bée dons without any errour and that no man should doubt in it hée gaue them the holye ghost saying these wordes whose sinnes you doe forgeue shall bee forgeuen whose sinnes you doe retaine shall bée retained To these wordes addeth S. Luke Thē opened hée their wytte that they might vnder stand the Scriptures so that where S. Iohn sayth hée gaue them the holy ghost Luke sayeth hée opened their wytte to vnderstand Scripture It foloweth in Luke thus thus is it written that Christe must suffer death and rise agayne the thyrd day that repentaūce remission of sinnes shoulde bée preached in hys name among all nations Now where Saint Iohn sayth whose sins you doe loose shall bée loosed c. That sayth Luke in these wordes remissiō of sinnes must bée preached in hys name So that whose sinnes you doe loose shal bée loosed is nothyng els but that you must preach remission of sins in my name and as many as receiue this word you shall loose them by this word as many as doe not receiue it you shall bynde them by that same word That this is the sentence of these two places it is opē by that that they speake all of one story of that thyng that was done all in one day This doth also S. Paule prooue wel where hée reciteth the wordes of Luke saying Christ must néedes suffer ryse agayne from death and this Iesus is Christ Here is it plaine that s Paule losed men from their sinnes by preaching remissiō through Christ so that you haue openly here the practise of the holy Apostles how they did bynde loose by preaching the word of God They did bynde with the word when it was not beléeued They dyd loose by the worde when it was beléeued Thus dyd they by one word preache both saluation and damnatiō but vnto diuers men This vertue of the worde doth S. Paule declare in these wordes we are vnto God the swéete sauour of Christe both among them that are saued and also among them which perish To the one part are we the sauour of death vnto death vnto the other parte are we the sauour of lyfe vnto lyfe What is this sauour nothyng els but the Gospell which is vnto one sauour of lyfe that is nothyng els but loosing and remission of sinnes And vnto the other it is the sauour of death vnto death that is occasion of bynding and reteinyng in sinne This doth Paule also declare in an other place The preachyng of the crosse is to them that perish foolishnes But vnto vs whiche are saued it is the power of God What is y e power of God nothyng els but remission and losing from our sinnes What is foolishenes nothyng els but they despise the Gospell recken it of no value and of no power Wherfore they remayne bound in their sinne Thus is it declared that one word of God worketh in diuers mē diuers operatiōs In y e one it worketh lyfe y e is remission of sinnes in the other worketh it death is taken for foolishnes that is it declareth them bounde and retained in their dānable sinnes and yet in him selfe hée is of one goodnes and of our nature but the diuersitie commeth of them that bée the receiuers This may bée proued by a naturall example The dew of heauē cōmeth downe indifferently vppon all grounde but in the one it bryngeth forth good corne swéete frutes and in the other it bryngeth forth nettles brombilles that bée nothyng worth but to the fier This exāple haue you in the epistle to the Hebrues for this same purpose Likewise by one word doe the holy Apostles Christes ministers loose and bynde but this doe they not by charmyng coungeryng iugglyng and whyslyng absolutions as you doe But by preachyng the holy word of God which when it is beléeued doth quiet and loose our conscience from all sinne and offereth it vs through Christ onely But when it is not beléeued then doth it bynde vs and retaine vs in sinne So that this holy worde is the very true keye of heauen for by it heauen is opened and shut This doth Chrisostome wel prooue in these wordes The key is the word and the knowledge of Scriptures whereby the gate of veritie is opened vnto men c. S. Augustine doth also witnes the same saying These keyes hath bée geuen to the Churche that what shée byndeth in earth shall bée bound in heauē and what shée looseth in earth shall bée loosed in heauen that is to say who soeuer doth not beléeue that his sinnes bée forgeuē hym in the Churche they bée not forgeuen hym But hée that doth beléeue and auerte him selfe from his sinnes beyng with in the Church by that same fayth and amendement is hée made whole c. Here haue you openly that by bée leeuing the worde of God our sinnes bée loosed by vnbeléefe bée we boūde in our sins But now must we search to whom these keyes bée geuen They may not all onely bée geuen to Peter for then Paule and the two sonnes of thunder had them not Nor they may not bee geuen to one more then to the other For Christ was indifferent and they were all his Apostles their confession was all one Wherfore no doubt but these keyes weare geuen vnto all Christes Apostles vnto the whole Church as S. Augustine doth declare openly vpon Iohn This may bée also proued by the wordes of your owne lawe which bée these if Peter haue power all onelye to binde and to loose then doth it not the Church But if this bée donne in the Church then did Peter when hée receaued y e keyes sygnifie holy chucrh c. Heare haue you openly that Peter had not onely the keyes but hée receiued them in the name of the Church Wherefore they béelong to all Christen men This doth Origene well prooue in these wordes Tu es Petrus c. These wordes were spoken vnto Peter vnto all Apostles vnto all maner of perfect faythfull men for all they are Petrus in all them is builded the church of Christ and agaynst none of them can the gates of hell preuayle Doost thou recken that y t keyes of heauen were all onely geuen to Peter and that no other Christen man did receaue them c. Here is it clearely that all Christen men bée Peter and all they haue receyued the keyes of heauen and hell can not preuayle agaynst them S. Augustine doth also testifie the same in these wordes Wherefore the church which is founded and grounded in Christ of hym hath receyued in Peter the keyes of heauen that is to say power to bynde and loose c. Thus is it playne that those keyes are geuē to y e whole church of Christ for her fayth and they bée the cōmon treasure of the Church and béelonge no more to one man then to
scattered far and long in her trew head Christ Iesus taught hath learned not to feare the contâ—…elyes of the Crosse nor yet of death but more and more is shee strengthned not in resistyng but in sufferyng c. 250. col 2 The Popes law sayth Therfore is the Church holy because shee beleueth righteously in God c. 246. col 2 The Popes law sayth The whole Church can not erre Also in an other place of the congregation of faythfull men must needes bee which also caÌ„ not erre c. 247. col 2 ¶ That the keyes of the Churche bee the Woorde of God and not mans power HIerome sayth vppon these wordes I shall geue thee the keyes of heaueÌ„ This place the Byshops the Priests not vnderstanding haue vsurped vnto them somewhat of the Phariseis pride so that they thinke that they may condemne innocentes and loose them that bee giltie wheÌ„ beefore God not the sentence of the Priest but the lyfe of the giltie is regarded c. 257. col 2 Augustine sayth That must bee called a key where by the hardnes of our hartes are opened vnto fayth where by y t secretnes of myndes are made manifest A key it is sayth hee the whiche doth both open the conscience to the knowledge of sinne and also includeth grace vnto the wholsomnes of euerlastyng mistery c. 258. col 1 This doth Chrisostome well proue in these wordes Thâ— key is the word the knowledge of Scriptures wherby the gate of veritie is opened vnto men c. 261. col 1 Augustine doth also witnes the same saying These keyes hath hee geuen to the Church that what shee byndeth in in earth shall bee bounde in heaueÌ„ and what shee looseth in earth shal bee loosed in heaueÌ„ that is to say who soeuer doth not beleeue that his sinnes bee forgeuen hym in the Church they bee not forgeuen hym But hee that doth beleeue and auerte hym selfe from hys sinnes beyng within the Churche by that same fayth and amendement is he made whole c. 261. col 1 Origene vpon these wordes Tu es Petrus c. The wordes were spoken vnto Peter vnto all Apostles vnto all maner of perfect faythfull men for all they are Petrus and in all them is builded the Church of Christ and agaynst none of them can the gates of hell preâ—ayle Doost thou reckeÌ„ that the keyes of heauen were alonely geuen to Peter and that no other Christen maÌ„ dyd receaue them c. 261. col 2 Augustine doth also testifie the same in these wordes Wherfore the Church whiche is founded and grounded in Christ of hym hath receiued in Peter the keyes of heaueÌ„ that is to say power to bynde and loose c. 261. col 2 Chrisostome sayth The key bearers are Priestes vnto whom is committed the word to teach and to interprete Scripture c. 262. col 2 Ambrose sayth Sinnes bee forgeueÌ„ by the word of God whose interpreter is the Deacon c. 262. col 2 Chrisostome sayth Behold I see meÌ„ that haue no trew sence of holy Scripture yea they vnderstand nothyng at all therof to passe ouer many things for I am ashamed to call them madde men triflers and wranglers they bee such as know not what they say nor of what thyng they speake but alonely bee they mightye and bolde to make lawes and to curse and coÌ„demne those thynges of the whiche they know nothyng at all c. 265. col 2 The Popes â–ª law sayth If Peter haue power alonely to bynde and to loose then doth it not the Church But if this bee done in the Church then did Peter wheÌ„ hee receaued the keyes signifie holy Church c. 261. col 2 ¶ That free will of man after the fall of Adam of his naturall streÌ„gth can doe nothyng but sinne beefore God AVgustine sayth Lest any maÌ„ should suppose that the braunche of hym selfe could bryng forth at y t lest wayes a litle srute therfore saith hee nor with out me can you doe a litle but without we caÌ„ you doe nothyng Therefore whether it bee litle or much without him can it not bee done without whoÌ„ is nothyng done One of two thinges must the braunche needes doe either abyde in the vyne or els burne in the fire if it bee not in the vyne then is it in the fire c. 267. col 1 Barnarde sayth What shall we say is this alonely all the merite of freewill that hee doth alonely coÌ„sent yea doubtles Not that the same consent in the which is all his merite is not of God when that we can neither thinke the which is lesse then to coÌ„sent any thing of our selues as though we were sufficient of our selues These wordes bee not myne but the Apostles the whiche geueth vnto God and not to his free-will all maner of thinges that can bee good that is to say to thinke to will or to performe c. 267. col 2 Augustine sayth What goodnes can hee doe that is lost except that hee bee deliuered from his miserie Can hee doe good by his freewill God forbyd for man euill vsyng hys freewill dyd both loose him selfe and also his freewil and as man beeyng alyue doth kil him selfe and when he hath killed him selfe hee can not make hym selfe alyue agayne So likewise when we doe sinne by freewil and sinne hath the victory then is freewill cleane lost for of whom a man is ouercome vnto hym must hee bee seruaunt Doubtles this sentence is of Peter the Apostle the which seeing that it is true I pray you what maner of freedome caÌ„ a bonde seruaunt haue except it bee when it pleaseth him to sinne c. 268. col 1 Augustine sayth O cursed freewill without God we haue experieÌ„ce what freewil can doe without God therfore are we miserable because we haue experience what freewill is able to doe without God Behold maÌ„ was made good by his freewill was hee made an euill man When shall an euill man by his freewill forsaking God make a man good hee beeyng good could not keepe him selfe good and now that he is euill shall hee make him selfe good when that hee was good hee kept not hym selfe good and now that hee is euill shall hee say I make my selfe good c. 268. col 2 Augustine sayth Hee that feedeth without mee feedeth agaynst mee c. 269. col 2 Augustine sayth Thou wilt say that can my will doe that can my freewill doe What will what manner of free-will except that hee guide thee thou fallest except hee lift thee vp thou lyest stil How canst thou then doe it by thy spirite seeing that the Apostle saith As many as bee led by the spirite of God bee the children of God Wilt thou doe of thy selfe Wilt thou bee led of thyne owne selfe to mortifie the deedes of the flesh what will it profite thee
