quis abstulerit cÌ„ noÌ„ est precipientis sed exhortantis But I dare say that Doctour steueÌ„ knewe that this was but a smal euasyon and of none auctorite / and therfore he wolde shewe me no more of the lawe for it followeth / what so euer he be that doth not obey the commandemeÌ„t ys gytly and worthy of payne for yt ys synne not to obey to the commandement off god 14. Q. 1. quisquis cÌ„ These be Saynt Austaynes wordes in their awne lawe / Now lett euerye châ—stened man iudge whether that the contrary wordes be of sufficieÌ„t auctoryte to resel the holy wordes of scrypture or no / if they avoyde scrypture yet caÌ„ they not auoyd holy doctours thou which by their awne law be of greter auctorite in expouÌ„ding scripture thaÌ„ the pope is but thaÌ„ caÌ„ doctor wolmaÌ„ / he brought thys text / if thy brother do offeÌ„d that thaÌ„ tel the church / what is that sayd he tel the churche / to whoÌ„ I answered that this place made not for suynge at the lawe aleging S. Augustine for me / for it speketh of the crymys that shulde be repreuyd by the congregacion / and not of the correccion of the temporalle swerde / For yt foloweth if he heare not the churche / counte hym as an hethyn and as a publycane / this is the vtter most payne that oure master Christ assigneth there / the which is no payne of the temporal lawe / but at this answere was he movyd and sayd if I dyd abyde by yt I shulde be burnte / this was a sherpe sentence of so great a man as he ys / but and if he had byn halfe so welle lernid in scripture as he ys greate / he wolde haue geuyn a more cheritable sentence But Apelles was a Ioly wisse fellow that sayd once to a shomaker / Ne sutor vltra crepidaÌ„ It is not an C. yere a goo syns that same Master doctour was butler in that same house where off I was master aÌ„d prior / and now to geue suche a strayte sentence this is a soddyn mutacion But here is it playne that I haue spokyn neuer a worde but that holy scriptur / holy doctours and their awne lawe saye the same / bothe in sentence and in wordes wherfore I can not se how they can condemne this article / for herysy / and I dare say for them that they rekkyn it none heresy / but peradveÌ„tur they vnderstond it not nor they dyd not condemne me for this artycle But here after folowe the heresys The .6 Article I wille neuer beleue nor I can neuer beleue that one man may be by the lawe off God a bysshop of .ij. or .iii. Cyttys ye of an holle contry / Titum 1. for yt is contrary to S. Paule whyche saythe / I haue lefte the be hynde to set in everye citye a bysshop And if yov fynde in one place of scripture that they be callid Epyscopi / thov shalt fynd in dyuers other places that they be callid contrary wyse presbiteri I was brought a fore my lorde cardynalle in to his galary and there he red al myne artycles tyl he came to this and there he stoppyd and sayd that this touchyd him and ther fore he askyd me if I thought it wronge that one bysshop shulde haue so meny Cyttys vndernethe hym / vn to whom I answeryd that I coulde no forther goo / than S. Paules text which set in euerye Cytty a bysshop Than askyd he me yf I thought yt now vnryght seyng the ordinaunce of the churche that one bysshop shulde haue so meny Cyttis I answeryd that I knew none ordinance of the churche as concerninge thys thynge but. S. paulys saynge only neuer the lesse I dyd see a contrary custom and practyce in the worlde / but I know nor the orygynalle there of / than sayd he that in the apostles tyme there were dyuers Citys somme seuen myle some sixe myle longe and ouer them was there sett but one bysshop and of their subbarbis so lykewyse now a bisshop hath but one Cytie to his Cathedrall churche and the coÌ„try aboute yt was as subbarbis vn to it My thought this was farfetchyd / but I durste not deny yt by cause it was of so great auctoryte / but thys dare I say that his holynes can neyther proue it by scriptur not yet by any auctory of doctours nor yet by any practyce of the apostles / Athanasiê° but let vs see what the doctours say to myne article / Athenasyus dothe declare this texte of the apostill / I haue lefte the by hynde cÌ„ He wold not committ vn to one bysshop a whole ylde / but he dyd enioyne that euery citty shulde haue his propre pastor supposing that be thys meanys they shulde more diligently over see that people aÌ„d also that the labour shulde be more easye to bere cÌ„ ChrisostoÌ„ Also Chrisostom on that same texte / He wolde not that a wholle contre shulde be permyttyd vn to one man / but he enioyned vn to every maÌ„ his cure by that menys he knew that the labour shulde be more easy and the subiectis shulde be with more dyligence governydde yf the teachers were not distract with the gouernyng of meny churchys but had cure and charge of one churche only cÌ„ My thynketh these be playne wordes and able to moue a man to speke as muche as I dyde / but graunte that you may haue alle these cytis yet can yov make it none heresy / for my lorde cardynalle graunteth that it is but agenst him aÌ„d agenst yov which be no godes / but I must be an heretyke there is no remedy yov wille haue yt so / and who ys abille to say nay not alle scrypture The .7 Article IT can not be provyd by scripture that a man of the churche shulde haue so greate temporal possessyoÌ„s / but they wille say if they had not so great possessions / they could not kepe so many seruantis / so many dogges / so meny horsses as .xl. or .l. and mayntane so great pompe and pryde and lyve so diliciously what heresy fynd you in this is it heresy to speke agenst youre horsses and youre houndes aÌ„d youre abhominabille lyuynge and douteles I did not say but that you myght haue possessyons but alloÌ„ly I spake agenste the superfluousnes and the abuse of them / but I pray you how caÌ„ yov proue it by scripture / that a man in as muche as he is a bysshop must haue temporall possessyons I am in the negatyue prove yov yovre affirmatyue this am I suer of that chrisostome saythe / A bysshop ought to have nothiÌ„g but meate and dryncke and clothe / I wille bringe no scripturs for you regarde them not Ad Tymo c. 5. The .8 Article SVer Iam that they cannot by the law off god / haue no iurisdiccion secular and yet they chalynge bothe powrys which if they
insurreccyon agenste youre grace But now youre grace may lyghtly iudge whether that they be traytours that wyll mynyshe youre power / yee and almost take yt cleare a waye / and not soo content except they be also youre fellowes wyth in youre awne realme / or els I that wyll be obedyent with all mekenes and lowlines vnto youre grace / ād also lerne all other men so to be and to geue vn to youre grace all maner off power erthlye vnder god whiche thynge I do not now allonly lerne / but all ways did lerne that same and dyd intende for to haue proceded further in this cause yff yt had pleasyd god that I myghte haue contynued / as myne artycles for the whyche I was condemned do openly declare and testyfye whyche thynge as sone as the bysshops perceyued / they thought yt was not good for them that I shulde contynue and therefore they toke me and condempned me for an heretyke / wyth out scrypture / agenste goodes worde / Agenst all good order / Agenst all good conscyens / agēst all manhod And not soo content / but put me to the greatyst shame that their hartys coulde deuyse ād afterwarde put me in preson allmost thre yearys / and yet not so content but sought all false / vncherytable and vnchrystyned meanys too brynge me to dethe / the whyche no doute but they had done yt / yff they had not feryd youre grace more than god It ys not to be doubted / but that youre grace and also all the worlde / hearynge howe they dyd vse me / wyll suspect and Iudge / that I haue done some intollerabylle cryme / and that I haue offendyd in heresye and too sore agenst god and hys blessyd worde / or ells the bysshops wolde neuer have soo handelyd me / thys all the worlde wyll thynke For they be reuerent fathers and holy men / and great prelates off Christes churche / and men off great lernynge / and suche men that they will not of their honour / handyll any man so sore / except yt wers for a great and an vrgent cause Truthe yt ys that all these thynges they wyll be / but howe honorable / and howe cherytable they haue byn vn to me / the cause wyll declare yt selfe / yff yt please youre grace no more but too rede the artycles for the whyche they haue condempned me And that youre grace ād all the worlde myght se them / I haue put them forthe in prynte I thynke youre grace shall not fynde manye thynges in them neyther agenst god nor yet agenst hys holy worde / but agenst theyr abomynable lyuynge and damnable pompe and pryde be the moste parte off them all Those ware the thyngys / that I toke in honde to dystroye / but these thynges a fore god / and a fore all chrysten men / be very farre from heresy Notwythstondge / yt was not possyble that I and all my frendes coulde deuyse any resonable ende with them / but that I shulde spend all my lyffe in pryson / my trespace as they sayd was so great To speake agēst prynces is at the most but treason / but to speake agenst these holy goodes ys bothe treason and also heresye / whyche ys the greatyst cryme in erth / yf harte coulde deuyse any greater cryme yt shulde be layd vn to hym / suche heuenly parsons be these / It ys euell medlynge for mortall men with immortall godes / for there ys no waye to make satisfacciō This haue I well proued to my vtter vndoynge / for I beynge in preason made dyuers tymys meanys vn to certayne off them / as vn to my lorde of london / fyrst that yt wolde pleasse hys holynes / to speake wyth me / and yf he found me in any errours / that he wolde be so good as to teache me / for I desyred to lerne the veryte and yff he founde me in none / I wolde desyre hys holynes that he wolde laboure for me too my lorde Cardynalles magestye that I myght come out off preason / for I was a younge man / and yf I had made any faute for wante of descrecyon / lernynge / or wysdom / I wold gladlye in time to come by godes grace make a mendes / Allonlye my request was that he wolde be so good as to helpe / that I myght not lose and spend all my lyffe and youth in preason / but at the lest that I myght teache chylderne to wryte and to reade / and lerne them theyr gramer / and soo too gett my lyuynge wyth truth and honestye / and not ydlye to lyue in preason He made me answere that too speake wyth me he had none occasyon / and I was the man that he neuer sawe and therfore he knew no cause why I shulde desyre too speake wyth hym / ād as for teachynge off chyldern he wolde neyther graunte me wyth in preson / nor wyth out Moreouer yf it pleasse youre grace / at a nother tyme I sent certayne off my frendes vn to hym agayne / to the number of .viij. or .x. of the whyche a certayne were aldermen and of the worshypfullest cōmeners wyth in youre Citye of London / and men of so good substance that no courte wyth in youre royalme wolde haue refusyd them for twentye thousande poūde / these men I desyred in the waye off cheryte and for Chryst Iesus sake to go to my Lorde of london / and to desyre hym too be good lorde vn to me for my cause was put to hym that I might come out of preson / and that he wolde take some cherytable ende wyth me / and what soo euer thynge that he wolde require off me lawfulle and resonable I wolde performe yt and therto fynde hym good suertyes Thys thynge dyd youre faythfull subiectes dylygently for me / Alonly off theyr cherite and goodnes but what answere they had / youre grace may knowe off the bysshope off london and off them / Neuer the lesse I dare well say vnder youre graces fauour that the greate Turke could not be moore cruell than the Bysshop off london was / though hys cruelnes were colered a lytle wyth holy hypocrysie For he wolde neyther graunt them any parte off their petycyon / nor yt gladlye heare them too speake for me / but soo handelyd them that they were bothe a frayde too speake wyth me and also to speake for me to any man / yee they were a frayde to geue me meate and dryncke This is truth that I saye to youre grace They be men I truste a lyue and of great honestie for to testifie it / So that youre grace maye se / what cheritable fathers they be / what holy bysshops they be / what men of the church they be / that wyll nothinge but vengeaunce ād dystruccion of their power brethern / and yff a man come in their daunger there is no remedie nor no wayes to come out / nor no man maye labour for hym
