vnfeynedly And thus taking you al to be my friends whose friendshippes though I can not deserue yet will J during life desire I bid you vnfeinedly well all to fare From London the iiij of Nouember FINIS ¶ A plaine demonstration of the erring estate of the Romaine Church LEWYS DVKE of Bauiere Christian Reader is for his constancie and that not w tout good cause had euer sithence in memorie For being prisoner and required to graunt some great matter he vtterlye denying it Albert then Marques of Brandenburgh in whose handes he at that time was threatned to deliuer him ouer into the handes of a Prince which was very cruell and the Dukes most enimie But the valiant courage of so noble a man coulde therewith be nothing moued in so much that he thus aunswered aske sayth he that thing at my hands now being thy prisoner which thou shouldest demaunde of me if I were at libertie else though my bodye bée in thraldome yet shall my minde haue still his fréedome it shall serue and obey me and not thée This is a great and a right worthy example of much constancie it was the saying of a valiant hart and the courage of a mind vnconquered Hereby we be admonished that we consent vnto no vnlawfull thing through feare for liuing for libertie or for life but remembring the office of our bodies what they are and wherevnto they serue that we kéepe our mindes free from all vnhonest subiection that we doe things lawfull with consent of conscience and
How say you now what speake you of the chiefe and Rulers as for the learned I will confesse the truth there are in the ministerie men verie simple and of small vnderstanding I knowe of thē a number I wil not denie it the thing may in time be remedied but to speake indifferentlye if we examine the ministerie with the former prelacy they are as learned now yea better learned than euer they were For in times past what say you vnto Priestes what say you vnto Bishops that coulde not speake anye true Latine Let none thinke that I slaunder them they were such and therfore to excuse themselues thus they say If the Bishops or Preistes doe speake amisse through ignorance in Grammer they maye not bee therefore despised of schollers no marrie bicause the faultes are rather to bee aduoyded in maners than in wordes A proper matter and an arche argument be ye assured The faultes in a mans life are to be rather aduoyded therefore such Bishops or Priestes as can not speake true Latine are not to be dispraised I pray thee of felowship christen reader findest thou herewith anye fault if a poore Minister had made any such shoulde he not haue bene flowted is this their learning O learned fathers Fie vpon such an ignorant time it was to darke it was intollerable Non est deponendus aliquis propter imperitiam no spirituall man say they should be depriued for ignorancie Why speak they then of the learned they themselues being not only ignorant but also the defenders of ignorancie what talke they of learning the effect of their whole glosaicall studie is this Beholde the deceitfull pen of the Scribes hath set foorth lyes What learning what wisdome then can be amongst thē An other obiection is this we sée say they the iniquitye of the time this doctrine cannot be good there is such vngodlinesse euery where In dede we cōfesse that y e world is naught yea and that we are naught we neither wil nor may iustify our selues silētio culpa crescit we hide not our faults we confesse thē vnto God of him we craue mercie And what is y e cause of this mischief let vs be indifferent let vs tell troth Satan forsooth of a long time hauing the world vnder his clawes was quiet without care he was negligent Then loe though most horrible vices raigned yet had they eyther the title of vertues or else had the people no eies to discerne them so that Satan was animi securi homo one that feared nothing he néeded not to be busie a better trade than he had coulde he neuer haue For Superstition had put on the name of Religion hawtinesse was termed holynesse tyrannie was called a zeale vnto iustice whoredome was named chastitie and as Gregorie sayth vitia virtutes se esse mentiuntur vile vices reported thēselues to be vertues suche was the wretchednesse O miserie of the time But in these days Satan being pinched mens eyes opened darkenesse remoued vices defected and the deuill in a maner naked howe on euery side besturreth he himselfe he bloweth abrode his poyson he scattereth euerye where hys newes he calleth vnto him his mates it standeth him vpon he maketh all the troubles that may be And what of all this is it a thing straunge or is not a thing always séene that when the Gospell is preached then Satan is most moued For the deuill hearing that the sonne of god descended into this world hearing the fayth of Christ preached he made great haste against him to shut vp mens harts in sinne and infidelitie thinking that he coulde destroye as much as Christ was able to saue For example therof what should I speake of the persecution in the primatiue Church it shal suffice if I set before you but a péece of the wickednesse and of the lamentable estate of y e Romaine Empire beginning anon after Marcus Commodus the Emperour you know caused most cruelly all his good fathers friends to be slaine he liued in moste detestable whoredome and murther he him selfe was in thende after other great daungers poysoned and strangled Next him succeded Pertinax a verye good man yet was he slaine and murthered of his owne souldiors What shoulde I speake onely of murther what wickednesse raigned not These cut throte souldiours after the death of Pertinax solde the Empire vnto a couetous Carle one Iulianus But what came thereof the whole estate of y e Empire was troubled thrée at one time claymed the authoritie Iulianus Niger and Seuerus Againe of the death of Antoninus and of Iulia his mother what should I saye go thorow the whole historie and you shall finde almost nothing but méere impietie And yet at this time the Gospell was preached wée may not say that the doctrine was not therfore good bicause the time ouer flowed with iniquitie Consider this Christen Reader wey it with thine owne conscience and then iudge vprightly They obiect also that y e life of the Ministers is naught that they be vicious lewde and I knowe not what Their lewdenesse I will not defende if they be euill God amende them I knowe hereof more thā for some causes I will yet write I know there be within y e Ministerie a number of the Popes friendes in Protestantes skins I know their trades I know them If in the Church now there be some lewde men I maruaile not So was amongst and of the twelue a Iudas there was one naughtie person amongst eight within the arke of Noe in the house of Abraham in the house of I saac of Iacob of Dauid there were offenders and men altogither vnfaithfull in the heauen it selfe many of the Aungels were faultie What then thoughe some yea euen of the Preachers be peruerse There are some which be lewde I wil graūt it Were they not so in S. Paules time I haue no man sayeth he which with a like affection will care for your matters with me for all doe seeke that is their owne and not that is Iesus Christ What saye you to this how saye you vnto that time Touching the Pope and his Prelacie who can accuse them for though they be neuer so lewd of themselues though they offende in most detestable filthinesse though the Pope doe not one good déede yet the vertues of his Predecessors maye suffice him These be their owne words wey them I aske with indifferencie In this their owne Doctor their owne Pope is against them I meane Gregorie Grace sayth he and not the place doth saue the soule Surelye had I here time to set forth their lewde and fonde Canons had I leysure cōuenient to lay out before you their foule fornication their naughtinesse and abhomination you woulde doubtlesse abhorre them we should altogither defie them But would you thinke vnto their friendes I speake that they defended whoredome would you beleue that these were their wordes One hauing no wife that hath