lyfe and godly conuersation that both his teaching lyuing going togither as the one may edifie by doctrine so the other may profit by example First touching the birth and parentage of this blessed Martyre in Christ hée was borne in the edge of Wales and brought vp from a childe in the vniuersitie of Oxforde where hée by long continuance grew and encreased aswell in the knowledge of tongues and other liberall artes as especially in the knowlege of Scriptures whereunto his mind was singularly addicted Insomuch that hée liyng in Magdalene hall read priuelye to certaine studentes and felowes of Magdalene College some percell of Diuinitie instructing them in the knowlege and trueth of the Scriptures Whose maners also and conuersation being correspondent to the same were such that all they which knewe him reputed and estéemed him to bée a man of most verteous disposition and of a life vnspotted Thus hée in the vniuersitie of Oxford encreasyng more and more in learning and procéeding in degrées of the schooles spiyng his tyme remoued from thence to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge where after hée had likewise made his abode a certayne space and béeing now farther rypened in the knowledge of Gods worde leauing that vniuersitie also hée resorted to one M. Welshe a knyght of Glocester sheare and was there schoole master to his children and in very good fauour with his master This gentleman as hée kept a very good ordinary commonly at his table there resorted vnto him many tymes sondry Abbottes Deanes Archdeacons with other diuers Doctours and great beneficed men Who there togither with M. Tyndall sittyng at the same table did vse many tymes to enter communication and talke of learned men as of Luther and Erasmus and of diuerse controuersies and questions vpon the scripture At which time M. Tyndall as he was learned wel practised in Gods matters so he spared not to shew to them simply and playnely his iudgement in matters as he thought And when as they at that tyme did varie from Tyndall in opinions and iudgment he would shewe them the booke and lay playnely before them the open and manifest places of the scriptures to confute their errours and to confirme his sayinges And thus continued they for a season reasoning and contending togither diuers and sondry tymes till at the length they waxed wery of him and bare a secret grudge in their hartes against hym Not long after this it happened that certaine of these great Doctours had inuited M. Welshe and his wife to a banket where they had talke at will and pleasure vttering their blindnes and ignoraunce without any resistaunce or gayne saying Then M. Welshe and his wife comming home and calling for M. Tyndall beganne to reason with him about those matters wherof the Priestes had talked before at their banket M. Tyndall aunswering by Scriptures mainteyned the trueth reproued their false opinions Then sayd the Lady Welshe a stoute and wise woman as Tyndall him selfe reporteth well sayd she there was such a Doctour which may dispend a C. l. an other CC. l. and an other CCC poūdes And what were it reason thinke you that we should beléeue you before them M. Tyndall gaue her no aunswere at that tyme nor also after that because he saw it would not auayle he talked but litle in those matters At that tyme he was about the translation of a booke called Enchiridon militis Christiani Which being translated he delyuered to his Master and lady Who after they bad read and well perused the same the doctourly Prelates were no more so often called to the house nether had they the Chere nor countenaunce when they came as before they had which thing they well marking and perceiuing and supposing no lesse but it came by the meanes of Tyndall refrayned thē selues and at the last vtterly withdrewe them selues and came no more there As this grewe on the Priestes of the countrey clustering togither beganne to grudge and storme against Tyndall rayling at him in houses and other méeting places Of whom Tyndall him selfe in his first Prologue before the first booke of Moses testifieth in his owne wordes and reporteth that hée suffered much in that countrey by a sort of vnlearned Priestes being full rude and ignoraunt sayth hée God knoweth which haue séene no more Latyn then that onely which they reade in their Porteasses and Missalles which yet many of them can skarsely reade except it bée Albertus de Secretis mulierum in which yet though they bée neuer so sorely learned they pore daye and night and make notes therein and all to teach the mydwifes as they say and also an other booke called Lynwood a Booke of Constitutions to gather tythes mortuaryes Offeringes Customes and other pillage which they call not theirs but Gods part the duetie of holy Church to discharge their consciences with all For they are bound that they shall not deminishe but encrease all thinges to the vttermost of their powers which perteineth to holy Church Thus these blinde and rude Priestes flocking togither to the Alehouse for that was their preaching place raged and rayled against him affirming that his sayengs were heresy addyng moreouer vnto his sayenges of their owne heades more then euer hée spake and so accused him secretly to y t Chauncelour and other of the Bishops officers It folowed not long after this that there was a sitting of the Byshops Chaūcelour appointed and warning was geuen to the Priestes to apere amōgest whom M. Tyndall was warned to bée there And whether hée had any misdoubt by their threatenings or knowledge geuen him that they would lay some thinges to his charge it is vncerteyne But certaine this is as hée him selfe declareth that hée doubted their preuy accusations so that hée by the way in going thitherwardes cryed in his mynde hartely vnto God to geue him strength to stand fast in the trueth of his worde When the tyme came of his apperaunce before the Chaūcelour hée threatened him greuously reuiling and rating him as though hée had béene a dogg and layed to his charge many thinges whereof no accuser could yet bée brought forth as commonly their maner is not to bring forth the accuser notwithstanding that the Priestes of the countrye the same time were there present And thus M. Tyndall after those examinations escaping out of their handes departed home and returned to his Master againe There dwelt not farre of a certaine Doctour that had béene an olde Chauncelor before to a Bishop who had béene of olde famyliar acquaintaunce with M. Tyndall and also fauoured him well Vnto whom M. Tyndall went and opened his mynde vpon diuers questions of the Scripture For to him hée durst bée bolde to disclose his harte Vnto whom the Doctour sayd Doe you not knowe that the Pope is very Antechrist whom the Scripture speaketh of But béeware what you say for if you shall bée perceaued to bée of that opinion it will cost you your
not What then saith me Lord of Caunterbury to a Priest that would haue had the new Testament gone forth in Englishe What sayth he wouldest thou that the lay people should wete what we do No fighter which I suppose is signified by the crosse that is borne before the hye Prelates and borne before thē in procession Is that also not a false signe What Realme can be in peace for such turmoylers What so litle a Parishe is it but they will picke one quarell or an other with them either for some syrplis cresome or mortuary either for one trifle or other and cyte them to the arches Traytors they are to all creatures and haue a secret conspiration betwene them selues One craft they haue to make many kyngdomes and small and to norish olde titles or quarels that they may euer moue them to warre at their pleasure And if much landes by any chaunce fall to one man euer to cast a bone in the way that he shall neuer be able to obteine it as we now see in y e Empeperour Why For as lōg as the kyngs be small if God would open the eyes of any to set a reformation in his Realme then should the Pope interdict his land and send in other Princes to conquere it Not geuen to filthy lucre but abhorryng couetousnes And as Peter sayth i. Pet. v. Takyng the ouersight of them not as though ye were compelled thereunto but willingly Not for desire of filthie lucre but of a good minde not as though ye were Lordes ouer the Parishes ouer the Parishes quoth he O Peter Peter thou wast to long a fisher thou wast neuer brought vp at the arches neither wast master of the Rolles nor yet Chaunceler of England They are not content to raigne ouer kyng and Emperour and the whole earth but chalenge authoritie also in heauen and in hell It is not inough for them to raigne ouer all that are quicke but haue created them a Purgatory to raigne also ouer the dead and to haue one kyngdome more then God him selfe hath But that ye be an ensample to the flocke sayth Peter And whē the chief shepheard shal appeare ye shall receaue an incorruptible crowne of glory This abhorring of coueteousnes is signified as I suppose by shauyng and sheryng of the of the heare that they haue no superfluitie But is not this also a false signe yea verely it is to them a remēbraunce to shere and shaue to heape benefice vpon benefice promotion vppon promotion dignitie vpon dignitie Byshopricke vppon Bishopricke with pluralities vnions and Tot quots First by the authoritie of the Gospell they that preach the word of God in euery Parish and other necessary ministreys haue right to chalenge an honest liuyng like vnto one of the brethren and therewith ought to be content Bishops and priestes that preach not or that preach ought saue Gods word are none of Christes nor of hys annoyntyng but seruauntes of the beast whose marke they beare whose worde they preache whose law they mainteine cleane agaynst Gods law and with their false sophistry geue him greater power then God euer gaue to his sonne Christ BUt they as vnsatiable beastes not