obedyent vnto temporalle prynces / ye and that vnto infidels And not alonlye he / but all hys ordinaunce All hys wrytynges / and all his bisshops dyd agre to the same And yff they wyll dispice S. Paule / by cause he was but a begger / and no lorde off the parlament what wyll they say to oure Master Christe oure mighty / gracious / and excellent prynce / was not he obedyent vn to Pylate that was an infydelle / and in auctorite muche lesse than youre grace / dyd not he obey in bodye and goodes / dyd not he paye tribute vn to Cesar / was not he crucifyed / vnder Pons Pylat / was not he a spirituall man / was not his cause ryghtuous / was not he mighty to defende his cause was not he worthy to be exempted / was he not annoynted I meane not with oyle but wyth the holy gost so well as they / and yet wolde kepe the order / that was sett by hys heuynly father Dyd not he sore rebuke Peter / that wolde haue defended his cause / and sought for suche carnall lyberte / agenste the power off princes / Dyd he not clearly take a waye / the temporall swerd from hym we neuer rede that euer he drewe yt after / and yet we reade that he had causys suffycient And now commyth Peters successoure / and he wyll drawe yt out / and hed pryncis there with who gaue master vicare auctoryte / to doo that the the parson durste neuer doo / ner coulde neuer doo yt / was his cause neuer so ryght ye though yt were to defēd christ wyth out greate rebuke of his master Thus youre grace maye se / how they do vsurpe / bothe the name of christ / and off his holye appostles / but they neyther agre in worde nor dede what dothe yt profyte / to call an open whore an honest woman / the name can not make here honest / Disti 40. Nō est facile di 40. multi sacerdot◠so lykewysse as their lawe saith They be not the chyldern off holy men / that sytte in the romes of holy men / but they that doo their workes c̄ Also in a nother place The seate dothe not make a preaste / but the preast maketh the seate The place dothe not sanctifie the man / but the man sanctifyeth the place / All preastie be not holye / but all holye men be preastes c̄ Nowe yff youre grace wolde follow their awne lawe / what were they lesse than bysshops Take a way theyr seate / that is their worldely pompe and pryde / their outwarde shynynge / their glorious name / and what remayneth in them / Surelye not one poynte that belongethe to a bisshope / Thys may youre grace well doo / there is neyther lawe nor consciēce can lett you ye bothe the lawe of god / and also conscience dothe bynde you to doo yt / how can youre grace otherwyse be discharged / except yov sett other men in their romes / that wille doo those thynges / that belongeth by holy scripture to bysshops to doo There out commith their name / why shulde they not also be hounde to lyue there after youre grace hathe taken some off them from the bochers staulle and made them bysshops / you haue taken some out of the carte and sett them in Peters Chayre / who can denye but this youre grace maye doo All ways providyd that they doo those thynges that belongeth to their office by the worde of god / or els youre grace is in daunger But who can proue / that they are worthye off thys dignite / that youre grace hath heuen them moche lesse to be youre controllars / yee and also to be aboue all youre lawes / and to haue auctorite to deposse you But yf youre grace wolde doo thē ryght / you shulde returne them home ageyne / the bocker to his staulle / The begger to hys wallet / the carter to hys whyppe / and than aske them yff they be of the church and what exempcion they haue from youre obedyence and from youre lawe / and what auctorite to deposse kynges But as for thys / youre grace can order yt moche better / than I cane deuyse I saye yt for no nother purposse / but for to declare youre graces power / and youre goodnes towarde them / and lykewyse their vnworthynes / and ingratitude / agenst youre most noble grace I wylle returne agayne to oure Master Christ / whan the multitude wold haue chosene hym kyng dyd he not flye Io ▪ So that he dyd not allonly lerne obedience in his doctrine / but also he dyd practice yt in his outward workes and lyuinge Fynallye / they shall neuer be able to prove to youre grace / but that Chryst and alle his apostles were subiect / to the temporal princes / bothe in bodye and goodes / and toke no nother rule in this worlde / but only to preache the eternalle worde of god / and lefte all wordly rule / vnto temporall princes / whether they were faythefull / or vnfaythefull But now commyth oure spirituall fathers So muste we call them allonly of customme and of no deseruynge and wyll commaunde prynces to be sworne vn to them / and to defende them / and their lybertes / with all their gorgyousnes / and prowde dignytyes of this worlde which othe / yff the prynces wyll not make to thē / they wyll interdyte theyr londe / and priuate them of theyr dignite / yee and also asoyle men off the othe / that they made to their prince This ys opyn in their lawe / de hereticis De hereticis Ad abolendum Ad abolendum How dothe thys agre wyth S. Paulys commaundement / and wyth oure Master Christes factes Is thys obeying to princes / to depelle them their royalme / yff they wyll not be sworne vnto them / Be these trewe subiectes Is this the offyce of byshops / Be these the successors of Peter / Paule Be these the perfyt men that haue forsaken all thyng and followed Christ Doubtles they forsake all thynges / that they can not gett Be not these perfytt / forsakers But they wyll saye that princes be bounde to be sworne / to defēde their churche / from heretykes or ells to be deposed This ys yt that I lokyd for Vvhom call you heretykes Vvho shall iudge these men to be heretikes After what lawe shall they be iudged yff you call them heretikes / that speke agenst youre lawes / and agenst youre libertyes / and agenst youre dignite / than are Christ and all his holy appostles heretikes For they defende pertinaciter as yov say their lerninge agēste youre lawes / and that not in one place / but in euery place / as yt ys open in holy scripture But now yff you take them for heretykis that be agenst Christ and his holy worde / than ys the kynges grace sworne to expelle you his realme and
asoyled a greate doubte whereat the kynges grace and all hys noble lordes haue often mused That ys / how yt came that there was so greaâ— wherdome and bawdrye / amonge them that bâ— called spirituall men But now yt ys no wonder / for bawdry ys a spirituall cause and belongeth onlye to the iudgement of bysshops But shortly to oure purpose / The kyngis hyghnes commauÌ„deth yow straytely / to shewe hym by what auctoryte that you take causes out of his hye Court of complaynte / and to brynge them a fore yow / As who shulde saye yow wolde redresse bothe the Kynges lawe / and also the senteÌ„ce there of And not alonly that / but you wyll Master the Kynges grace and his lawe Shortlye to recyte all the iniuryes and wrongys that you doo to the Kyngys hyghnes / to all hys noble bloude and vnto all his trewe subiectis / yt were to longe a processe wherefore breuely I require you by the faith that you owe to christe Iesus / and by the othe that you haue made to the Kinges highnes if you be not dispeÌ„sed with all that you aÌ„swere to these thinges you can not denye but these thinges you do / wherefore what wyll you saie thereto / what aÌ„swere caÌ„ you make / haue you vpholdeÌ„ these thinges so loÌ„ge / haue you shamed / troubled killed so many of the Kynges trew subiectis for that thiÌ„g / which ye caÌ„ not defeÌ„de to be true aÌ„d if you haue nothinge for you / but youre awne dreamis / they wil not helpe you For they be accusyd with you And therfore / the kynges highnes if it pleased him myght laye hie tresone to youre charge / and also the abomynable cryme of heresye / whiche ys all ways in youre mouthes / yf a man speake but ageÌ„st youre olde showes what say yow to these thingis yff they be false / it is a smalle matter for yow to refelle them by holy scrypture / yf they be trewe / why geue you not place you shall well knowe that I wyll defend ernestly Godes cause aÌ„d my prynces / and that not out off myne awne hed / but out off holye scrypture / whyche I doo neyther wrynge nor wreste / but onlye declare it by the practyce off oure most gracyous Master Christ Iesus / and of all hys holy apostles Can you requyre any more It not thys suffycyent probacion Is not thys cause good Is yt not ryghtuous Is yt not to the honoure of god Notwithstondynge I am sure that I haue taken thys matter in hond with you / to my grete dauÌ„ger / yf you may haue youre wyllys / But here do I set my lyffe / and body agenste youres / to defende thys matter agenst you / yf yt wyll plesse the kinges noble grace / to geue me fre pardon and to defende me from youre vyolence / I aske no pardoÌ„ of any trespasse / that you or any dedly enymye that I haue / can proue that I haue done agenste the kynges noble grace / but that alonly I am compelled to flye youre dedly and intollerabylle vyolence But yf yt shall pleasse the kynges highnes to defend me frome youre vyolence in my ryght / I wylle dyscusse thys matter wyth you by Chrystes worde / And yf I be â—uercome / I doo not refuse dethe / and soo shall you be shortly rydde off me / And yf yow be ouercome / yt were ryght that you shulde be punysshed Not wythstondyng I wyll desyer but amendmeÌ„t wherefore Most gracious prince / Humbly aÌ„d mekely / I besech youre highnes and that in the name of oure sauioure Iesus Chryst / a fore whom you must geue an accumpte off youre dignyte / Also I requier you by youre othe / that yow haue sworne to ryght and to Iustice / ye and also by all youre honour do I humbly beseche youre grace that you wyll defende me in my right / as you wil be defended of Chryst Iesus from all youre dedly enymies ye not to defend me / but godes worde / and youre prerogatiue / So that I truste youre grace will not be dyspleased / with youre daylye bedeman / that he requireth you so ernestly / for he desireth of you nothinge but that that stondeth with godes honoure / with youre graces preheminence / and with good ryght and conscience / and also with the othe that youre grace hathe made bothe to god and man Thys wolde youre grace doo / though I dyd not requyre yt / The cause is not myne / but it is Christes veryte which wyll neyther be mocked nor yet ouercome / It is also youre prerogatyue / whiche deserueth defendynge and also audyence / Though there were no worde of god I do requyre as god shal Iudge me no wordlye promosyon thereby / but alonly the verite of Christes worde / and of chrystes ordynaunce Vvhiche thynge yf I can proue / I doubte not but youre graces conscience / wyll Iudge it right that I shulde be harde / youre grace hathe no nede of the bysshops no more than off me / but vn to Chrystes worde / youre grace ys bounde / vnder the payne of euerlastynge damnacyon / from the whych neyther the bysshops / neither all their power / neither theyr pardons / neyther heuen nor erthe can delyuer you if you be fouÌ„de a transgressor This is the veryte / lett them crake aÌ„d face / blaste blowe / Praye / Singe â— Curse / absolue / bringe in their custoÌ„s / bryng in their churche / bringe in their lawes with all their myters their crossestaues / with all theyr spiritual honoure / they can not helpe youre grace but that the daunger shal remayne to youre graces parsone / if any thinge be amisse but this youre grace knowith better than I can telle yt wherfore I wille returne agayne to the cause It is openlye proued that oure master Christ / and all hys holy apostles were subiect / bothe in bodye and goodes to teÌ„porall princes / And toke no temporall rule nor iurisdiccyon on theÌ„ wherefore I conclude / that what so euer they be that will be exempt from the teÌ„porall power / Be neyther Christes apostles / nor chrystes dyssyples / no nor yet trewe chrystened men / though they haue Chrystes and Peter and Paules name / an hundred tymes For Chrystes wordes be playne whych sayth / Matt. 20. yow doo knowe that the lordys of the gentles haue dominacyoÌ„ ouer theÌ„ but so shalle yt not be amonge yow And these wordes were spoken to the apostles and can not be avoyded by alytle dystynccyon / as the bysshops are wonte too avoyde all holly scrypture But what soo euer they saye / the practyce off oure Master Chryst and off all hys holy apostles wyll declare how they vnderstonde yt And moreouer to stope their mouthes I wyll shewe them how holy doctours vnderstode yt / Origene Ro. 13. Orygene vppon thys texte / Omnis anima / sayeth on thys maner / All maner