vnmindfull why they were shauen and shoren because they will stand at no mans grace or bee in any mans daunger haue gotten into their owne handes first the tyth or tenth of all the realme Then I suppose with in a litle or all together the third foote of all the temporall landes Marke well how many personages or vicarages are there in the Realme which at the least haue a plow land a peece Then note the landes of Byshoppes Abbotes Pryors Nunnes knyghtes of Saint Johns Cathedrall Churches Colleges Chauntryes and Frechapels For though the house fall in decay and the ordinaunce of the foūder be lost yet will not they loose the landes What commeth once in may neuer more out They make a Frechapell of it so that he which enioyeth it shall do nought therefore Besides all this how many chaplaynes do Gentlemen finde at their owne cost in their houses How many sing for soules by testamentes Then the prouing of Testamentes the prising of goodes the Byshop of Caunterburies prerogatiue Is that not much thorough the Realme in a yeare Foure offeryng dayes and priuy tythes There is no seruaunt but that he shall paye somewhat of his wages None shal receaue the body of Christ at Easter be he neuer so poore a begger or neuer so younge a lad or mayde but they must paye somewhat for it Then mortuaryes for forgotten tythes as they say And yet what Parson or Vicar is there that will forget to haue a Pygin house to pecke vp somewhat both at sowing tyme and at haruest whē corne is ripe They will forget nothing No man shall die in their debt or if any mā do he shall pay it when he is dead They will loose no thing Why It is Gods it is not theirs It is Saint Cudberts rentes Saint Albans landes Saint Edmondes right Saint Peters patrimony say they and none of ours Item if a man die in an other mans parishe besides that he must pay at home a mortuary for forgotten tythes he must there pay also y ◠best that he there hath Whether it be an horse of twenty pound or how good so euer he be eyther a chayne of golde of an hundreth marke or fiue hundreth pounde if it so chaunce It is much verely for so little payne taking in confession and in ministring the Sacraments Then beadrolles Item chrysome Churchinges banes weddinges offering at weddinges offering at buriynges offering to Images offering of waxe lightes which come to their vauntage besides the superstitious wast of waxe in torches and tapers thoroughout the land Then brotherhoodes and pardoners What get they also by confessions Yea and many enioyne penāce to geue a certayne for to haue so many Masses sayde and desire to prouide a chappellayne themselues Soule masses diriges monethmyndes yeare myndes Alsoulday and trentals The mother Church and the hie altar must haue some what in euery Testament Offeringes at Priestes fyrst Masses Itē no mā is professed of what soeuer religion it be but he must bring somewhat The halowing or rather coniuring of Churches chappels altars superaltares chalice vestimēts belles Then booke bell cādlesticke organes chalice vestimentes copes altere clothes syrpleses towels basens ewars shepe senser and all maner ornaments must be founde them freely they will not geue a myte thereunto Last of all what swarmes of beggyng Friers are there The Parson shereth the Vicare shaueth the Parish Priest polleth the Frier scrapeth and the Pardoner pareth we lacke but a butcher to pulle of the skinne What get they in their spirituall law as they call it in a yeare at the arches in euery dioces what get the Cōmissaries and Officials with
God and fayth of Christ and corrupt the text of the couenaunt with false gloses and are disobedient to God and therefore sâ—… deadly Oâ— this also ye see the difference betwene the lambes of true beleuers and betwene the vncleane swyne that follow carnall lustes fleshly libertie and the churlishe and hypocrâ—…e dogges Which for the blinde zeale of their owne righteousnes persecute the righteousnes of the fayth in Christes bloud The effeminate and careles swyne which coÌ„tinue in their fleshlines cease not to wallow theÌ„selues in their olde podell thinke that they beleue very well in Christes bloud but they are deceaued as thou mayst clearely perceaue because they feare not the damnation of euill workes nor loue the lawe of good workes and therefore haue no part in the promise The cruell and doggishe hypocrits which take vpon them to worke thinke they loue the lawe which yet they neuer sawe saue vnder a vayle But they be deceaued as thou mayst perceaue by that they beleue not in Christ for the forgeuenes of sinne Whereby also I meane that they beleue not thou mayst perceaue that they vnderstand not the lawe For if they vnderstoode the lawe it would eyther driue them to Christ or make them dispayre immediatly But the true beleuers beholde the lawe in her owne likenes and see the impossibilitie thereof to be fulfilled wyth naturall power and therefore flee to Christ for mercy grace and power and then of a very thankfulnes for the mercy receaued loue the lawe in her owne likenes and submit theÌ„selues to learne it and to profit therein and to do to morow that they can not do to day Ye see also the difference of all manner of faythes The fayth of the true beleuers is that God iustifieth or forgeueth and Christ deserueth it and the fayth or trust in Christes bloud receaueth it and certifieth the coÌ„science thereof and saueth and deliuereth her from feare of death and damnation And this is that we meane when we say fayth iustifieth that fayth I meane in Christ and not in our owne workes certifieth the conscience that our sinnes are forgeueÌ„ vs for Christes bloudes sake But the fayth of hypocrites is that God forgeueth and workes deserue it And that same false fayth in their owne workes receaueth the mercy promised to the merites of their owne workes and so Christ vtterly excluded And thus ye see that faith is the thing that to affirmed to iustifie of all partyes For faith in Christes bloud which is Gods promise quieteth the conscience of the true beleuers And a false fayth or trust in workes which is their owne fayning beguileth the blynde hypocrites for a season tyll God for the greatnes of their sinne when it is â—ull openeth their eyes then they dispayre But the swyne say God is so good that he wyll saue deuilles and all and damne no man perpetually whatsoeuer he do An other conclusion is this to beleue in Christ for the remission of sinnes and of a thankfulnes for that mercy to loue the lawe truely that is to say to loue God that is father of all and geueth all and Iesus Christ that is Lord of vs all and bought vs al with all our hartes soules power and might and our brethren for our fathers sake because they be created after his image and for our Lord and master Christes sake because they be the price of his bloud and to long for the lyfe to come because this lyfe cannot be fedde without sinne These â—…tes I say are the profession and religion of a Christen maÌ„ and the inward baptime of the hart signifyed by the outward washing of the bodye And they be that spirituall character badge or signe wherewith God thorouge hys spirite marketh all his immediatly and assoone as they be ioyned to Christ and made members of hys Church by true fayth The Church of Christ then is the multitude of all them that beleue in Christ for the remission of sinne and of a thankfulnes for that mercy loue the lawe of God purely and without gloses and of hate they haue to the sinne of this world long for the life to come This is the church that cannot erre dampnably nor any long tyme nor all of them but assoone as any question aryseth the truth of Gods promise stirreth vp one or other to teach them the truth of euery thing needefull to saluation out of Gods worde and lighteneth the hartes of the other true members to see the same and to consent thereto And as all they that haue their hartes washed wyth this inwarde baptyme of the sprite are of the church and haue the keyes of the scripture ye and of binding and lowsing and do not erre Euen so they that sinne of purpose wyll not heare when their faultes be tolde them but seeke liberties and priuilegies to sinne vnpunished and glose out the lawe of God and mainteine ceremonies traditions and customes to destroy the fayth of Christ the same be members of Sathan all their doctrine is poison Errour darcknes ye though they be Popes Byshoppes Abbotes Eurates and Doctoures of diuinitie and though they can rehearse all the scripture without booke and though they be seene in Greeke Ebrew and Latine ye and though they so preach Christ and the passion of Christ that they make the poore women weepe and howle agayne For when they come to the point that they should minister Christes passion vnto the saluation of our soules there they poyson all together and glose out the lawe that should make vs feele our saluation in Christ and driue vs in that poynt from Christ and teach vs to put our trust in our owne workes for the remission and satisfaction of our sinnes and in the Apish play of hypocrites which sell their merites in steede of Christes bloud passion â–ª â—o now deare reader to beleue in Christes bloud for the remission of sinnâ— and putchasing of all the good promises that helpe to the lyfe to come and to loue the law and to long for the life to come is the inward Baptisme of the soule the Baptisme that onely auayleth in the sight of God the new generation and image of Christ the onely keye also to binde and â—owse synners The touchstone to trye all doctrines The lanterne and light that scattereth and expelleth the mist darknes of all hypocrisie and a preseruatiue agaynst all errour and heresie The mother of all good workes The earnest of euerlastyng lyfe and title whereby we chalenge our inheritaunce And thoughe fayth in Christes bloude make the mariage betwene our soule and Christ is properly the Mariage garment yea and the signe Thau that defendeth vs from the sâ—…tyng and power of the euill aungels and is also the rocke whereon Christes Churche is built and whereon all that is built standeth against all weather of wynde and tempestes yet might the
masters of one mynde one will might a man serue for if one wil one mynde and one accorde be in twenty then are they all but one master And two masters where one is vnder the other and a substitute may a man serue For the seruice of the inferiour is the coÌ„maundement of the superiour As to serue obey Father Mother Husband Master and Lord is Gods commaundement But and if the inferiour be of a contrary will to the superiour commauÌ„de any contrary thing then mayst thou not obey For now they be two coÌ„trary masters So God and Mammon are two coÌ„trary masters yea two contrary Gods and of contrary commaundementes God sayth I thy Lord God am but one me shalt y u serue alone that is y u shalt loue me with all thyne hart or with thyne whole hart with all thy soule with all thy might Thou shalt neither serue obey or loue any thyng saue me and that I byd thee that as farre and no further then I byd thee And Mammon sayth the same For Mammon wil be a God also and serued and loued alone God sayth see thou loue thy neighbour that thou labour with thine haÌ„ds to get thy liuyng and somewhat aboue to helpe him MaÌ„mon sayth he is called thy neighbour because he is nye thee Now who is so nye thee as thy self Ergo proximus esto tibi that is loue thy selfe make lewde and vyle wretches to labour diligently to get thee as much as thou mayst and some scrappes aboue for them selues Or wilt thou be perfect Then disguist thy selfe and put on a gray coate a blacke or a pyed geue thy selfe to deuotion despise the world and take a couetous I would say a contemplatiue life vpon thee Tell the people how hoate Purgatorie is and what paynes there must be suffered for small fantes And then geue mercyfully a thousaÌ„d folde for one spirituall for temporall geue heauen and take but house and land and foolish temporall thynges God sayth iudge truly betwene thy brethren and therefore take no giftes Mammon sayth it is good maner and apoynt of curtesie to take that is offered And he that geueth thee loueth thee better then such a churâ—…e that geueth thee naught yea thou arâ— more bound to fauour his cause God sayth fell and geue almose Mammon sayth lay vp to haue inough to mainteyne thyne estate and to defeÌ„d thee from thyne enemyes and to serue thee in thyne age c. For as much then as God Mammon be two so contrary masters that whosoeuer will serue God must geue vp Mammon and all that will serue MammoÌ„ must forsake God it foloweth that they which are the sworne seruauÌ„ts of Mammon and haue his holy spirite and are his faithfull Church are not the true seruaunts of God nor haue his spirite of truth in them or can be his true Church Moreouer seing that God Mammon be so contrary that Gods worde is death in Mammons eare his doctrine poyson in Mammons mouth it foloweth that if the ministers of Gods word do fauour Mammon they will so fashion their speach so sound their wordes that they may be pleasaunt in the eares of Mammon Finally alonely to haue richesse is not to be the seruauÌ„t of Mammon but to loue it and cleaâ—e to it in thyne hart For if thou haue goods onely to maintâ—ine the office whiche God hath put thee in of the rest to helpe thy neighbours nede so art thou Lord ouer thy Mammon and not his seruaunt Of theÌ„ that be rich how shalt thou know the master of Mammon from the seruaunt verely first by the gettyng secondarely when his poore neighbour complaineth if he be Mammons seruaunt Mammon wil shut vp his hart and make hym without compassion Thirdly the crosse of Christ will trye them the one from the other For wheÌ„ persecution ariseth for the word then will the true seruaunt of Christ byd Mammon â—dew And the faithfull seruaunt of Mammon will vtter his hypocrisie and not onely renounce the doctrine of Christ but also be a cruel a sharpe persecuter therof to put away all surmise and that his fidelitie which he hath in his master Mammon map openly appeare Therfore I say vnto you care not for your lyues what ye shall eate or what ye shall drinke neither for your bodyes what ye shall put on Is not the lyfe more then meate and the body more then the rayment He that bundeth a costely house eueÌ„ to the tylyng will not leaue there and lose so great cost for so small a trifle more No more will he that gaue thee so precious a soule so bewtifull a body let either of them perish agayne before y e day for so small a thnig as foode or rayment God neuer made mouth but he made meate for it nor body but he made rayment also Howbeit MaÌ„mon blindeth our eyes so that we can neither see nor iudge a right Behold the foules of the ayre how they sow not neither reape nor gather into storehouses and yet your heauenly father fedeth them And are not ye farre better then they Which of you with takyng thought is able to put one cubite vnto his stature He that careth for y â— least of his creatures will much more care for y t greatest The byrdes of the ayre and beasts preach all to vs that we should leaue caring and put our trust in our father But Mammon hath made vs so dull and so cleane without capacitie that none example or argument be it neuer so vehement caÌ„ enter the wittes of vs to make vs see or iudge a right Finally what a madnes it is to take so great thought for fode or rayment when the wealth health life of thy body and all together is out of thy power If all the world were thyne thou couldest not make thy selfe one inche leÌ„ger nor that thy stomacke shall disgeste the meate that thou puttest into it No thou art not sure that that whiche thou puttest into thy mouth shall go through thee or whether it shall choke thee Thou canst not make when thou lyest or sittest down that thou shalt arise agayn or when thou slepest that thou shalt awake agayne or that thou shouldest liue one houre loÌ„ger So that he which cared for thee when thou couldest not care must care for thee still or els thou shouldest perish And he will not care for thee to thy soules profite if thou mistrust him and care for thy selfe And for rayment why take ye thought Behold the lylies of the field how they grow they labour not neither spynne And yet I say to you that euen Salomon in all his glorie was not apparelled lyke one of them Wherefore if the grasse whiche is to day in the fieldes and to morow shal be cast into the furnace God so clothe howe much more shal he do the same vnto you O ye of litle fayth
then thorough corruptyng with their riches wherof they haue infinite treasure in store and last of all with the sword Haue they not compelled the Emperours of the earth and the great Lordes and hygh â—…cers to be obedient vnto them to dispure for them and to be their tormeÌ„tours and the Samsumims theÌ„ selues do but imagine mischief and inspire them Marke whether it were euer truer then now the Scribes Phariseis Pylate Herode Cayphas and Anna are gathered together agaynst God Christ But yet I trust in vayne and he that brake the Counsell of A chitophell shall scatter theirs Marke whether it 〈◊〉 not true in the hyghest degree that for the sinne of the people hypocrites shall rayne ouer them What shewes what faces and contrary pretenses are made and all to stablish them in their theft falsehead damnable lyes and to gather them together for to continue suâ—…ltie to oppresse the truth and to stoppe the light to kepe all still in darkenesse Wherfore it is time to awake and to see euery man with his owne eyes and to iudge if we will not be iudged of Christ when he commeth to iudge And remember that he which is warned hath none excuse if he take nâ—…ede Here with fare wel in y e Lord Iesus Christ whose spirite be thy guide doctrine and the light to iudge with all Amen ¶ What the Church is THis worde Churche hath diuerse significations First it signifieth a place or house whether Christen people were wont in the old tyme to resorte at tymes coÌ„uenient for to heare the word of doctrine the law of God the fayth of our Sauiour Iesus Christ how and what to pray and whence to aske power and strength to liue godly For the officers therto appointed preached the price word of God onely and prayâ—d in a tâ—â—ng that all men vnderstode And y t people hearkned vnto his prayers sayd thereto AmeÌ„ prayed with him in their hartes of him learned to pray at home and euery where and to instruct euery man his houshold Where now we heare but voyces with out signification and buzsinges howlynges and cryinges as it were the haâ—…yngâ—s of Foxes or baytings of Bearâ—s wonder at disguisings tâ—yes wherof we know no meanyng By reason wherof we be fallen into such ignorauncie that we know of the mercy promises whiche are in Christ nothyng at all And of the law of God we thinke as do the Turkes and as did the old heathen people how that it is a thyng which euery man may do of his owne power and in doyng therof becoÌ„meth good and waxeth righteous and deserueth heauen yea and are yet more mad then that For we imagine the same of Phantasies and vayne ceremonies of our owne making neither nedefull vnto the tamyng of our owne flesh neither profitable vnto our neighbour neither honour vnto God And of prayer we thinke that no man can pray but at Church and that it is nothing els but to say Pater noster vnto a post Wherewith yet and with other obseruauÌ„ces of our owne imaginyng we beleue we deserue to be sped of all that our blynd hartes desire In an other signification it is abused and mistakeÌ„ for a multitude of shauen shorne and oyled which we now call the spiritualtie and Clergy As when we read in the Chronicles kyng William was a great tyrauÌ„t and a wicked man vnto holy Church and tooke much landes from them Kyng Iohn was also a perâ—â—ous man and a wicked vnto holy Church would haue had them punished for theft murther and what soeuer mischief they dyd as though they had not bene people annoynted but eueÌ„ of the vile rascall and common lay people And Thomas Becket was a blessed an holy man for he dyed for the liberties to do all mischief vnpunished priuileges of the Church Is he a laye man or a man of the Church Such is the liuing of holy Church So men say of holy church Ye must beleue in holy Church do as they teach you Will ye not obey holy Church Will ye not do the penaunce enioyned you by holy Church Will yet not forsweare obedience vnto holy Church Beware least ye fal into y t indignatioÌ„ of holy church lest they curse you so forth In which all we vnderstand but y e Pope Cardinals Legates Patriarckes Archbyshops Byshops Abbotes Priours Chauncelers Archdeacons Commissaries Officials Priestes Monkes Friers Blacke Whit Pied Grey and so forth by I trow a thousand names of blasphemy and of hypocrisies as many sundry fashions of disguisinges It hath yet or should haue an other signification little knowen among the common people now a dayes That is to wit it signifieth a congregation a multitude or a company gathered together in one of all degrees of people As a maÌ„ would say the church of LoÌ„don meaning not the spiritualtie onely as they will be called for their diligent seruing of God in the spirite and so sore eschuing to meddle wyth temporall matters but the whole bodye of the citie of all kindes conditions degrees and the church of Bristow all that pertaine vnto the towne generally And what congregation is meÌ„t thou shalt alway vnderstand by the matter that is entreated of and by the circumstaunces thereof And in this third signification is the church of God or Christ taken in the scripture eueÌ„ for the whole multitude of all them that receaue the name of Christ to beleue in him and not for the clergy onely For Paule sayth Gal. i. I persecuted the church of God aboue measure which was not the preachers onely but all that beleued generally as it is to see Act. xxij where he saith I persecuted this way euen vnto the death binding and putting in prison both men and women And Gal. i. I was vnknowen concerning my person vnto the congregations of the Iewes which were in Christ And Rom. xvi I commende vnto you Phebe the Deaconiâ—â—e of the church of Cenchris And the churches of Asia salute you i. Corin. the last And if a man can not rule his owne house how shall he take the care of the church of God i. Tim. iij if any faithfull man or woman haue widdowes let them finde them that the church be not charged i. Tim. v. And Mat. 18. if thy brother heare thee not tell the church or congregation and so forth In which places and thoroughout all the scripture the church is taken for y e whole multitude of them that beleue in Christ in that place in that parishe towne citie prouince land or thoroughout all the worlde and not for the spiritualtie onely NotwithstaÌ„ding yet it is somtimes taken generally for all them that embrace the name of Christ though their faithes be naught or though they haue no fayth at all And sometimes it is taken specially