off synnes that god wolde haue punisshed / he wolde haue them punyshed not by the bysshops and rulers of the churche / but by the Iudgys off the worlde c. be not these wordes playne S. Paule sayeth / Omnis anima / ād origyn saythe / oīa crimina / So that S. Paule takethe awaye all men from their subieccion / And orygen taketh awaye all crymes from their correccion what glosse can they make of these wordes a fore youre grace / yf they laye for them the olde custom ād their lawys I will laye a genst thē oure master Christ S. Paule / S. peter Origen And I will denye their customs / their church and also their lawys And this wil I not doo onlye / but I will proue yt bi their awne lawe that I may doo yt rightfully / These be their wordes Disti 8. c. qui He that doth dispisse the verite ād presume to followe the custome / eyther is envyous malicious agenst hys bretherne to whom the veryte is opened / or els he is vnthankefulle towardes god by whose inspyracion his churche ys instructe / for the lorde sayth not I am the custom / but I am the veryte c. these wordes be playne agēste all customs and al churches that be agenste the worde of god Distin 8. c cōsuetudo This same thynge haue they also in another place in these wordis / that same custom / that ys crept in vn to certayne mē / maye not lett but that the veryte must preuaylle and ouercome For a custom with outh the verite ys but an olde erroure c̄ These wordes be playne that all customs be but errours that be agenste the veryte And as for to denye their churche I maye lawfully do yt / for that is not the churche that ys with out and contrarye to the worde of god for christis churche heareth his worde onlye / as christ sayth my shepe heare my voyce / Ioa. 10. and they follow not a straunger but flye from hym / for they know not hys voyce Also in a nother place / he that is of god hereth the wordes of god / and therfore do not you here / Ioan. 8. by cause yov be not of god Here is yt opyn that they that be not of god heare not the worde of god nor be of hys churche / but of the churche of the deuylle whyche he dothe hate Now haue I prouyd vn to youre grace / that I may ryghtously denye there churche / their lawys and their customs Not with stondynge all thys / yet will I prove by their awne lawe that they haue none auctorite tēporall / but al their auctorite ys allonlye in the ministracion of godes worde whyche they do sore despyce / these be the wordes of their lawe The churche that knoweth no corporall wepons / 16. q. 3. Porro ▪ doth paciently abyd allonly god whyche is her defēder / whan it shalle plese him for to haue mercy c̄ Here is playne that the church knoweth no temporall wepons Also in a nother place The holy churche of god hath no swerde but the spirituall swerde / with the whych she dothe not kylle / 33. q. 2. Inter her but quikkyn These wordes be playne / that the churche hathe no swerde but the spirituall swerde Now how comme the bisshops by the temporal swerd Lyke wyse in a nother place I may morne / I may wepe / I may waylle agenst wepons / agenst sodyars / and agenst the Gothos 23. q. 8. Cōvenior For my teris be my wepons / for suche thyngis be the wepons of preastes / otherwysse I ovght not nor I may not resyst c̄ Here yov this my lordes how that S. Ambrosse had none other wepons / but wepyngis ād prayers / and that he might not in ony wysse defende him selfe with other wepons How thinke yow / was not he of the churche was not he preuileged of god as wel as ye and yet coulde he not nor ought not defend hym nor medylle with the temporall swerde Moreover yt is open in yovre awne lawe .24 q. 4. Quesitum That the temporal swerde / the mynystracyon of the worde are of God / 24. q. 4. Quesitū and these too be dyuers and the one may not vsurpe others auctorite / the wordes of youre lawe be these The mediator betwene god and man Christ Iesus / hathe deuydyd the offices of bothe powers in to their proper actes and in to dystincte dygnityes / Di. 10. ◠Quoniam wyllinge bi hys awne medycinalle meknes that mens hartes shulde be lyfted vpp / and not with mans pryde agayne to be drowned in these inferior thynges / so that christen Emperours As consernyng eternalle lyfe shulde haue nede of bysshops / and lykwysse the bysshops for the course allonly of these temporall goodes / shulde vse the Emperours lawys / so that the spirituall accion shulde be distyncted from the worldlye courses / and he that shuld serue god shulde not wrappe him selfe in worldlye busynesses c̄ Here is playne that youre grace must haue fulle power over al worldlye coursis / and the bysshops allonly mynistracion of the worde of God and as youre grace maye not vsurpe to preache the worde of god / no more maye they vsurpe any power that belōgeth to youre swerde This same sētēce haue they di 96. c. dis 96. c. cū ad verū Cū ad verū So that youre grace may opēly se by godis lawe / by their awne lawe / by the practice of oure master christ of his apostils and bi the exposiciō of holy doctours that the bysshops neither haue nor yet maye haue any power tēporal / but all ys allonly in youre graces honde / and you are bound to vse yt to execute yt / in youre awne parson to the vttermost strength that God hathe geuyn yov And in no wysse may youre grace geue this power or parte thereof vn to other men / for so doyng do yov breake the ordinaunce of godes word and declare youre selfe a fore god that yov are vn worthy and not sufficient to minyster the honoure that god of heuyn hath frely geuyn vn to yov This may not youre grace do / for that were as moch a fore god as though yov wolde controlle his ordinaunce / or els that yov wolde not mekelye a plye youre selfe with dyligēce to mynister that thyng that god hathe enioyned youre grace vn to Not with stondynge / this may youre grace doo allonly yf the busynes be so greate that belongeth to youre administracion that youre grace can not alone discharge thē / than may youre grace chose and assyne certayne other so many as shall be necessary / whyche shal dyscharge all maner of causes All ways prouided / that these men shall be but mynysters and seruauntes vnderneth youre grace / and no kyngis nor they may not vsurpe any power as kyngis by no lawe
cause of my condemnacion / for this was allwaies layd to me a fore the vice chauncelar before whom they haÌ„delyd this matter secretly in the commen scolys the dorys loked and in the vicehaunchelars chaÌ„ber for they knewe well that al men of lernynge were agenst them and to this I answered no nother thynge but that the bysshops dyd never vse to come to sermones wher fore yff we shulde never repreue their abhominable lyuinge but whan they were present / than shuld yt be to longe More over / though they were absent yet were there present of their counselle of their courte the which wolde telle them that that I had spoken / for I had spoken yt for that purposse but there was no man a monge them al that coulde euer say of hys consciens but that these thynges that I had spokeÌ„ agenst the bisshops were trewe / yee and a great deale more / And yet must I poore man be condempned for an heretyke They maye by cause they be lord lye bysshops lyue in al abhominable and mischevous lyuinge with out shame aÌ„d with out repreue / and I must be condemned for an heretyke by cause I speake yt They maye do it / but I may not speake it / but god shal shortly either make an ende of theÌ„ or els of al the worlde for suche abhominable lyuinge as they lyve / the father of heuyn for the love of hys blessed sone Christ Iesus be mercyful vn to vs Amen The fyrst artycle If thou beleue that thou arte more bound to serue god to morow which ys Christemasseday or of Ester day or off whytsonsunday for ony holynes that is in one day more than in a nother / than art thou no faythefulle christen man / but supersticions / aÌ„d S. Paule ys agenste the saynge yov do obserue dayes yeares / Galat. 4. monthes and tydes / for vn to a faythfull christenman euerye day ought to be christemasseday Esterday whitsoÌ„suÌ„day The which thynge the fathers considerynge that thou dydest not obserue yee and that thou woldst neuer obserue yf yt were lefte to thy iudgemet for thou arte geuen so moche to wordlye busynesses / for that cause they haue assigned the certayne days to come to the church / to pray to gether / to here the worde of god to gether / and to receyve the blessyd sacrament to gether / what faute fynd yov in this artycle by cause I saye that one day is not holyar than a nother I pray you what is the cause / or what nature is in one day that is not in a nother where bi that that shulde be holyar than the other By cause yov wyl say that we hallowe the remembraunce of christes byrthe of christes resurreccion in one day and not in a nother This thinge I saye must yov doo everye day for christ is everie day borne / everye day rysen / everye day asseÌ„ded vpp And this must you beleue stedfastly / that he was borne for you / and rysse to kylle youre dethe / ascendyd for youre iustificacion / thys must you sanctifye in youre hertes everye day / and not one daye Now varye we but in thys thynge yov say that we are bound to sanctifye but one Christemasday in the yeare / and that is supersticiousnes and heresy say I / not that I condemne youre one day / but that you sett yt to one daye alonly that we are bound to do euery day Breuely my lorde of Rochester a lowed this article saynge he wold not coÌ„deÌ„ne it for heresy for an C. li. this was a great some of mony but yt was folyshly sayd quod he to preache this a fore the bodchars off cambryge / as who saye they were all bochers that were at the sermon But the bisshop of bathe askyd me whether we myght labour on the holy days or not seyng yt is wrytten thou shalte obserue thy holy day I answered / that christen men were not bounde to abstayne from bodily labour by that commaundement / for it was so geuyn to the Iuys / and yff we were bounde to abstayne froÌ„ boddyly labour by that commaundement / thaÌ„ was the kynges grace and all his counsell / my lorde cardinall all his counsell in the way off damnacion / for they causse men to carrye their stuffe on the holy daye what day so ever yt be whan they wyll remeue / at this reson all mi lordes were a stonnyed / aÌ„d wyste not what to say they were loth to condemne my lorde Cardinals grace / seynge he was so holye a prelate of christes church / aÌ„d the facte they coulde not denye wherefore at the laste my lorde of Rochester rememberd him selfe he ys an olde man and his bloud is colde a boute his harte and answered of this maner A goodly reason I will make you a lyke reason / the bisshop of wynchester sufferth the stuys ergo the stuys be lawful / at this reason was I a basshyd and sore afraid durste not answer to yt / for I perceyved that it was as lawfull for oure nobyll prince to carry stuffe on the holy day which is not ageÌ„st the worde of god As it is for an harlote of the stuys to lyue in opeÌ„ whordom which is ageÌ„st the worde of god / And yet my lordes the bisshops of their great cheryte and of their innumerble sprituall treasur sufferth bothe Brevelye yt were to longe to recyte alle the madnes that they dyd vse wyth me I wylle not saye cruellnes and yet ernestly they condemned me / but I wyll recyte the sayng of doctours which I layde for me / but they were not regarded S. Hierom sayth Ad Ga. 4. Therfore be certen days assygned that we shulde come to gether / not that that day in the which we come to get her is holiar than a nother / but all days be lyke and equalle and Christ is not alonly crucifide in parasceven and rysen only on the sonday / but the day of resurreccyoÌ„ ys all ways / all ways may we eate of oure lordes fleshe Epâ— â—19 cÌ„ Here. s Hierom saythe the selfe word that I spake aÌ„d of these wordes was I moued to speake as god dothe know Also S. Austayne / we must obserue the sabboth day / not that we shuld rekkyn oure selfe not to labour / but that all thynge that we doo worke well / must haue an intencion to the euerlastinge rest / wherfore we must obserue the holly day not by corporall idyllenes / and vn to the letter / but spiritually must we reste from vices and concupiscensys where fore a monge all the ten commaundemeÌ„tes that of the sabboth day alonly is commaundid to be figuratlye obserued and not by corporall idyllnes Aduersus Iudeos cÌ„ Also TertuliaÌ„ The carnall circumcision ys put a way and extyncted at hys tyme / Solykwyse the obseruacion off the sabboth day ys declared to be for a tyme / for we must kepe
haue why do they not put them bothe in vse for they must say as the Iuys sayd / we may kille noman This is the article that did byte yov for yov can not be content with the office of a bysshop but yov wille be also kynges but how that stondeth with godes lawe and with youre othe I haue declaryd yt to oure nobille prince I doute not but he wille put yov to the trial of these articles The .9 Article They saye they be the successors of christ aÌ„d of his apostles / but I can se them follow none but Iudas / for they bere the pursse / and yf they had not so greate possessions I am suer an C. wolde speke agenst them where now dare not one for losse of their promosyon As for this artycle I wil ouer come you with the witnes of alle the worlde yov may well coÌ„demne yt for heresy / but it is as trew as youre pater noster / Iudas solde oure master but once / and yov selle hym as oftyn as he cometh in youre handes The .10 Artycle THere is not the greatyst pharisye in thys churche / but I am suer I prycke him with these wordes and he knowithe that these thynges be trewe though he say the contrary aÌ„d that do I wel knowe This artycle dyd I speake by cause of doctour Rydle which on a tyme grauntyd in master doctour buttes house that the bysshops were clear out of order And therfore I say that I know yt The .11 Article THese ordynary bysshops aÌ„d prelattes do folow that false prophete balaaÌ„ for they wolde curse the people but by the prouisyon of god they are compellyd toblesse theÌ„ / that ys to say / to teache them to lyue wel though they theÌ„ selfe lyue most myschevously so the Assis whych they ryde a pon that is the commen people haue their lyuys in abhominacyon Thys ys the heresy for it speketh agenst the holy fathers which be almost as holy as Balams asse whych dyd ons speke the word of god to a good purposse and so do they neuer / but I graunt that I dyd offend in callyng you ordenary bisshops for I shulde haue callid yov inordinate buchers / and as for that that I coÌ„pare yov to balaam it is youre awne lawe .ij. q. vij Secutisunt / And .c. Nos si And as for youre lyuyng alle the world knoweth it The .12 Article THey sett vp an Idolle to dyseaue the people with alle whych is callyd Baal peor / Or baal phegor which is iÌ„terpretated gaspyng that is their lawes and constitucions that gaspe and gape to mayntayne their worldly honoure / they cause vs do sacryfyce by fayre wymeÌ„ that is by their carnall affeccyons and sweate wordes that god of Israell is for gottyn / aÌ„d so by theyr sweat wordes and benedyctyon they disseue simple people These be the false masters that 2. Pet. 2. S. Peter speketh of / these be the fovntayns with out watter for they geue no good doctryne to the people where ys the heresy in thys by cause I coÌ„pare youre lawys to baal / but loke whether the interpretacion of the word do a gre with the nature of youre lawes or not what do al youre lawes but mynyshe the auctorite of princes / and of al other lordes and exalte youres only calle yov not that a gaspyng Idolle let thys article stoÌ„d tyll yov be able to proue it heresy The .13 Article NOw they selle vs / they selle the people / they selle holy orders / they selle church halowyng / there ys no better marchandysse in chepesyde / wilt thow knowe what is the price of a church halowyng no lesse than .xl. shelinges / they sel pardoÌ„s remyssions of synnes as opeÌ„ly as a cowe and an oxe is solde for thei never graunt them with out monny The suffrigan of ely dyd aske of master Iohan pur golde .xl. shelinges and the offringe for halowynge of S. Edwardes in Cambrige / yee and he wolde not do it so good chepe / but bi cause he had a goddoughter buryed in the churche yarde / But this may be prouyd by exampillys ynow for bryng ye forth one churche in all Englond that yov haue hallowyd with out monny or with out hope of mony / and I wyll graunte my conclusyon false / and as for youre pardoÌ„s all the worlde knoweth youre handelyng I dare say yt is the best marchandyse in the worlde as yov handill yt The .14 article VVylte thou know what their benedictyoÌ„ is worthe They had rather geue the ten benediccions than one halfpeny Is not thys a sore heresy you ryde thorow streates and townys blyssynge man and stone but yov never geue halfpeny to man nor to chylde The .15 Article NOw is come a pardon wherby they say that they haue power to send an huÌ„dred soules to heuyn / and if they may so doo with out any further respect than may they lykewysse send a nother hundred to helle for yt followeth in the texte quodcunque ligaueris / that is what soeuer thou bindest Is not this a sore heresy to say that you may not rule thys matter at youre iudgement / but this is a meruelous texte / QuodcuÌ„que ligaueris / for yt bindeth in helle and losythe in heuyn / and openeth mens pursys and cofers in erthe / yt deposith prynces / yt interdyteth londes yt losyth a man out of his cote / yee oftyn tymes yt losethe a man from his wyffe / yee and the horsse out of the carte And all ys done by this text Quodcunque ligaueris / is not thys a mervelous texte that hathe so great power I know not such a nother in aâ— the hole Bible The .16 Article IT ys abhominable to here how they preache and teache that they may absolue a pena a culpa / which I am suer that yt is â—mpossible as they vnderstond it Make of this what yov can / and loke of youre awne scolasticall doctours The .17 Article VVhat ys the cause that they forbyd vs thou we shuld not dyscusse how great their power is but by cause that they wold make all meÌ„ foles holde vs in ygnoraunce / youre awne scole men saye that the popis power is so great that no man can nor maye dyscusse yt / but this ys for from herysy The .18 Article THey haue a law most abhominable and coÌ„trary to godes lawe and cheryte to excoÌ„munycate the people foure tymes in a yeare / that ys to saye the men that rayse the rent off an housse / that must you vnderstonde yff yt belonge not to the church / for yff yt belonge to the church / thou mayst rayse yt everye moneth once and no man shall cursse the. Also they cursse them that be not buryed in their parish church / that must be vnderstond yff that they be ryche men / for yf they be poore they may be buryed amonge the fryars The bisshope of bathe sayd there was
takyn from the aulter Now did I saye that Christ was oure aulter / but this myne aduersaryes vnderstod not / But I haue meruell what this artycle dothe a monge the other heretycalle artycles / I thynke they do not rekkyn it heresy The .25 Article HE dyd not praye for the thre estates of holy churche / neither made he his prayers in the begynynge of the sermon accordyng to the olde custom but at the laste ende / and for the true knowlege of all christeÌ„ men makynge no prayer to oure ladye / nor for the soules in purgatory / nor for grace expedient If the bysshops had had any indyfferencye in them or any wysdom or lernynge they wolde haue byn a shamyd that suche articles shulde haue be brought a fore them / what is this to the purposse of heresy that I dyd not praye for the thre estates of holy churche and yet they gravnt that I prayd for al true christen men and that men myght come to the trew knowlege is not al the churche conteynyd in this But they be mad men with out all consyderacion / they be so blyndyd in theyr worldly honour that God doth al ways send them suche shame And that I dyd not pray to oure lady nor for the soules in purgatory / what ys that to heresy for than were the apostles heretykes / for they dyd not pray in theyr sermons to oure ladye nor yet for the soules in purgatorye And as for praynge for grace expedyent that is not the preacher bound to do opynly But my thynketh by these artycles that god gaue me a great grace / that I durst so boldly repreue the abhominable lyuynge of the bysshops not feryng the danger that shulde come there of / but this I leue to others mens Iudgement / and I dare say boldy that if I had spokyn tentymys as muche ageÌ„st the auctorite of oure noble prince / and agenst al his dukes and lordes / and had takyn all power / both temporall and spirituall from them and geuyn it to oure ydyll belligodes the bysshopes / than had I byn a faythefull christen man for I had defendyd the lybertis of the holy churche / yee and if the kynges grace wolde haue put me to dethe I doute not but thei wolde haue made of me an holy stinckynge marter as they haue donne of meny other for suche causys but God send them his grace Amen NOw if youre grace do not take vppon you / to heare the disputacion and the probacion of thys artycle out of the very grounde of holy scriptur / my lordys the bysshops wille condemne yt a fore they reade yt as their maner is to do with al thyngis that pleasse them not / and whyche they vnderstond not / and than Crye they herese / heresy / an heretyke / an heretyke / he ought not to be harde for his matters be condemned by the churche / and by holy fathers / and bi alle longe customs and by alle maner of lawys Vn to whom / with youre graces fauour I make this answere I wolde know of them / if all these thyngis that they haue here rekenyd can ouercome christ and hys holy worde / or sett the holygost to scole / and if they can not / why shulde not I be harde / that do require it in the name of christ / aÌ„d also bryng for me hys holy worde / And as for the holy fathers they haue vnderstonde Godis worde as I do / There fore though they wille not here me / yet must they nedys here them / Neuerthe lesse if it pleasse youre grace it wâ—re no ryght to bynde vs all ways to the IudgemeÌ„t / of our olde fathers for than what nede we the gyfte of wysdom what nede we the gyfte of vnderstondyng but let vs vse their wysdom / and their vnderstondynge / what nede we to studdy / to make any new thyngys for the fathers haue made all Breuely what nede we ony syngulare gyftes of god For we can de nothyng that is syngular with them / for the fathers haue done all / But what ryght were yt / thus to bynd vs more to oure fathers / than oure fathers were bounde to theirs why did they not all beleue the first father ye why dyd they not all beleue christ the master of al fathers 1. Tess v. Breuely why dothe S. Paule commauÌ„de vs that we shuld proue al thyngis / and a byde by that that is good / what nede we to proue that thyng / whyche we are bound to reseue our Iudgement is not lokyd for in the thyng whych we are bouÌ„d to reseue / and than what nede S. Paule to saye / holde that thyng that is good / for alle the fathers be good / and none bad / and whether they be good or bad we must reseue them after the bysshops lernyng / but than how shall we folow Sayn IoaÌ„s counsell / that biddeth vs to be ware of Antichrist for he shalle be in al agys / and wyth out doute he shal be no dyspysyd parson in the world / nor no fole / nor vnlernyd / nor with out the coloure of holynes / nor with out the name of a father / no nor vn to mans Iudgement / with out a good spiryte And therfore / that men shulde not be dysseyuyd with these exterior dysgysynges / as with holy hyprocrisy / with the name of lernyng / with the name of fatherhod ye with the name of christ / he byddythe men prove of whence the spritys be / whether they deny chryst or none for he that denyeth that Iesus christ is come in the fleshe / is aÌ„tichrist / 1. Ioan. 4. Now if these lordis or ony off the fathers do deny / that christ is come in the fleshe than are they aÌ„tichristes / But my lordis wille say that they do not deny / nor none off their fathers do deny that christ is come in the fleshe / for they do graunte that christ is borne of a vyrgyn / and is very god and man / and dyd here lyue on erthe and preachid thaught aÌ„d did many great miracles / afterward dyed and assended vp to heuyn and there sytteth on the ryght hond of the father wyth many other thinges more / which they do not allonly graunt but are also ready to dye in the cause wherfore they wyll say / that this is nothing agenst them nor yet agenst their fathers My lordes I pray god yt be not / but geue vs the lyberte that the apostylle geuythe vs here / to prove youre spretys / than shall we know off whence you are First all those thinges be trew that you haue graunted of christ / but. S. IohaÌ„ wyl that we must prove you nerare than thus / for in thys is no probacion of the spretys / for the deuylls graunt all or the moste parte of these / and if there shulde come one that wolde deny with open wordes any of these
hathe alonly dyed for vs. The lambe hathe alonly shed his bloude for vs. The lambe hath alonly redemyd vs. These thinges hath he done alone Nowe if these be suffycyent / than hath he alone made satysfaccion / aÌ„d is allonly worthy to opyn the boke Moreouer / Thys tytyll ys geuen to the lambe by them that be in heuyn / and how dare you beyng but stynkynge caryon geue it eyther in parte or in hole to any other Also they that be in heuyn confesse that thys laÌ„be ys allonly worthy to redeme them / be youre workes better thaÌ„ they Or can youre workis helpe them yf they can / than ys not the lambe alonly worthy to redeme them / yf youre workys doo not helpe rheÌ„ than are they alonly Iustyfyde be the lambe / and yf they be / why shall not we also Moreouer the seniours falle doune by fore the lambe / geuinge him alloÌ„ly praise / And shal youre good workys stonde vpe by the lambe / than be they better than the senyours But let vs proue this thing by opyn scripturs / That no maÌ„ shal be able too denye yt Saynt Paul toke so greate labours to proue thys artykyll / as he neuer toke in no nother / and all bycause he wolde make yt playne / and stope the mouthys off the agayne sayers / But all thys wyll not helpe theÌ„ / that haue not the sprete of god / Neuer the lesse we wyll by godes fauour / do the best we can too confounde the croked enymys of Christes bloude / aÌ„d though we can not make them hys frendes / at the lest we wylle so handylle them / that they shall be a shamyd openly to speake agenste hym / as they haue done longe tyme / And soo wyll we handylle them by godes helpe that all the worlde shall knowe that they glory in Chrystes name and by hym be they also hye promotyd in thys worlde that they can not be hyer yet deserue they of christ / worst or all meÌ„ But lett vs go to oure purposse S. paul sayth / All men be synners / and wante the glory of god / but they ar iustifyed frely by hys grace / Ro. 3 thorow the redemcyon that is in christ Iesu Vvhat is this that all meÌ„ haue synned ye are iustyfyde frely How shall a sinner do good workys how can he deserne to be iustifyde what call you frely yf there be any deseruyng lesse or more / than is it not frely what call you by his grace yf it be any parte of workes / than it is not of grace / for as S. paul saithe / Than grace were not grace Ro. 11. here can be none euasioÌ„ / that wordys be so playne yf you bring in any helpe of workys / than for so muche ys not oure redemption frely / nor yet ys yt of grace / but partly of workys / and than doo yow dystroye all S. paule / and hys holle dysputacyon / for he contendyth agenst workys / aÌ„d clearly excludyth workys in Iustyfycacion / and bryngythe in grace only / Now that that ys excludyd in the wholl by contencion / can not be brought in / in parte to the cause Thys ys opyn in hys wordys / where he sayth Vvhere ys nowe