new old holy doctours that haue made the Pope a God They knew of no power that man should haue in the kyngdome of Christ but to preache Christ truly They knew of no power that the Pope shoulde haue to send to Purgatory or to deliuer thence neither of any Pardon 's nor of any such confession as they preach and teach neither were many that are articles with you Articles of their faith They all preached forgeuenesse of sinnes thorough repentaunce toward the law and fayth in our Sauiour Christ as all the Scripture playnly doth and can no otherwise be taken and as all the hartes of as many as loue the law of God do fele as surely as the finger feeleth the fyre hoate An aunswere vnto Master Mores third booke IN his third boke he procedeth forth as before to proue that the opinions which the Popish teach without Scripture are of equal authoritie with the Scripture He asketh what if there had neuer bene Scripture written I aunswere God careth for his elect therfore hath prouided them of Scripture to trie all thynges and to defend them from all false Prophetes And I say moreouer that if there had ben no scripture written that God for his mercy fatherly loue and care toward his elect must haue prouided that there should neuer haue bene heresies or against all tymes when sectes should arise haue styred vp preachers to coÌ„found the he resies with miracles Take this example the Grekes haue the Scripture serue God therin much more diligently theÌ„ we Now let vs geue that there were no Scripture but that we receaued all our fayth by y e authoritie of our elders the Grekes by y e authoritie of their elders WheÌ„ I shall dispute with a Greke about the articles of the fayth which my elders taught me and his elders deny as eareconfession the holy pardons of the Pope and all his power that he hath aboue other Bishops many other thynges beside the Scripture which we hold for articles of our faith they deny If there be no other proofe of either part then to say my elders which caÌ„ not erre so affirme that he should aunswere his Elders which can not not erre so deny what reason is it that I should leaue the authoritie of my elders and goe beleue his or that he should leaue the authoritie of his elders and come and beleue myne none at all verely But the one partie must shew a miracle or els we must referre our causes vnto auteÌ„ticke scripture receaued in olde tyme confirmed wyth myracles and therewith trie the controuersie of our Elders And when he asketh whether there were no true fayth from Adam to Noe. I answere that god partly wrote their fayth in their sacrifices and partly the Patriarkes were ful of miracles as ye may see in the Bible And when More to vtter his darcknes and blynde ignoraunce sayth that they which were ouerwhelmed wyth No yes floud had a good faith and bringeth for hym Nicolaus de Lira I answere that Nicolaus de Lira delirat For it is impossible to haue a fayth to be saued by except a man consent vnto Gods law with all his hart and all his soule that it is righteous holy good and to be kept of all men and thereuppon repent that he hath broken it and sorow that his flesh moueth vnto the contrary and then come and beleue that god for his mercy will forgeue him all that he hath done agaynst the lawe wyll helpe hym to tame his flesh and suffer his weakenes in the meane season till he be waxed stronger which fayth if they that perished in Noyes floud had had they coulde not but haue mended their liuinges and had not hardened their harts thorow vnbeliefe and prouoked the wrath of God and waxed worse and worse an hundred twenty yeares which God gaue theÌ„ to repent vntill God could no loÌ„ger suffer theÌ„ but washed their filthines away with y e floud as he doth y e Popes shamefull abhominacions with like invndacions of water destroyed theÌ„ vtterly And wheÌ„ he asketh whether AbrahaÌ„ beleued no more theÌ„ is writteÌ„ of him I aske him how he will proue that there was no writing in Abrahams time that AbrahaÌ„ wrot not And againe as for Abrahams person he receaued his faith of God which to coÌ„firme vnto other myracles were shewed dayly And when he fayneth forth that they beleued onely because they knew their elders coulde not erre How could they know that without myracles or wryting confirmed wyth myracles more theÌ„ the Turke knoweth that hys elders so many hundred yeares in so great a multitude can not erre teach false doctrâ—ne to damne the beleuers And y e contrary doth M. More see in all y e Bible how after all was receaued in scripture confirmed with myracles though miracles ceased not but were shewed dayly yet y e elders erred fell to idolatry an huÌ„dred for one y t bode in the right way and led the younger in to errour wyth them so sore that God to saue the younger was faine to destroy the elders and to begin his testameÌ„t a freshe with the new generatioÌ„ He seeth also that y e most part were alway Idolaters for all the scripture and true myracles therto and beleued the false miracles of the deuill because his doctrine was more agreable vnto their carnall vnderstanding then the doctrine of Gods spirit as it now goeth wyth the Pope did not y â— Scribes Phariseis and Priestes which were the elders erre And when he asketh who taught the church to know the true scripture from false bookes I answere true miracles that confounded the false gaue authoritie vnto the true scripture And therby haue we euer since iudged all other bookes and doctrine And by that we know that your legendes be corrupt wyth lies As Erasmus hath improued many false bookes which ye haue fayned and put forth in the name of S. Hierom Augustine Ciprian Dionise and of other partly wyth autenticke stories and partly by y e stile and latine and like euident tokens And when M. More â—ayth vnto theÌ„ that beleue nought but y e scripture he will proue with y e scripture that we be bounde to beleue the church in thinges wherefore they haue no scripture Because God hath promised in the scripture that the holy ghost shall teach hys church all truth Nay that text wil not proue it For the first Church taught nought but they coÌ„firmed it with myracles which coulde not be done but of God till the scripture was autentickly receaued And the Church folowing teacheth nought that they will haue beleued as an article of the fayth but that which the scripture proueth and mainteineth As S. Augustine protesteth of his workes that men should compare them vnto the scripture therby iudge them and cast away whatsoeuer the scripture
in lawe whom he did so valiauntly fight withall and confounde that he connerted Rastall to his part Then he was â—â—ryed to Lambith before the Bishop of Caunterburie and afterward to Croydon where was present StepheÌ„ Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who had béene his tutor in Cambridge as aforesayd and séemed to owe vnto him greate loue and fauour but in the stéede thereof he found in the ende his great malice and tyrannye and last of all he was called before the Bishoppes in a Common assemblye at London where he so costantly defended him selfe that he had preuailed if he might haue bene heard as indéed he was not The order of his iudgment with the maner of his examinatioÌ„ and Articles which were obiected agaynst him are comprised and set forth by himselfe in a letter written to his frendes which letter also is imprinted and set forth in this booke After sentence geuen against him by the Byshop of London he was delyuered to the Maior Shirifes of the sayd Citie Syr Stephen pecocke a simple man being then Maior and forth with he was committed to new gate where he was put into y e Dungeon vnder the sayd Gate and laden with Boltes and Irons as many as he could beare and his necke with a Coler of Iron made fast to a post so that he could neyther stand vpright nor stoupe downe yet was he there continually occupied in writing of diuerse thinges namely with a candell both day and night for there came none other light into that place And in this case he remayned iij. or iiij dayes and then was from thence caried into Smithféelde y e iiij day of Iuly 1533. where with great pacience and constancy he suffered that most hâ—lly and cruell death of burning And when the fyer was set on the faggottes he embraced the same in his Armes and with all pacience commytted his spirite vnto almighty God But this one thing is yet to bee remembred that he being bounde to the stake with an other good Martyr which was a very simple young man named Andrew Hewet there was present one Doctour Cooke that was person of the Church called Allhalowes in hony lane scituate in the myddes of Chepesyde And the sayd Cooke made an open exclamation and admonished the people that they should in no wise pray for them no more then they would doe for a dogg At which wordes Frith smyling desired the Lord to forgeue him But the vngodly and vncharitable wordes of the sayd Doctour did not a litle offende the people And thus for the testimony of the true doctrine of Christ which the sayd Frith sealed with his bloud the day and yeare afore sayd he dyed in the xxiiij yeare of his age as some saye but his parentes reported in the xxx yeare of his age IOHN FRITH VNTO the Christen Reader GRace and peace bee with thee ChristeÌ„ reader I am sure there are many that will much meruell couÌ„t it a great presumptioÌ„ that I beyng so young and of so small learnyng dare attempt to dispute this matter against these thre personages of the which nuÌ„ber two that is to say my Lord of Rochester and Sir Thomas More are auncient men both of great witte and dignitie Notwithstanding I will desire theÌ„ paciently to heare myne aunswere not aduertisyng who speaketh the wordes but rather what is sayd And as coÌ„cernyng myne youth let them remember what Paule monisheth i. Timot. iiij willyng that Timotheus should instruct the coÌ„gregration and that no maÌ„ should despise his youth for as the spirite of God is bound to no place cueÌ„ so is he not addict to any age or person but inspireth when hee will and where he will makyng the young to see visioÌ„s and espye the truth and the elders to dreame dreames and to wander in phantasies Actes 2. Ioel. 2. And as touchyng my learnyng I must nedes acknowledge as the truth is very small neuerthelesse that litle as I am bound haue I determined by Gods grace to bestow to the edifying of Christes congregation which I pray god to encrease in the knowledge of his word I would not that any man should admit my wordes or learnyng except they will stande with the Scripture and be approued therby Lay them to the touchstone and trye them with Gods word If they be found false and counterfaite then damne them and I shall also reuoke them with all myne hart But if the Scripture allow them that you can not deny but it so is then resist not y e doctrine of