thy reioysynge yt ys excluded / By what lawe by the lawe off workys Nay but by the lawe off faythe / we do Iudge and geue senteÌ„ce that a man is Iustifyde by faythe wyth out the workys off the lawe / Here yow not / that the gloryacyon off workys ys excludyd / and yet wyll yow bost youre workys Here yow not playnly Saynt Paules sentence / that Iudgeth clearly wyth faythe / and agenst all workys in thys cause / how can yow a voyd this is it not clear Vvhat can yow answere too yt Is not this Paulis proposion that he toke to proue / fayth only iustifythe It were but lost labour for Paule to proue that workes dyd helpe to iustifycacion / for that the iuys dyd graunt In so moche that they gloryed ageÌ„st the geÌ„tyllis / which had no maner of workes / aÌ„d for that dispysed them as peopell vn worthy to be iustifide / but paradveÌ„ture you wil make a blynd a damnable evasion / and say that Paule condemneth the workes of the olde lawe / as vnworthy to iustificacion / but not the workes of the newe lawe / are yov now satysfyed in youre conscience Thynke yov that yov haue well assoâ—yd S. Paules argument thynke you that this ys sufficient to avoyde S. Paule that hathe taken so great labour to proue this cause thynke you that yov shal be thus discharged a fore god yf yov doo / than goo boldly in to the strayte iudgement off god with this euasion / and doute you not but there shalle yov fynde S. Paule as styfly and as strongly agenst yov aÌ„d youre newe workes as ever he was agenst the Iuys and their olde workes / and yf he dyd condemne the workes of the lawe / that were institute by the mouth of god / thynke yov that those workes that you haue inuented out of youre idylle brayne shalle be there a lowed Breuely what workes can yov doo / or excogitate that be good whiche be not in the olde law / Ergo he speketh of all maner of workes / for the law includythe all workes that euer god instituted / but lett me stope youre mouthis with S. Paule Doth not he brynge to proue his cause / the example of the great father Abraham / whom no maner off workes culde iustify / but faith only / thynke you that S. Paule dothe speke here of the workes of the olde lawe nay doutles For how coulde AbrahaÌ„ do the workes of the law / and there was no law geuen .iiij. C. .xxx. yeres after where fore S. paule constrayneth you to conclude that no maner of good workis though they be so good as Abrahams workys can helpe to iustificacioÌ„ But yet yov haue a nother evasyon that is of youre glosse / how that S. Paule speketh of cerimonial workys / how they do not Iustifye Glossa Thys distynccyoÌ„ is but for mad men / and for theÌ„ that be not lernyd whyche are glad whane they may avoyd holy scriptur / though it be notyng to purposse but alonly with ydille and vayne wordis I pray yov what nede S. paule to proue that the ceremonials did not iustyfy / was there ever any Iue that lokyd to be iustified by theÌ„ Nay doutles For they were not geuyn to Iustificacion where fore what maÌ„ wolde thynke that S. Paule except mad meÌ„ aÌ„d vnlernyd assis wolde take so great labour to proue that thing / that every maÌ„ did gravnt / where fore say what you can Here stondith holy S. paule styfly aÌ„d strongly for me and ageÌ„st yov and saith that we be frely aÌ„d alonly Iustifyed by faith with out allemaner of workis Ambro ad Rom. â— But let vs see what youre awne doctours
preuytis of hartis who hathe requiryd off yov suche a mekenes who hathe desyryd that yov shulde so lye on fayth what caÌ„ youre lyes profit god but I pray yov how can workis helpe to Iustificacion lesse or more / whan they be nether done nor yet thought of who ys Iustifyed but a wykkyd man whyche thynkythe nothyng of good workis But these meke lyes deserue none aÌ„swere wherfore let vs heare what holy doctours saie on this texte Ambrosiê° Saint Ambrose saithe on this maner / It was so decreyd of god / that after the lawe / he shulde require vnto saluacion alonly the faythe of grace whiche thinge he prouith by the exampille of the prophet sayng / Blessyd is that man to whom god dothe impute Iustificacion with out workis / he saith that they be blessid / of whome god hathe determyd with out labour / with out alle maner of obseruacion / allonly by faythe that they shall be iustifyde by fore god Blessed are they whose synnes be forgeuen Clearly they are blessed / vn to whome with out labour / or with out any worke their iniquites be remitted and their synnes be couered and no maner of workes requyred of them / but allonly that they shulde beleue cÌ„ Be not these wordes playne God hathe decreyd that he shall requyer nothyng to iustificacion but faith / and he is blessed to whom God imputeth iustificacion with out all maner workes / with out all maner of obseruacions / also their synnes be covered / and no maner of workes of penaunce requyred of them but allonly to beleue / here haue yov Sola fides and tantuÌ„ fides / and here can yov not saye / that S. Ambrose spekith alonly of workes of the law / but of all maner of workes / of all maner of obseruacions / yee and also of penaunce Paraduenture yov wylle saye / as a great doctour sayd ons to me / D. wetheâ—allâ— that S. Ambrose dyd vnderstond yt of younge chylderne / that were newly baptisyd / theÌ„ their faith shulde saue alonly with out workes How thinke yov is not this a lykely answere for a great doctor of diuinite / for a gret duns man for so great a preacher are not S. Paule and. S. Ambrose welle avoyded and clarkely But I made him this obieccion / that this Epystell was wrytten of S. Paule to the RomaÌ„s / whiche were men and no chyldern and also the wordes of scripture speake of the man and not of the childe / and. S. Ambrose saith blessed ys that man / but at this obieccion / he was not a lytylle moued / but sware by the blessed god / let Ambrose / and Austyne say what they wyll / he wolde neuer beleue but that workes dyd helpe to iustificacion Thys was a lordly worde off a prelat / and of a pyllar of christes church / but what medlinge is with suche mad men But yet paraduenture you wyll say / as you were wonte to doo whan yov can not a voyd a playne saynge of a doctour how that I take a pece off the doctour / as moche as maketh for my purposse / notwithstonding he saith otherwisse in another place which I doo not bryng what is that to me / yet is not my doctour thus a voyded / for yov can not deny / but this is hys sayng / and a pone this place of scriptur / aÌ„d this dothe a gre with scriptur / or els he dothe expound scriptur evyll / wherefore you must answer / to the saynge of the doctour in this place / for thys ys the place that is layd a genst yov and thys ys the place / where by other places must be expounded and yff you dare deny him in thys place than wylle I deny him in alle other places / by that same auctorite than be the holy doctours clearly gone Neuer the lesse holy scripture stondeth opynly agenst yov whych yf you deny I wylle not alonly prove yov heretykes / but I wille also accuse yov of heresy / wherefore take hede what yov doo / but yet paraduenture yov wylle as yov be very lordly say that I vnderstonde not S. Ambrose nor holy doctours / as my lorde off Rochester sayd / how I vnderstode not Tertulyan / he had no nother evasyon to saue hys honour wyth / but thys ys not ynough so to say / but yov must proue yt and other men must iudge yt by twene yov and me / here haue I translated a great many off the saynges off doctours in to Englyshe / lette other men iudge whether I vnderstonde them or none / Go ye to the lattyn and lett vs se what other sence yow can take out / but I saye boldly vn to yow alle / and yow shall also fynde yt trewe yf we may be in dyfferently harde that all yow too gether / shall haue but lyttylle Iudgement in those thynges that be in lattyn whyche I doo not vnderstonde Thys doo I say not too boste my selfe / but to prouoke you to dispute / and to shewe what yow can do agenst these artycles and in prouynge that I vnderstonde not the doctours / in these causys I meane that yow must proue yt / by lernynge / and not by youre olde tyranny Now if you will saue youre honour / flie not a way froÌ„ lernyng / vn too violeÌ„ce / But make requeste vnto oure most noble prince mekely that both you and I may be harde in differently / and if yow ouercome me than are you at a shorte conclusion in all these matters / And in tyme to come / doute you not but euerye maÌ„ will beware of them / But yf you wyll not doo this / but take yow to youre olde cruelle vyolence yet remember that god stondeth agenst you / aÌ„d all the worlde may openly know / that you haue not the holy veryte / but the damnable wronge / ye and that mayntayned / with extreme violence and tyranny / by the whiche thingys / the Great Turke / infidelles aÌ„d also deuylles of hell / are abylle if they be sufferyd to proue that they haue the verite But my lordes remeÌ„ber / that oure god is aliue whose cause we defende / a fore whoÌ„ I dare well say / you are alredy coÌ„fouÌ„dyd in youre coÌ„scyeÌ„s wherefore doute you not but that terebille vengeauÌ„ce hangeth ouer you / which whan yt cometh / cometh shortly How are you abyll to defende a thynge / that you caÌ„ not proue openly by holy scrypture Say what you wyll youre conscience will murmur and grudge aÌ„d wyll neuer besatisfide with meÌ„s dremis / nor yet with tirannye Thynke you that youre lawis aÌ„d youre inuencions can be a sufficyent rule for chrysten men to lyue by and too saue their conscyence therby Think you / that youre cause is suffycyently prouyd whan you haue coÌ„pellyd pore men by violence to graunte it Than may we dystroye all scripturs / and reseue allonly youre tyrannye But my
that we must come to hys sonne / ThaÌ„ taketh he away oure stony harte / aÌ„d geueth vs a fleshely harte / by this menys he makyth vs the childern of ê“mys the vessellis of mercy / whyche he hath pÌ„parid to glory But wherfore doth he not lerne al meÌ„ to come to christ By cause that those that he lerneth / he lernyth of mercy / and those that he lerneth not of his iudgemeÌ„t doth he not lerne them cÌ„ Mark yt. S. Augustine saythe That there is no hardnes of harte that can resyst grace and Duns saythe / That there may be an obstakill in maÌ„s harte S. Augusti saith that grace fyndeth the hart in hardnes aÌ„d obstinacye / And Duns saith that there is a mollifyng that precedythe grace which he callith attricioÌ„ S. Augusti saith whaÌ„ thou father lernith vs with in / thaÌ„ takith he away oure stony hartis / duns saith that we caÌ„ do it by the coÌ„meÌ„ naturall influeÌ„s that is we can disposse oure selfe of coÌ„grueÌ„s / Mark also how all meÌ„ / be not taught to come to christ / but allonly they that be taught / of marcy be taught yf it be of mercy / than it is not of congruens by attricion Breuely A greter heresy / more contrary to christ his blessyd word can no maÌ„ lerne / aÌ„d yet must he be takeÌ„ for a gret clarke / a subtill doctour by cause he plesithe the fleshe / but shortly here haue I openly proued by inuincible scriptur and by doctours of gret auctorite that frewyll of hys naturall strength with out a speciall grace can do nothing but a byde in synne / Fayne Inuent / Excogitate / dreame / as meny holy purposys as you can / as meny subtylle distyncions as meny good attricions / as meny good applycacions as you can aÌ„d all they be but synne / tyl grace come / ye youre sleping / youre eating / youre drinkyng / youre almes / youre prayers / youre singing / your ringing / your coÌ„fessing / your muÌ„bling / youre murning / youre wayllinge / breuely all that you caÌ„ do is but hyppocrisy / dubbille sinne a fore god tyll the tyme / that he of hys mercy chousyth you / for as he saith / you haue not chosyn me but I haue chosyn you Now wyll I declare a scripture or two that yow brynge to proue youre conatum and youre bonum studium / The fyrst place ys thys / God from the begenyng dyd ordyn man / and lefte him in the hondis of his awne couÌ„selle / he dyd geue him his coÌ„maÌ„demeÌ„tis / his preceptis / yf thou wilt kepe the coÌ„maÌ„demeÌ„tis / aÌ„d also kepe pesable faith / for euer thei shal kepe that I haue set afore the water fyer strech thy hond to whych thou wilt / Of this place gether you / that maÌ„ may haue a good purpose a god inteÌ„t / a good mynd / to apolye him selfe to god of his naturall powre But this can yow not proue of this texte / for here is neuer a worde / of inteÌ„dynge / of studying / or of applyyng well / for yf yow wylle take the wordes off the texte as they sunde they rather proue that we may kepe the commandementis of god / ye aÌ„d also beleue in god / than ony other thynge / the whyche I am suere yow wyll not graunte / for than how coulde yow a voyde but that the phylosophers be sauyd / for no man caÌ„ deny / but that they dyd as much / as lay in their naturall power to come to god Moreouer the palagyons brynge thys texte / too proue that man may do good of his natural streÌ„gth / Now how wyll yow avoyde them For yf yow deny that yt prouythe theyr opynyon for the whiche the wordis sound most than wyll they deny that yt prouythe youre conatum / and youre bonum studiuÌ„ / of the which that texte spekyth neuer a word where for this text maketh nether for them nor yet for you / Playne it is / that the wordes of the texte sounde of kepyng and of beleuinge yf we will / not of inteÌ„dinge / nor of studying wherfore it maketh not for your purposse / but let vs go to the text / God froÌ„ the begeninge dyd make maÌ„ / thes wordis be opyn of the creacion / of the first maÌ„ Eccle. 16. he lefte him in the hondis of his awne counselle / These wordis / make nothyng for frewill for here ys nothynge coÌ„mandyd hym to do but allonly here ys sygnifyde that maÌ„ ys made Lorde ouer all inferior creatours / to vse them / at hys plesur / as yt is opyn Genesys 2. where that alle thynges were brought a fore Adam to reseue their namys / sygnyfiyng that they wer alle left vn to his vse and to his wille / and he was lorde ouer them alle / and none ouer hym / this was his kyngduÌ„ in the whyche he did rayne / and gouerne alle thyngis after his coÌ„mandimentes / but yet was it by the generalle influence / geuyn hym firste of god he dyd adde hys commandimentes and hys preceptes / In these wordes is there no powre geuin vnto him / but here be geuyn hym commandimeÌ„tes / wherby he must be orderyd and ruled / And not rule after hys awne counselle / but after the counselle / and commandimentes of God / where fore bi these commandimentes / was there parte of hys fre dominacyon / and lordeschyp / that he had ouer the inferior thynges takyn a way / as where god commanded hym that he shulde not eate of the tre of knoulege both of good evil / Now was it not fre for him to vse this tre after hys awne wille but after the commaÌ„demeÌ„t of god / and what power he had / by hys frewille / to kepe this commandimeÌ„t the effect dyd declare If thow wilt kepe the commandimentes here begynythe the doute but yet of these wordes cane you not gether / that he had power to kepe them / nor yet that he might inteÌ„d to kepe theÌ„ / For it foloweth not / if thou wilt / ergo thou mayst / or thou maist intend / As it foloweth not If I wold / ergo I culde deposse yov / for yov wille lett this consequent / Also yov haue a general rule / Condicionalis nihil ponit / where fore these wordes If thov wilte kepe the commaÌ„dimentes geuithe no power nor strength to frewille / But this alonly followeth of this text / if man wille kepe the commaÌ„dimeÌ„tes / August de li. arb c. 16 thaÌ„ they shalle kepe hym / but now where shalle he haue this wylle / that is not in his power / but loke of S. Augustine above resyted / aÌ„d there shalle yov fynd how maÌ„ coÌ„mithe bi this wille / Also the wordes of the texte be not / yf thov wilte thou maist kepe theÌ„ or inteÌ„de to kepe theÌ„ / Nor they
be not maÌ„ may kepe theÌ„ or intend yf he wille / But yf thou wilte kepe them / thaÌ„ they shalle kepe that / where fore of these wordes cane yov not coÌ„clude any power in maÌ„ For it foloweth not whaÌ„ god saithe / do this / do that / here this / here that / kepe thys / kepe that / yf thou wilt here / yf thou wilt do this / yf thou wilte do that / That we cane do these thynges or cane intend to do theÌ„ / for god coÌ„mauÌ„deth vs to do al thynge that is good / ergo we be abille of oure naturalle streÌ„gthe to do them Than were the sprete of god frustrate / for the sprete of god is not geuyn vs / to geue coÌ„maÌ„dimentes but for to geue vs strengthe / to fulfylle / and righttusly to vnderstond those thynges that be commaÌ„ded vs. By the commaÌ„dimentes is declaryd that thyng that we ought to do / also they shewe oure wekenes aÌ„d imbecylite that we myght lerne to seke for a gretter strengthe and gretter helpe than is in vs / As. S. Augustine faithe in these wordes Aug. de verb apost s 13. The law was geuyn that man myght fynd hym selfe / and not to make his syknes holle / but that by hys preachyng the syknes incresyd / the phisicion might be sought wherfore the law thretnyng / and not fulfillyng that thyng that he coÌ„mandeth / makythe a man to be vndernethe hym / but the lawe is good if a man do vse it welle By the law to know oure syknes and to seke godes helpe to helpe vs cÌ„ Here is it playne / that the commandymentes of god geue vs no strengthe / nor yet declare ony strength to be in vs / but shewythe vs oure duty and also oure wekenes / aÌ„d also moveth vs / and causythe vs to seke for der for streÌ„gthe / So that these wordes si volueris / si feceris / si audieris / si emuÌ„daueris / si vis / with alle other suche that be wordes of coÌ„maÌ„dimentes or wordes vnder a condycion / do nothyng declare but what we are bound to do / aÌ„d what shalle folow if we do them / And as the wordes of the lawe do thretyn an yvylle ende for synne alonly for to fere evylle doars / and wykkyd persons from evyl / so do the wordes of promys stur vpe and quickyn good meÌ„s hartes for to do welle and also comforte them that they shuld not dispare in aduersites / but nether these nor those geue vs any strengthe to do that that is commandyd but alonly they do declare / what paynis and what rewarde shalle folowe to the brekers / and the kepers of them A nother scriptur haue yov where as oure Master christ saithe / Mat. 23. How of tyn wolde I haue getheryd thy childern / and thou woldste not Here crye yov / liberuÌ„ arbitriuÌ„ li. arb For if they had no frewille what ned oure M. to say thou woldste not First must we consyder that there are .ii. maner of willes in god / won is callyd his godly wille or his secret or vnscrutable wille / where by that alle thynges be made and orderd / and alle thynges be done Of this wille no creature hathe knowlege what he ought there by to do or not to do / for as S. Paule saithe / it is inscrutable / and there fore it is sufficient for vs / to know there of alonly that there is an inscrutable wille â—e â— The other wille in god is callyd a declaryd aÌ„d a manyfestyd wille / The whyche is declaryd and geuyn to vs in holy scripturs / This wille was shewyd vn to vs to the vttermost by oure Master christ the son of god / and therfore is it lawfulle / and also alle men are bound to serchâ— to know this wille and for that consideracyon was it manyfested vn to vs Thys wille dothe declare what every man is bound to do / and what everye man ys bound to flye / And bi this wille is offeryd vnto every man / those thynges that be of saluacyon / and by thys wille god wille haue no maÌ„ daÌ„ned / Now he that wille know this wille must go to oure Master christ in whome as S. Paule saithe be alle tresurs of wisdom and sciens / So that he wille shew vs as muche as is necessary for vs to know / and as muche as the father of heuyn wolde we shuld know / Now to the texte / here speketh god that is incarnatyd that was sent to wille / to speke / to do / to preche / to be famylier with vs / to do myrakylles ye and also to suffer dethe for oure saluacyon / Now saithe he / I wolde haue getheryd my childern / that is to say I dyd preche / I dyd labour with alle diligence to conuerte the / I dyd myracles a fore the / ye I wept I wayllyd for thy sake / alle these thynges dyd I with alle other thynges that myght be to thy convercioÌ„ and that belonged to god incarnate to do / but alle these thynges did not profite them / whye By cause they wolde not In hym was there no faute / For there was nothynge vndon / that belonged to hym to doo / so that he was willing and yet dyd it not profite Ierusalem / And whi by cause they wolde not But now why wolde they not / by cause it was in their power to wille to consent and to wille not to consent / nay trulye / but by cause as Iohan saithe they culde not beleue / for he had blynded their yies / Ioan. â—â— aÌ„d hardenyd their hartes / that they shulde not see with their yies nor vnderstond with theyr hartes / So that they must nedes aloÌ„ly wille not to consent / aÌ„d culd no nother wisse do but not coÌ„sent / and yet were they neither coÌ„strayned nor compelled / nor wronge to it by violence / but frely they wold not consent / and yet had they the liberte of their frewille that was to be agenst christ and not to be with hym / for the liberte of frewille stoÌ„deth not in thys that he may wylle thys thing / and also wille the contrary there of / But it stondeth in that that althyng that he wille or wille not is att his awne wille ys not ther to constranyd but willeth it frely with out any compulsyon / and yet he can not chouse no nor wille not chose so to wille or so not to wille / So that there is a necessite immutable / but not a necessite of compulsyoÌ„ or coaccion / now is it opyn that this place makythe not for yov for there was no power / nor none intent in their frewille to consent vn to christ / but to wille the contrary and not to wille vn to him and alle was by cause they were blindyd and theyr hartes wer hardenyd / and therfore of their natural streÌ„gth
scripturs of S. Paule / can not telle whether he maye graunt that the wylle of god is alonly the cause of eleccion or eis any merites of man precedinge a fore / he coÌ„cludeth / that bothe the opinions may be defended Bonaventure blyndly concludeth that there may be a cause presedynge grace that deserueth yt Bonaventure So that in these vnfrutefulle questions which ingender nothynge but contencion haue they spent alle their lyuys / and for these thynges be geuen vn to them peculyer namys / as Subtylle / and Seraphicalle / and Irrefrigable doctours / but agenst them alle I sett S. Paule whiche toke intollerable labours to proue by inuincible scripturs and examples there of / that there was no cause but alonly the wylle of god and to proue this / he bryngeth an euydent exaÌ„ple of Iacob / and Esau / of the whiche Iacob was elect / and Esau reproved a fore they were borne / and afore they had done other good or bad Can there be a playner example what meneth Paule in these wordes whane they were neyther borne / nor had done neyther good nor bad / but that the eleccion of god myght stond dothe he not clearly take away all maner of merytes bothe de congruo and also de condigno / declareth alonly the wylle of god to be the cause but here wylle the subtylle blyndnes saye / that god sawe a fore that Iacob shuld doo good aÌ„d therfore dyd he chousse hym / he sawe also that Esau shuld doo no good / and therfore he repelled hym / yov blynd gyddâ—s / what wyll yov iudge of that that god sawe how knowe you that he sawe that These chyldern be vn borne / they haue done neyther good nor bad / aÌ„d yet one of theÌ„ ys chossen the other is refused S. Paule knoweth none other cause but that wyll of god / wyll you discusse an other And where yov say that god did se afore the one of theÌ„ shuld do good I pray you what was the cause / or wherby saw he that he shuld do good yov must nedes say / bi that that he wold geue hym his grace / ergo that wyl of god is yet the cause of eleccion / for by cause that god wolde geue hym his grace therfore god sawe that he shulde do good / so shuld also the other haue done yff god wolde haue geuen hym that same graâ—e / wherfore yov gyantes that wylle subdue heuen and erthe leue youre serchynge off this cause / and be content with the wylle of god and doute yov not but the wylle of god / ys as rightwyse and as lawfull a cause of eleccion as youre merites can de And doute yov not but. s Paule that toke so grete labours in this matter dyd se as farre in mans deseruynge as yov cane doo / Roma 9. and yet he concluded with these wordes of scriptures / I wylle shew mercy to whome I shew mercy / I wylle haue compassyon of whome I haue compassyon / so lythe yt not in mans wylle or runnynge but in the mercye of god He saithe not I wylle haue mercy on hym that I see shalle doo good / but I wylle shew mercye to whome I wylle he saith not I wylle haue compassion of hym that shalle deserue yt de congruo / Augustinê° suê‘ Ioan. Tract 8â— but of him of whome I wylle haue compassion This dothe S. Augustine well proue in these wordes / the disputacion of them ys vayne the whiche doo defende / the presciens off god agenste the grace of god and therfore saye that we were chossen a fore the makynge of the worlde / by cause that he knew a fore that we shulde be good / not by cause he shulde make vs good but he that saith yov haue not chosen me saithe not that / for yf he dyd therfore chouse vs by cause that he knew a fore that we shulde be good / than must he also know a fore / that we shulde fyrst haue chosen hym cÌ„ Here is it playne that the eleccion of god ys not by cause he sawe a fore that we shulde doo welle / but alonly the cause of the eleccion is his mere mercye / and the cause of oure doyng welle is his eleccion / and therfore S. Paule sayeth not off workes but of callynge Now goo to yov subtylle Duns men with alle youre carnall reasons and serche out a cause of his secrett wylle yff you did beleue that he were good / rightwise and mercyfulle yt were agreet comforte for yov / that the eleccion stode alonly by his wylle / for so were yov suer that it shulde be bothe rightwyselye done also mercyfully / but you haue no faith therfore must yov nedes mystrust god / of that falle yov to inveÌ„t causys of eleccyon of youre awne strengthe as one shulde saye by cause god wyll not of his rightâ—usnes or of his mercye chousse vs we wylle be suer that we shall be elected / for fyrst wyll we inuent that the eleccion commeth of deseruyng thaÌ„ wylle we also dreme serâ—en workes / that shall there vnto be a poynted of vs / so that the eleccion reprobacion stondeth all in youre hondes But now bycause that there be serten open places of scriptur / that geue wonly the cause / to god alonly of eleccion and also of reprobacion / therfore are you sore troubled / and cane telle no nother remydy / but alonly to studdy / how yow may wryng and wrest the open scripturs / to that forrefyynge of youre erroure and to the satisfysynge of youre carnalle reason / so that in the the holy gost saithe / I wyll obdurate the harte of pharao / yov wyll take a pon yow / to lerne to teache the holy goste to speke better / and to say of this maner / I wylle suffer Pharao to be indurated / but I wylle not doo yt / but my easynes my softenesse where by that I shalle suffer hym shalle brynge other men to repentaunce / but Pharao shall it make more obstinate in mallyce so that god dothe indurate as yov say whan he dothe not chastice a synner but sheweth sofftenes and easynes and sufferaunce to hym Origen in perâ—arcon He is mercifulle whan he doth call a synner to repentance by affliccion and scorgyng / so that induracion after youre exposicion / Glossa roma 5. is nothynge elles but for to suffer evylle / by sofftenesse and by goodnes / to haue mercye is nothynge elles but to correct to scorge and to ponishe meÌ„ for their synnes this is the exposicion of induracion after Origenen S. Hierom / aÌ„d after youre commen glosse Hiero. suê‘ Esaiam S / Hieroms wordes be these god dothe indurate / whan he dothe not by and by castigate a sinner / he hathe mercye whan he doth call a synner by and by vn to repentaunce by affliccions cÌ„ This is auctorite ynough