God but knowledge your ignoraunce and seduction and returne gladly into the right way For if you caÌ„ not improue it by Gods word and yet of an hate and malicious mynde that you beare to the truth labour to resist it condemne it that it should not spread I ensure you your sinne is irremissible and euen agaynst the holy ghost and the bloud of them that perish for fault of instruction shal be required on your handes Peraduenture some of you will say your fathers old progenitours â–ª with many holy men and Doctours haue so beleued that therfore you will abyde by the old I aunswere The wayes iudgementes of God are meruelous who knoweth whether God haue suffred his elect to erre and be seduced for a season to the entent that the vnfaithfull which would not beleue the truth but had pleasure in iniquity might stoÌ„ble at their errour into their vtter confusion and ruine Although a man be neuer so faythfull and holy yet is there much imperfectioÌ„ in him as long as he is included in this mortall body how be it it is not imputed vnto him but through y e fayth in Christes bloud who lye pacified and forgeuen And therfore it is not sure that we folow their exteour workes or other imaginatioÌ„s but let vs euer coÌ„ferre them vnto the pure word of God and as the Scripture testifieth so let vs receaue them My Lord of Rochester doth testifie him selfe writyng vpon the xviij Article that there are many pointes both of the Gospels and other Scriptures which are now discussed more diligeÌ„tly and more clearely vnderstand then they haue bene in tymes past And addeth furthermore that there are diuerse places in Scripture yet some deale darke which he doubteth not but that they shal be more open and light vnto our posteritie for why shal we dispaire of that saith he sith that the Scripture is for that entent left with vs that it may be vnderstaÌ„d of vs exactly and to the vttermost point Of this may you euidently perceaue that the old fathers and holy Doctours haue not sene all the truth But somewhat is also left through the high prouision of God to be discussed of their successours And therfore is it not mete that we straight wayes cleaue vnto their wordes with out any further ensearchyng the scriptures but we must examine all thyngs by the
draught But this meate y t I here receaue is spirituall meate receaued with fayth norisheth vs euerlastyngly both body soule neuer entreth into the draught And euē as before the outwarde eyen doe sée the bread yet the outward eyen doe not regarde that or thinke vpō it So likewise the outward man digesteth the bread casteth it into the draught And yet the inward man doth not regarde that nor thinke vppon it But thinketh on the thyng it selfe that is signified by that bread And therfore sayd Chrisostome euen a litle before the wordes whiche they here alleaged lift vp your minde hartes sayd hée whereby hée monisheth vs to looke vppon and consider those heauenly thinges which are represented and signified by the bread and wyne not to marke the bread and wyne in it selfe Here they will say vnto me that it is not Chrisostomes mynde for by his example hée playnly shewith that there remaneth no bread nor wyne that I deny For the example in this place proueth no more but y t ye shall not think on y t bread wine no more then if they were not there but onely on that thyng whiche is signified by them And that ye may euidently perceiue by the wordes folowyng where hée saith thinke that the misteries are cōsumed by the substance of the body Nowe whether Chrisostome thought that there remained bread or no both wayes shall our purpose bée proued First if hée thought there remained still bread and wyne then we haue our purpose Now if he thought that the bread wyne remayned not but were chaūged then are the bread and wyne neither mysteries nor Sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ For that that is not can neither bée mystery nor Sacrament Finally if hée speake of y e outward appearaunce of bread then we know that that remaineth still is not consumed by the substaunce of the body And therfore hée must néedes bée vnderstanded as I take him I thinke many men wonder how I can dye in this article seyng that it is no necessary article of our fayth for I graunt that neyther parte is an article necessary to bée beléeued vnder payne of damnation but leaue it as a thyng indifferent to thynke therein as God shall instill in euery mans mynde and that neyther parte condemne other for this matter but receiue eche other in brotherly loue reseruing eche others infirmitie to god The cause of my death is thys because I can not in conscience abiure and sweare that our Prelates opinion of the sacrament that is that the substaunce of bread and wine is verely chaunged into the fleshe and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ is an vndoubted article of the fayth necessary to bée beléeued vnder payne of damnation Now though this opinion were indéede true which thing they can neither proue true by scripture nor doctours yet coulde I not in conscience graunt that it shoulde bée an article of the fayth necessary to bée beléeued c. For there are many verities which yet may bée no such articles of our fayth It is true that I lay in yrons when I wrote this howbeit I would not haue you to receaue thys truth for an article of our fayth For you may thinke the contrary without all ieopardy of damnation ¶ The cause why I can not beleeue their opinion of transmutation is this 1 FIrst because I thinke verely that it is false and can neither hée proued by scripture nor faythfull doctours if they bée well pondered 2 The second cause is thys because I will not bynde the congregation of Christ by mine example to admitte any necessarye Article beside oure Creede and specially none such as can not bée prooued true by Scripture And I say that the Church as they caule it can not compell vs to receaue any such articles to bée of necessitie vnder payne of damnation 3 The thirde cause is because I dare not bée so presumptuous in entering into Gods iudgement as to make the prelates in this pointe a necessary article of our fayth For then I should damnably condemne all the Germanes Almaines with infinite moe which in déede doe not beléeue nor thinke that the substaūce of bread and wine is chaunged into the substaūce of Christes naturall body And surely I can not bée so foolishe hardy as to condemne such an infinite number for our prelates pleasures Thus all the Germaynes and Almaynes both of Luthers side and also of Oecolampadius doe wholy approue my matter And surely I thinke there is no man that hath a pure conscience but hée will thinke that I dye righteously For that this transubstantiation should bée a necessary article of the faith I thinke no man can say it with a good conscience although it were true in déede By me Iohn Frith An exact and diligent Table wherby you may readely turne to any speciall matter that is contained in all Iohn Frithes bookes 1572. A. ABraham 20 Abrahames bosome what it signified 55 Abraham by faith dyd eate Christes bodye and drinke Christes bloud 109 Ambrose opinion of Purgatory 52 Antithesis betweene Christ and the Pope 97 Argumentes to proue that Christes naturall body is not in the Sacrament 142 Articles of our faith are to bee beleeued vpon payne of damnation 111 Articles of our fayth are as many as are necessary for our saluation 145 Augustine beyng 400. yeares after Christ doubted of Purgatory 32 Augustines opinion of purgatory 52 B. BAptisme defined what it is 92 Baptisme is the founteine of our new byrth 94 Bishopricke in the primatiue church was a charge and not a Lordshyp 116 Blasphemie to saye that Christes bloud is not the full remission of our sinnes 11 Blessyng what it is 154 Bookes of the Machabees are not Canonicall 37 Bookes agaynst Rastall 60 Boasting that is modest is commendable 64 Body of Christe eaten by our fathers and his bloud dronke 109 Body of Christ is no more in the Sacrament thē a mans face in the glasse 146 Brethren is an auncient name in the holy Scripture 114 Bread and wyne remayne in the Sacrament 117 Bread why it is called our body 160 C. CAuse of our blyndnes and grosse errours 3 Causes why the Sacramentes were first instituted 112 Ceremonies of some sortes are guydes vnto the knowledge of God 95 Christ onely hath satisfied for our sinnes 14. 15 Christes merites putteth out the fier of Purgatory 14. 17. 18 Christ is our Aduocate 17 Christes sacrifice onely taketh away sinne 17. 38 Christ onely is our head 43 Christes death hath ouercōmed our death 55 Christ was meeke and gentle 57 Christ onely is the meane to put away our sinnes 73 Christes bloud is the strength of our Baptisme 94 Christ and the Pope compared togither 97. 98. 99. 100. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106 Christ is not to bee eatē carnally but spiritually 118. 119 Christes wordes are spirituall and not carnall 124 Christe gaue
to hys Disciples the signe of his bloud 129 Christes body is neither materiall bread nor drinke 131 Christ hys body occupyeth one place onely 137 Christ as touchyng his Godhead is in all places 139 Christ his body is in one place onely 147 Christ is eaten with fayth and not with the teeth 157 Christ calleth hym selfe bread 159 Church cannot erre sayth Rochester 56 Contradictories cannot bee true 26 Corruption when it entred into the Church 116 CorinthiaÌ„s how they came togither to eate the Supper of the Lord. 162 D. DEath is terrible to all flesh 34 Dead persons can neither doe good nor euill 53 Doctours haue erred in many thynges 53 Doctours proue that there is bread in the Sacrament 165 Dippyng in water and liftyng vp agayne what it meaneth 93 E. EXample of the Alepolle 113 Epitome of Frithes booke of the Supper of the Lord. 164 F. FAyth in Christ is our righteousnes 28 Fayth is not procured by violence 57 Fayth is the gift of God 58 Fayth is the spirituall eatyng of Christ in the Sacrament 108 Fayth that saued our fathers the same now saueth vs. 109 Fayth eateth Christ ioyfully 143 Fayth in Christes bloud consecrateth the Sacrament 153 Faythfull and vnfaythfull doe not â—ate a lyke 161 False Antichristes 154 Feare maketh fayth no fayth 5â— Fier of Purgatory is of great force 50 Flesh may not reioyce in the gifts of nature but must feare and tremble 89 Flesh of Christ doth profite nothing and yet it doth profite 123. 140 Foundation of Frithes treatise of the Sacrament 108 Frith why hee wrote agaynst Purgatory 4 Frithes conclusion agaynst Rastals booke 32 Frithes aunswere to Syr Thomas More 32 Frithes iudgement vppon the booke of the Machabees 40 Frith and More doe not agree 42 Frithes opinion of Christes death read it for it is excellent 48 Frithes aunswere to the Byshop of Rochester 51 Frithes Bulwarke against Rastall 60 Frith a good player at the tennyce 62 Frith handleth Rastall gentely 63 Frith a true Martyr of Christ 65 Frithes aunswere to Rastals second chapter 66 Frith a good scholer 68. 