as you thynke / what shulde yov serche any forther dyd not these men vnderstond scripture is not this exposicion playne this taketh away alle inconueniēs By thys exposycion / god ys not the auctor of euylle thys ys a clarkly exposycyon / Breuely Thys must nedes be the trewe exposycyon wherefor it were better for you / to erre with S Hierom / and with Origen than for to say trew with these new herytykis / so call you all them / that will reproue youre oldde blyndnes Now haue you well defendyd the matter Now ys youre cause well proued / Nowe must the holy gost chāge his wordes / for he hath new scole masters / ād where he was wonte to say / I haue hardened Pharos harte Nowe must he say / Pharo hathe hardenyd hym selfe / by my softenesse and by my easynes / but I haue not done it / But yet I pray you / My goodlye masters how wolde yov satisfyse a weke consyens that styckis faste to the worde of god and reknythe that the holy gost / knoweth well what he shal speke ād wil speke nothing with out a gret cause / but that that he speketh shall be so well spokē that you cā not a mend yt / How think you ys yt sufficyent to say to this pore man / Orygen and. S. Hierō saye so / holde thou thy pece / be thou cōtēt with their exposyciōs / serche thou no forther yt doth not be come the to know it but now will he laye to youre charge / That this thing is openly writen in scripture / and the wordis of Moses and of paul be playne therfore you must answer to them / and yt shalle be as lawfull for hym too know the mynd of holy scrypture as the exposicion of S. Hierom or of Orygen Scripture saithe playnly / That god dothe indurate pharos hart / not pharo his awne hart It is a new gramer to say / I wyll indurate pharos harte / that shal be as muche / as pharo shall indurate himselfe thorow my sofftenesse paciēs / by this rule shall Anaxagoras phylosophye come in place / that shal make of euerye thyng what we wil And where as scrypture saythe / Saull / Saull / why doste thou persecute me / Shalle be as muche to say / As why sufferest thou me to be perse quutid / Also the father of heuen / sent his wonly sone in too the worlde / shall be as muche to say as he suffered hys sone to be sent / Soo that we shall expounde all placys of scrypture / too oure awne purposse / and not to loke what ys the sentens off holy scrypture nor yet what the mynde off the holy gost ys / but what exposycyon wyll plese vs best / and what wylle best serue / to oure carnall mynde Forther more yf god do hardyn mens hartys whan he suffereth / and whan he ys softe and shewythe mercy / thā did he hardyn the hartys of the Iuys whan he brought them out of Egypt in too wyldernes / than did he hardyn them / whan he brought them out off the captiuyte of babylon / than hardenythe he al the worlde whom he suffereth in gret softenesse / and mercy / Also after youre exposycion / he was mercyfulle to Israell whan he sent them in too babylon / for there dyd be chastyn them and by afflyccyons prouokyd them to repentance / Lykewyse the father of heuen had no mercy on the world / whan he sent hys sone / for of that he gaue men an occassyon off induracyon / But whan he dammy the synners / than by youre rule hath he mercy on them / for he chastiseth and ponysheth them for their synnes this ys youre rule off induraciō / and no mā may say agenst yt / but that Misereri may not sygnyfye to geue grace / nor to remytt synne / but to chastis ād to scorge / and by paynes prouok to repētaūce / and Indurare / shal not signifie to hardin / but to suffer ād to be pacient ād to be mercifull / not to chastys But you subtylle Masters / how was god mercyfull vn to pharo / by sofftenesse ād by sufferāce whō he chastysyd so sore / with ten plages / and with suche plagys as Moses meruelyd of / Call you that softenes was that sufferynge of pharo was that an occasyon of Induraciō / by paciēs / Esines and by sufferaūce God send his aduersaries of that pacyens / and of that sufferance / I pray you how coulde god chastice him more yet at every plage he saith I wil indurate pharos hart wherfor pharo had none occasiō of induraciō by sufferāce paciēs of god but rather by his scorging / wherefor here must be an other sence in these wordis thā you do mak / we must seke out an other wais to know how god doth work induraciō in mennes hartes suche wordis do the holy gost vse therfore dare we speke them And how he is the doar bothe of good ād euyll and yet alle thyng that he dothe ys well done Fyrst yow must nedys graunt / that after the faule of Adam / the puer nature of man was corruptyd by synne / where by / we be all wyckyd / and borne as Paule saythe by nature the chylderne of wrathe / and as dauyd saythe we are all conceyued in sinne / Not withstōding of thys corruptyd nature / dothe god make all mē bothe good bad / Those that be good / be good by his grace / those that be bad / be bad of corruptid nature yet god hath mad thē Neuer the lesse by nature they are of the same goodnes ād no better than natur is / that is to say euyll / but yet the creaciō of god his workemāship is good though that thing be euil in it selfe / yet is godis work a for him selfe good though al the world say that nay / now god of his infinit power doth rule ād gyde all maner of men bothe good and bade / and all men by hys infynyte power are moued vn to operacions / but euerye man after hys nature / As after youre awne Phylosophy / Primū mobile / by the reson of hys swyfte ◠mocion caryeth all the inferyor thyngis wyth hym / sufferth nothyng to be vn moued / not wyth stondynge he mouythe all their awne naturall coursse / So lykewyse god of hys infynite power letteth nothing to be exemtyd frō him but all thyngys to be subiect vn to his accyon ād nothyng can be done by them / but by hys pryncypalle mosyon so that he worketh in all maner of thynges bothe good and bade / not changyng their nature mouing thē alonly to worke after their nature so the good worketh good the euyll worketh euyll god vsithe thē bothe as instrumētis yet doth he nothyng euyll but euyll be done allonly thorow the evyl mā / god workyng
haue / that be agenst his holy verite / but let vs graunt that that translacion was so false / why did not yov there take a pone yov opynly for to amend it and to sett forthe truly the holy testament of christ yov must nedes graunt that there is an holy testameÌ„t of his in erthe except yov wille deny christ as I dought not but that yov wille in effect where is it whye haue we it not If that wer not it / whye do not yov sett the very trew testament out / yov were reddy to coÌ„demne an other mans faithefulle labor aÌ„d diligence / but yov had no cheryte to amend it / yov thynke alle ways to disseue the worlde with youre holy hypocrysy / men be not so blynd but that they cane welle Iudge / If yov hade condemnyd that testament allonly by cause off errours / yet at the lest ways yov shulde bothe of cheryte / and also of dutye haue set forthe the trew texte / and than wolde men haue thought / that yov condemned the other by the resoÌ„ of errours But men may now euydently se that yov dyd not condemne it for errours sakes / for how shulde they iudge erroures that be soo vnlernyd but alonly by cause that the verite was ther in / the which yov coulde not abyde that men shulde knowe / and that dyd the processe of youre sermon and also youre tyranny that dothe folow wel proue / but mi lord I say to yov / aÌ„d to all youres if yov do not amend it shalle be to youre euerlastyng damnacyon / for god wille not take thys rebuke at youre honde / Esa 62. remember that he hathe sworne by the movght of his prophete hy his ryght honde aÌ„d by the might of his strengthe that he wille defende this cause / Be not these lordly wordes / of the eternalle god / thinke yov to make hym for sworne Heb. 10. Remember how the holygost thretyneth yov in another place saynge / yf a man dyd dysspysse the lawe of Moses / he must with out any mercy dye / howe muche more are they worthy of ponishement / that do trede the sone of God vndernethe their fete / and dyspise the bloud of hys testament / how thynke yov ys not this opynly agenst yov / That coÌ„demne not alonly christ but also his blessed worde / and alle that longythe to hym / Take a way christes word / and what remanythe bi hynd of chryst nothyng at alle I pray yov my lorde to whome was thys worde fyrst preched to whome was it writtyn allonly to prystes not vn to lay men ye was it not writtyn to alle the worlde yes truly / where by wille yov conuerte a turke or an infidelle / not by holy scripture whan they be conuerted / what wille yov lerne theÌ„ what wille yov geue them to rede / any other thyng than holy scripture I thynke nay Now wille yov make youre awne cuÌ„trymen / youre awne citysins youre awne subiectes yee youre awne brethern / redemed wyth christes blessed bloud worsse them Iuys / and infidelles But their is no reson nor no bretherhod / nor no chrysten cheryte that cane moue yov / or that cane helpe yov / for yov are so blynded and so obstinate agenste chryst / that yov had rather alle the worlde shulde peryshe / thane his doctryne shulde be brought to lyghte / but I do promisse yov / if god do spare me lyffe / aÌ„d geue me grace / I shalle so set it out / if yov do not revoke it that it shalle be to youre vtter sâ—ame and confusyon / fynde the best remedy that yov cane / I do beleue stedfastly / that god is myghttyar than yov / and I doo rekkyn and faytheffully beleue / that yov are ten tymys worsse thane the grette Turke for he regardeth no more / But rule dominyon in this world And yov are not there with content / but yov wille also rule ouer mens consyens yee aÌ„d oppresse christ and his holy word / and blaspheme and condemne hys worde / was it not a holy covnselle / of the chanseler of london to conselle a sertyn merchaÌ„t / to by Robyn hoode for his seruaÌ„tes to rede what shulde they do with vitas patryÌ„ / and with bokes of holy scriptur Also the same Chanseler sayed to an other maÌ„ / what fyndest thou in the gospel but a story what good canst thou take there out O lorde god where arte thou why slepist thou why sufferst thou this blasphemy Thov hast defeÌ„ded thy prophetes with wilde fier froÌ„ heueÌ„ / And wylte thov suffer thy wonly sone and thy heuynly worde / thus to be dyspysyd and to be rekenyd but as a story of Robyn hoode Rysse vpe good loorde / Rysse vpe / thy enemys do preuaylle / Thy enymys do multiplye / shewe thy power / defend thy glory It is thy conâ—umely and not oures what haue we to do with it but alonly to thy glory venge this cauâ—e or thy enymys shalle rekkyn yt not to be thy cause / O thou eternalle God though oure synnes haue deseruyd thys / yet loke on thy name / yet loke on thy veryte / Se howe thov arte mockkyd Se how thou arte blasphemid / ye and that by them / that haue takyn on theÌ„ to defend thy glory / But now heuynly father / Seynge that thou haste / so suffered it / yet for the glory of thy name / geue some man strengthe to defend it / or els shalt thou be clearly takyn out of the hartes off allemen where fore most gracious lorde / of thy mercy and grace I besech the / That I may haue the strengthe to defend thy godly worde to thy glory and honour / and to the vtter confusyon of thy mortalle enymys / helpe good lord helpe / and I shalle not fere a thovsand of thyne enymys / In thy name wille I begyn to defend thys cause Fyrst commyth thy faythfulle seruant Moses / trewe and Iuste in alle thy workes / and he commandythe faythefully and trewly / and with grett thretnynges that man / woman and chylde shuld dilygently rede thy holy worde / Sayng / Sett youre hartes on alle my wordes the whych that I do testyfye vn to you thys day / That yov may commaÌ„de them vn to yovre chyldern / to kepe / to doo / and to fulfylle alle thynges that be wryttyn in the boke of thys lawe / Marke howe he commauÌ„ded them / to lerne their chyldern alle thynges that be wryttyn in thys boke / Deu. 32. and so to lerne them that they myght kepe and fulfylle alle thynges that were wryttyn in the boke / Moses maâ—e nothyng of secretnes / and wille yov make secretes ther in how shalle men fulfille those wordes that they know not how cane men know the very trewway of god and haue not the worde of god is not alle oure knowlege ther in The prophete saith / thy
sacryfice which was none other / but suche as god had coÌ„mandyd in the lawe / Ergo after youre rule they myght lawfully honour these calues referring it to god / They had also a gret Collour for them / for all the olde fathers dyd always offer to god Caluys / as Abraham with meny other which oblacyon was acceptyd of god / where fore they myght well thynke that god wolde be honouryd in the Imagis of caluys Now what thynge can you lay to theÌ„ where by you wylle proue that they honouryd their stockys and their stonys and there caluys but those same thyngys shall also be layd vnto you aÌ„d vnto youres to proue that you doo like wysse honoure youre stockis and youre stonys Fyrst you runne from place to place to seke theÌ„ which is a token that you do honoure the stocke or stone / for there haue you nothing of the saynct more thaÌ„ in an other place sauyng wonly the stocke and stone Now whan you haue founde them than praye you a fore them / And that wyth knelingis / and knokkingis / aÌ„d shakynge of youre hedis and lokinge deuoutly pituously / than kisse you their fete or theyr showis for they be seldoÌ„ bare foted lest they shuld haue the murre or couffe by the reson they be not vsed to coulde as you may se by their smokid scolioÌ„s facâ—s haÌ„dis aÌ„d fete with all the place where they stonde and wype youre napkyns and rubbe your bedes on theÌ„ aÌ„d licke theÌ„ with your tongis aÌ„d lay youre yiâ—s on theÌ„ / Than see you lighttis a fore theÌ„ / aÌ„d thaÌ„ offer you to theÌ„ Though in the M. doctour your person is nothyng gilty gret oblacyons so that they shyne in gold syluer aÌ„d preciê° stones ye and not thus coÌ„tent / but also ê“misse to vysyt that stocke wons a yere if god and the good saint send you lyâ—e and helthe cÌ„ I pray yov is note this honoringe of the stocke aÌ„d stone what did Cicero with all the romans to their stockis and stonis what dyd roboam to hys Caluis yf this be not honoryng / defyne me what honoryng ys what more exterior honour can you deuyse thaÌ„ thys ys aÌ„d yet you do say that you honour no stockis nor stonys / but wordly shame and inuincyble scrypturs haue brought you to make this damnable evasyon by cause you se men nowe waxe wysse in the lorde / by the whyche they see clearly youre false dissimulacyon and hypocryse / but yf you were the trew honorars of god as yow be secret hipocrytis / you wolde not make thys damnable evasyon to stablyshe / vpp holde and mayntayne youre Idolatry / nor yet suffer so muche as lay in you any thinge to be done that hath any collour or shaddowe of holynes that myght be an occasyon of Idolatry / but by cause you be hypocrytes and vnsacyable belly godes you care not soo yow maye disseue the sympille people and lede them with blinde shadowes there by to fylle youre offerynge boxis aÌ„d chestes to mayntayne youre vnsaciable carnall â—ppytytes how the honoure of god be sauyd / or how your pore brothers coÌ„scieÌ„s be disseued / thiÌ„k you that thys ys ynough to say that no man ys so mad nor so folyshe as to honoure the stockes and stonys / And yet to suffer and dayly a fore your yies to see / so gret exteryour honoure geueÌ„ vnto theÌ„ / That no tonge caÌ„ expresse nor hart caÌ„ deuysse more / yee yf yow wyll beleue youre subtylle Duns they geue vn to them as I shalle well prove by hys diffyncyon honour which is callyd Latria the whyche latria after youre owne lernyng ought to be geuyn to god wonly Thys saithe Duns / Latria is callyd an exteryour honouryng or a boddyly seruyce cÌ„ Now yf that be trew / yt followeth that they geue that honoure to stockes and stonys that woÌ„ly pertaynythe to god / which do any exterior honoure whether yt be offeryng of caÌ„delles or kissyng of their showys or any other thynge too them / Make yow the coÌ„clusion / for I nede nott to say that they do Idolatrye For thermore / This worde latria where with yow disseue the sympylle people is a greke worde and after S Augustyn yt sygnifithe no more but seruyce / the which yow can not deny but that you geue too youre stockis and stones / conclude now this proposicion after M. subtyll doctor Duns dyffynycioÌ„ I pray you / for I haue no lesure Thinketh your doctorhed that the childern of Israel with their hie prist AroÌ„ coulde nott haue made this pop holy excuse that they were not so mad nor so follyshe as to honour the goldeÌ„ Calfe / but rather to refere the honour to the lyuing god / they had a good collour for theÌ„ for they knewe none other god nor saint but him / yet this excuse was not lawfull nor coulde not be a lowyd whaÌ„ Moses cam with the word of god / Marke also what he was that made this Calf / not a fole nor ignoraÌ„t parson a monge the people or won off none auctoryte / But the moste wysyste eloquenste and chefe a monge them / yee he was that tyme the verye hed of the churche or congregacion Also note that intente which was to kepe the peopille to gether in good order / he also made a calfe with the which thyng alle their fathers had plesyd god in doynge sacrifice with them / so that they myght welle thynke that it myght be acceptable to god to be honouryd in the image of a calfe by fore any other image / but alle these colours be nakyd by fore the worde of god Breueli wolde yov alowe that the people shulde geue that same honour to me that they geue to youre stockes and stonis And vnder the same colloure that it shulde be in the name aÌ„d honour of god yov cane not say but I am as good as youre best stockes and stonys and if they be the Image of sayntes aÌ„d represent sayntes after youre faynynge / I am the Image of god and represeÌ„t hym so longe as I beleue in hym acordyng to the holy scripturs / And if a connyng and an artificialle grauer made them / god made me And I haue .ij. thynges a boue theÌ„ which alle youre caruers / and yov with alle youre distinccioÌ„s can not geue to youre stockes nor stonys / That is I am a liuynge creature / and youre stockes be dede I am creatyd to lyue with the euerlastinge god and youre stockes be made to the fyer I am suer yov nor no man wille alow it But there is won marvelus wonder That if the beste and most holy of alle youre new Godes ye won that dothe myracles every day were takyn out of youre hondes and sette a gayne in the caruers his makers house he shulde be no better thane a stocke or a stone / nor coulde do no myrakles ye if he wer prayd
never so muche / noo not somuche as if the housse were fyer to saue eyther the housse or hym selfe Also yt is not lawfulle so longe as he there stondeth neyther to praye to hym nor yet to offer to him whiche offering wolde bothe helpe the poore man his wyffe chylderne and seruantes / but lett them suffer yov to take thys wormye god in to youre hondes agayn / and than ys he lordâ— ouer all the worlde / than maketh he ryche men and poore men / than maketh he men blynd / and blynd to se agayne / than maketh he lame men wholle / than maketh he wemen with chyld / yeâ— and also bringeth them welle to bed Then expelleth he deuylles / than telleth he thinges to come / thane rulethe he in heuen and erthe and in watter / breuely he defendethe bothe kynge and kyngdom / Is not here a sudden mutacion / and alle is by cause he hathe gotte him a new Master and a new place O yov hypocrites thynke yov that men be so blynde that they cane not se thys falsed yov wolde make them blynde in dede the which wold make them to honoure stockes and stonys yee and that in the name of an other thing the whiche also they knowe not / whiche of yov alle hath sene oure ladye or any other saynt where by you may lerne to make hare symylitude and yf yov haue nothing to laye for yov / but bycause she was a woman / thane is youre Image as muche the symilitude of an harlott of the stuys the whiche berythe alle the shape that belongeth to a naturalle woman as well as oure lady / nothwithstondinge that oure blessed lady ys a virgyn and the other a struÌ„pet / yet in exterior formis and shapes that may be sene and iudged by senses be they alle won / ye and youre ymage in alle exterior sygnis is a grete delle more lykker vn to an harlott / than to a puer and a blessed meke virgyn / and yet ar yov not a shamyd with these damnable shaddowes / bothe to priuate god of his honoure aÌ„d also compelle youre simpelle brethern to this shaÌ„fulle idolatrye If yov wille loke youre selfe see clearly youre idolle in a puer mirrour / rede the .vi. chapter of Baruch / Baruc. 6. where in you shalle fynd these wordes / * Their stockes be pulyshed of the carpenter / * and they be gilded and siluered / * but they be false and can not speke / How thynke yov haue not youre images these properties * Their godes haue goldyn crounys on * their hedes from whome the prystes dothe take * a way golde and syluer and spend it on theÌ„ selfe / * They geue also of it vn to their strumpittes and decke their harlottes / * and whan they haue takyn it a way from their harlottes / * than decke they there with their godes agayne / wherefore know that they be no godes Be not alle these thynges fulfilled on yov do not yov take a way their oblacions and there with maynteyne youre pompe and pryde / and decke also youre harlottes * say not nay for alle the worlde wille condemne yov for opyn lyers / * the matter is so playne * Their godes haue a septer like a man / and lyke a Iudge of a londe / but they cane not slee hym that offendeth them / where fore fere them not Doth not thys agre with youre godes Note how bolde the prophet is which dare crake with youre godes and saythe how that they can not hurte their enymys / where fore he biddeth vs that we shalle not fere them / Now if yov thynke that this be not spokyn of youre godes not with stonding that none of these thynges they be voyde of go to theÌ„ and â—rye but remeÌ„ber that yov crye a loude for they be very thicke of heryng or peraduentur they be gone forthe attoune and occupide Therfore I say crye whope aloud / and byd them if they be godes or wille haue any honour that they wille now avenge them selfe of theyr enymys / If they cane do notyng / thaÌ„ wille we lay vn to theÌ„ this mocke of the ê“fyt will not fere theÌ„ * They haue a swerde in their hande / and an axe / * but they caÌ„ not delyuer theÌ„ selfe froÌ„ batylle nor froÌ„ * theuys there fore tere theÌ„ not / * A ryghtwyse maÌ„ is better that hathe none Imagys for he shalle be fre from obprobriusnes * How thynke yov haue not youre godes alle these tokyns how many theuys haue yov hangyd for robbyng of youre godes but youre godes neuer sauyd theÌ„ selfe from theuys Moreouer / why make yov so suer lockes and so suer dorys yf youre godes be abille to kepe youre godes I thynke yov fere not their ruÌ„ning a way Fur theremore why kepe yov so grett bandoges / yf your godes be abylle to saue their godes froÌ„ theuys But my thynke that baÌ„doges be myghtyare thane youre godes also yov truste more to theÌ„ / for they defend bothe you aÌ„d youre godes yov duÌ„me stockes where is alle youre reson where is all youre wyt where is alle youre wisduÌ„ where is alle youre pollycy where is alle youre godly faythe that you ought to haue in the god of heuyn Are you not a shamyd thus grosly to disseue men yee and with those thynges which you cane neither defend with scriptur nor yet with any reson / but peraduenture you wille say that the prophet speketh here of idolles and not of Images I answere / I pray you what calle yov IdoluÌ„ is it not as muche as imago iÌ„ latin which we call iÌ„ inglish an image but we wil not vary for the name let vs go to the ê“ê‘tis / haue not youre Images all these propertis that the prophet laieth to these thinges which you cal idoles can you say nay can you proue that coÌ„trary Doth not experience lerne vs that they be all won Now what matter ys yt what name you geue them whan the propertis and the very thynge ys all won Moreouer the prophete Dauyd dothe defyne an Idolle wyth these propertis / Fyrst it hath yies and can not se / yt hath a nosse and can not smell / it hath a mought and can not speke / yt hath erys aÌ„d caÌ„ not heare / it hath hondes and can not fele it hath fete aÌ„d can not goo cÌ„ Now which of all these propertis hath not youre Idollis what wyll you make now of theÌ„ The prophet dauyd maketh an Idolle of that thyng / that hath these propertes and wyll yow make a god and a helper of them will you pray to them / will you offer to them will you runne from place to place to seke them There ys no distinccion / there is no subtylty that cane helpe you for more reuerens more seruice more honor More