69 Frithes aunswere to Rastals thyrde chapter 69 Frithes iudgement vppon Tracyes last will and testament 77 Frithes letter to the congregation 81 Frithes mirrour or glasse wherein a man may learne to know him selfe 83 Frithes mirrour or glasse wherein behold the efficacie of the Sacrament of Baptisme 90 Frithes auÌ„swere to Master Mores first booke of the Sacrament 107 Frith met with false brethren 114 Frithes offer to the Clergy 115 Frithes earnest zeale 115 Frith feareth not death 115 Frith is no hasty iudge 150 Frith hath great modestie 156 Frithes prayer 157 Frith doth playnly declare his doctrine is the Sacrament 168 G. GErmanes beleeue the presence of the body but worshyp it not 167 Glasse that representeth the face is not the face 146 God hath left vs two Purgatoryes 5 God is to bee honored of all creatures 13 God forgeueth our sinnes for Christes sake 14 God neither the better nor the worsse for our doynges 15 God can not bee agaynst hym selfe 48 God is sayd to bee almighty because there is no superiour power aboue hym that hee can doe all thynges that hee will 145 God is so vnited to the manhode of Christ that they make but one person 169 Gods honour consisteth not in our seruice 13 Gods word is the touchstone to trye all doctrine 53 Gods worde is the keye of knowledge 58 Gods spirite is not bounde to any place 91 Gods Church what it is 92 Good bad are of the seÌ„sible church 93 Gods Churche is without spot or wrincle 93 Godfathers and Godmothers and their charge 96 God cannot doe all thynges 142 Good woorkes are to bee done because God commaundeth them to bee done 28 Good workes are the frutes of fayth 74 Good workes doe mortifie our members 75 Good woorkes are profitable to our neighbour 75 Good giftes geuen to vs of God why they are geuen 85. 86 Goodnes is of God and all euill of our selues 83 Grace is the gift of God 76 H. HEauen and hell is expressed in the Scripture but no word of Purgatory 54 Hell there is none to them that are in Christ Iesu 72 Hell is ordeyned for such as feare not God 72 Heresie what it is 50 I. IEwes slayne for Idolatry 38. Institution of the SacrameÌ„t 157. 163. Iudas Machabeus beleueth the resurrection 39. Iudas Machabeus profitable to the Papes cleargie 39. Iustification freely excludeth purgatory 10. K. KEyes how they were geuen to Peter and Paule 58. L. LAwe of God and lawe of man doe greatly differ 19. Lazarus 20. M. MAn why hee was made 13. Manna was to the Iewes the same that the Sacrament is to vs. 110. 118. Maundy of remembraunce 159. Ministers must bee circumspect 96. Miracles how the true are tryed froÌ„ the false 154. More and Rochester cannot agree 30. 36. 56. Mores false and fond argument 33. More vnderstandeth not the Scripture 35. More proued to be an insipient 40. More a quarelling brabler 144. More a confused interpreter of the Scriptures 41. More a procter for purgatory 42. More a subtile Sophister 46. 137. More and his purgatory confuted and confounded 50. Mores Poetry 84. 137. More a trifeling mocker 120. More hath a chekmate 121. More pretely nipped 122. More a subtile Poet. 137. More an ignoraunt procter for the clergie 144. More daunsing naked in a net thinketh himselfe inuisible 84. More harpeth on a wroÌ„g string 148 More and Frith dispute two things 149. More a popishe and malicious tyrant 156. N. NAturall reason not mete to reason against Scripture 13. Nature teacheth vs that there is both bread and wine in the Sacrament 165. O. OBstinate persons 95. Oecolampadius dyed of a Canker 118. Opinion of Frith 164. 165. 166. Opinion of the Prelates 164. 165. 166. P. PAule prophesieth of the latter tymes 116. Papistes imagined a purgatory for themselues 5. Papistes corrupte the Scriptures 126. Papistes say that no promise or couenant ought to be kept with heretiques 155. Parables proue nothing 54. Paradise what Christ ment by that worde 138 Paschall Lambe compared with the Sacrament of Christes bodie 157 158. Philip his maner of Baptisme 95. Pope is mercilesse if there be a purgatory 6. Pope is the Deuils vicar 59. Pope selleth Christes merites for money 11. Pope is Antichrist 59. Prayers and good deedes how they helpe 49. Prayers for the dead are vayne 52. Prayers made by Iohn Frith 157. Purgatory pickepursse 17. Purgatory a phantasie of mannes imagination 17. 27. Purgatory on the earth 18. Purgatory there is none 21. 27. Purgatory is in many places 21. Purgatory can not feare vs from sinne 25. Purgatory is needlesse 29. 31. Purgatory quite excluded 45. Purgatory and pardons haue beene good marchaundise for the Pope and his clergie 58. R. RAstalles dialogues what they conteyned 7. Rastall followeth More 7. 8. Rastall clearely and quicklye confounded 8. 9. Rastalles lyes 13. 14. Rastalles
king to kéepe thys contracte But yet you were not so content but afterward you found the meanes that this good kyng was poysoned by a traytorous Monke of Swinested because he should say that hée would make a halfepeny loafe worth xx shillinges if hée liued a yeare For the whiche word your holy Monke was moued and went and confessed hym selfe to the Abbot how that he would poyson the king for thys and the one deuill as good as the other the holy traytor absolued the holy murtherer before the déede was done and for thys holy murtherer is there founded v. masses for euer This is the blessed obedience of your holy Church How would you cry how would you yaulpe if wée had handled a gentlemans dogge on this fashion but you can call vs poore men traytors and in the meane season you bring both king kingdome into seruitude and bondage What is treason if this bée no treason to bring so honourable a kinge and hys lande into such bondage and compell hym to receiue his naturall and frée kingdome of such a vyllayne and lymme of y e deuell What can bée said or thought to defend this matter you haue not all onely done wrong to the kinge but vnto the yongest childe y e lyeth in the cradell y e which by your meanes is bonde And thinke it not sufficient to say that it is not your déede for first you are the children of these fathers and you haue alwayes alowed this acte This hath béene blased blowen preached and cryed out and all your bookes full of this matter and many a true mans bloud hath béene shed for speaking agaynst thys And yet was there neuer none of you y e did euer preach against this damnable facte but with full consent with full agréement both in worde déede and in wrytyng you haue alowed this treason Therfore I take you for the auctors as well as your forefathers I would not speake how dampnable it is to institute masses for a willing traytor and murtherer there was neuer no learninge that could allow this But there is no remedy hée that dyes agaynst his king and for the maintayning of your treason must néedes bée a saynt if masses blessinges and myracles wil helpe for all these bée at your commaundement to geue where you list So that we pore men must bée accused of insurrection and treason and we must bere al the blame we must bée driuen out of y e realme we must bée burned for it and as God knoweth there is no people vnder heauen that more abhorreth and with earnester hart resisteth more diligenly doth preach agaynst disobedience then we doe Yea I dare say boldely let all your bookes bée serched that were written this 500. years all they shall not declare the auctorite of a prince and the true obedience towarde hym as one of our litle bookes shall doe that bee condemned by you for heresy and all this will not helpe vs. But as for you you may preach you may wryte you may doe you maye sweare against your Princes and also assoyle all other men of their obedience towardes their princes You may compell princes to bée sworne to you and yet are you children of obedience and good christen men And if ye dye for this doctrine then is there no remedy but you must bée saintes and rather then fayle ye shall doe myracles To proue this I will tell you of a holy saynt of yours of whom your legend and cronicles maketh mencyon hys name as ye call him is s Germayne So it chaunced y e in the tyme of king Vortiger he came into England into a place where the king lay desired for hym his company lodging The king because hée kept no cōmō Inne would not receiue hym So hée departed very angerly and went to the kinges Neteherdes house and there desired lodginge and meate and drinke for hym and his companye The Neteherde was contēt to lodge him but hée sayd hée had no meate for hym sauyng a yong calfe that stode suckyng of the damme by the crybbe The byshop commaunded the calfe to bée slayne and to bée drest brought afore hym and hée and his company eate it vp and after commaunded the bones of the calfe to bée gathered togither and put in the calues skinne agayne and to bée layde in the cribbe by the damme and by and by y e calfe starte vp aliue agayne The next day the byshop went to king Vortiger reprooued him merueilous straightly because hée would not lodge hym and sayde that hée was vnworthey to bée kyng and therefore deposed hym made his Neteherde kyng in hys stede Of the which Neteherde as y e cronicles maketh mension came afterward many kings This is writen by one called Petrus de netalibus the which writeth the liues of all saintes I thinke no man will binde mée to proue this thing a lye but yet it must bee preached taught in your church it must bée writtē in holy saints liues hée must bée a saynt that did it and why because hée deposed a king and set in a Neteherde These shamefull and abhominable thinges doe you prayse and alowe and in the meane season condemne vs for heretickes and for traytours And if we chaunce moued by the abhomynablenes of your doctrine to geue you but one euyll worde then all the world rekoneth vs vncharitable But as for my parte I take God to recorde afore whome I shall bée saued or damned that though you haue done mée shamefull wronge and intollerable violēce yet with your owne persons am I neuer displeased nor angry but agaynst that horrible deuyll y e dwelleth in you that is the causer auctor and mayntayner of such abhominable doctrine that is against God and his blessed worde agaynst hym I say is my quarell and agaynst hym doe I striue this is the truth let men take my wordes as they will Is it not abhominable thinke you so shamfully to depose princes so to rebuke them so to handle them to compell them to bée sworne to you and to holde their lands of you to bée your ministers to the greate dishonour of the liuyng God and blaspheming of his blessed worde and to the great dispight of all noble potentates Ye remember the facte that is declared in your lawe of the noble Emperour Friderike and that wretch Innocent the fourth the thing was this The Pope by y e reasō of certayne complaintes made by the Emperours enemyes cited the Emperour to appeare at Rome and because the Emperour would not appeare he cursed hym with booke bell and candell and afterwarde deposed hym and commaunded the electours to chose an other This is the cause of your lawe briefely But your text declareth certayne artycles agaynst the Emperour which bée these The first that hée had sworne to kéepe peace with y e church of Rome which oth hée brake sayth y e
were here with his nette on his necke I thinke you would bid hym walke beggar if you called him not heretik Why doe you not sweare to folowe hys lyuing and to preach and teach his doctrine but that maketh nothing for your purpose Therefore you swerre all onely to S. Peters name But wherein wyll you bée faythfull to S. Peter to mayntane his worldly honours dignities or riches you know well hée sayth that hée hath forsaken all these thinges for Christes sake And for these thinges I thinke hée will require none othe of you Wherfore if you will néedes bée faythfull sworne vnto S. Peter it muste bée in mayntayning and in defending spirituall thynges as preaching of Christes Gospell purely and sincerely mynystring truelye after the institution of our master Christ y e blessed sacramentes of holy church and in vertuous lyuyng geuing example to the holy church of Christe But now if this bée your othe truely you are periured worthy to weare papers for you doe reken your selues to hye and to honorable to goe aboute such simple thinges as these bée And therfore you haue applyed your selues to other greater matters as to christening of belles to halowing of churches to blessing of candels to consecrating of holy oyle to halowing of chalesies vestementes and aulters and to geuing 40. dayes of pardon to them that receiueth your blessings in the streate and to some that visyte holy saintes such like greate matters which partayneth nothing to your othe wherefore I doe recken y e after the true forme of your othe we haue but few byshops but y e bée periured or abiured call it as you will both against God agaynst S. Peter and against their prince It foloweth And to the holy church of Rome what néedeth this what good can you doe to y e holy church of Rome Or what profyte is it to her that you sweare where is any request of her in holy scripture that you shoulde sweare Thinke you that she will compell you by your othe to bée true to her then must shee néedes sue you of periurie if you breake your othe But marke how y e church of Rome is set in your othe as the better person before the Pope wherefore it must néedes followe that y e Pope is vnder y e church and lesse then the church and no hed of the church except you will make hym a third person that neither pertayneth to S. Peter nor yet to holy Churche but is a thyng of him selfe and as your law sayth neither God nor man but middle betwéene them both that is as much to say after my learnyng as the deuill hym selfe But what meaneth it that you sweare onely to the holy Churche of Rome will you bée traytours to the holy Church of Constātinople or els to the holy Churche of England Or doe you thinke other Churches not holy tell vs what you meane for it séemeth a marueilous thyng and also a speciall thyng that you make such an othe all onely to the holy Church of Rome naming none other church Why are you not rather sworne to kéepe and to féede to norish and to bée true to your owne Church of the which you haue taken cure charge As S. Peter commaundeth you Sée that you féede Christes flocke which is among you For of these you haue taken your name lyuyng and dignitie You are called Byshop of Winchester of London and of Lyncolne And of these you are fed but these bée forgotten in your othe and these you litle regarde but to mayntayne the holy Churche of Rome that geueth you neuer a peny but robbeth all other Churches you must bée straitly sworne And why Antichrist must haue a cloke for his treason For now if hée bée a traytour hée is to bée excused why for hée is sworne to it But shall I tell you what I doe take out of it The truth is that you sweare to betray to kil and slay all members of all other Churches sauyng those that liueth after the whoredome and mischief that is vsed in Rome For if you should bee bounde to séeke out in Rome Christened men and those that doth liue after the liuyng of holy church I thinke you should finde but few Yea and vnto those you would thinke scorne to bée sworne Ergo it must folow that you are sworne to the worst sort of Rome and that your holy Churche of Rome is taken for such a sorte as liueth agaynst God agaynst his blessed worde agaynst the liuyng of holy Aposties agaynst the cōditiōs of our holy mother y e church I could say in all whoredome in all oppression in all Sodomytrie in all murther in all pōpe pride summa summarum in all maner of mischief what toung cā tell or hart can thinke But I will not say so for men would reken me vncharitable and to vehement Neuerthelesse all the worlde knoweth that you doe recken your selfe by the vertue of your oth boūde to no men but vnto such as in very déede liueth after this vngracious maner and yet will you bée faithfull and true vnto them agaynst all men Yea I dare say if that their conscience had not cōdemned them of such mischief they would neuer haue desired this assistence of you or els haue thought it necessary to haue required an othe of you But the veritie is they bée naught and haue néede of mayntainers in their mischief And also suspect you not to bée true except you made an othe to them yea and scarsly then onles that you in very déede at tyme and place conuenient doe betray your Princes for that is y e cause of your othe and other profite hath not the kyng by it I will bée reported by all practise that euer came out of your othe It foloweth And to my Lord the Pope I would gladly learne where the Pope hath got the dignitie of a Lord. This thyng is litle regarded of my Lordes the Byshops to bryng in such a worldly dignitie yea they will say it is but a trifle and mocke men for speaking agaynst it But the truth is if they durst as much now as in times past they would burne for this litle trifle the best Lord in England For I dare say it hath cost many a mans lyfe or euer they brought the Pope to Lordshyp Blessed S. Peter whose successour the Pope boasteth him selfe to bée knew nothing of this Lordshyp for bée sayth vnto hys felowes they shall not exercise no Lordshyp ouer the congregation And likewise S. Paule durst not take vppon him to commaunde as a Lord collections to bée made for poore men but mekely desires thē without any Lordshyp Also in an other place Let no man iudge vs but as the Ministers of Christ Blessed S. Paule rekeneth him selfe but a minister a seruaunt And yet y e day hath béene that he was so good as my Lord the Pope Our master Christ that
Lord Cardinall were myne ordinarye iudge or not wyth other lyke captious interogations at the last they came to my first article and inquyred of mée if all dayes were alyke I sayde after the mynde of S. Hierome that all dayes were equall Then asked they mée if wée shoulde kéepe any holy dayes I sayde yes And in this matter wée had a great disputation till at the last my Lord of Rochester came And hée asked mée if this commaundement Sabatum sanctifices were a ceremoniall or a morall precepte I answered that it was a ceremoniall alleaging for mée S. Augustine ThaÌ„ sayd hee that I was not learned But alwayes when they had asked of mée a question and I had assoyled it so that they neyther woulde nor coulde abiecte any thyng agaynst mée than was I commauÌ„ded alwayes to stand a parte And they layde their heades togither till they had inuented an other captious question Than was I called agayne and myne answere geuen I was coÌ„maunded backe agayn Thus they continued with me thrée dayes in the which space their Notary wrote a reuocation of all my articles before the tyme that myne aunswere was heard And on the thyrde day after noone about iij. of y e clocke was there a greate long rolle offered vnto me for to read word by word as it there stode and commaundement was geuen me by y e Byshop of Bath â–ª that I should not speake one word afore the people more or lesse theÌ„ was written in the rolle for if I did hée would handle me well inough So I required first to sée what was writteÌ„ in the rolle or I would grauÌ„t vnto it Aunswere was made that if I would read it as it was written well good if not I should stand to the ieoperdy So I desired them to know if they had condemned any of my articles for heresie They sayd yea I asked theÌ„ which it was They sayd they would not tell me more then was writteÌ„ I aunswered Alas my Lordes y e truth is that to my iudgement I haue spoken nothyng but that standeth with S. Augustine with S. Hierome and with other Doctours of holye Churche Wherfore if it shall chaunce me thus to bée coÌ„deÌ„ned and not to bée taught wherein I can not tell what I should preach in tyme to come The Byshop of Bathe aunswered that I shoulde take no care for that for as for preachyng hée would prouide for me But I should alonly aunswere if I would read this rolle or not I desired that they would first pointe with their finger if they wold not speake it which article they had condemned for heresie and I would bée bounde to proue it true by S. Augustine or els by S. Hierome or I would bée takeÌ„ for an hereticke To this said the Byshop of Bathe that if S. Augustine and S. Hierome were here they should staÌ„d to the determination of the Church Vnto whom I sayd that the Church had so determined of S. Augustine S. Hierome that if any other church determined agaynst them I would suspect it Well sayth hée If you will stand vnto them doe We are conteÌ„t alonely tell vs whether you will read this rolle or not Then sayd I. My Lordes I beséech you in the way of charitie and for Christes sake deale charitablye with me doe me no wrong For S. Paule sayeth that you haue power geuen to edifiyng and not to destruction Very well sayd the Byshop of Bath ye néede not to feare Here bée to many witnesses that we should oppresse you wrongfully But sayd hée tell vs whether you will read this rolle or not This is the thyrd tyme the last Then sayd I. I will not grauÌ„t to it except I may first sée it Doe as it shall please you At this they sat all still wone looking on the other Then the Bishop of Bath commaunded me to departe aside So tooke they their counsell togithers And at the last I was called agayne and this was sayd to me Syr ye shall haue a man that shall read it vnto you afore Well said I. I am content And so one of their Notaries a lay maÌ„ was assigned vnto me and we departed a litle aside there hée began to read The yeare of our Lord such a day of the moneth was one Doct. Barnes conuented before the byshops in Westminster for certeine articles which were gathered out of a Sermonde that hée preached in Cambridge of the whiche some of them bée sclaunderous some bée erronious some bée contentious some bée seditious some bée foolishe and some bée hereticall When that hée came to this worde hereticall I asked hym which of them were hereticall Hée answered mée agayne yée haue heard what my Lordes sayth I can make you no answere Alas sayd I shall I bée thus condeÌ„ned for an hereticke and can not tell what is myne heresie Then sayd hée it belongeth not to me speake vnto them Well said I. Read no more So went I agayne before the Byshops And â—ell downe on my knées and desired them for the better passion of Christ that they would shewe vnto me whiche article they condemned for heresie and then if I would not bée taught they should handle me after the forme of law But to this the Byshop of Bath auÌ„swered sayd I should chose whether I would read y e rolle or els bée burned y e one of both I should doe TheÌ„ sayd I Iesus haue mercy on me I wil surely not read it And so I deliuered it to them againe Then the other Doctours cryed vppon me the one here the other there that I shoulde remember my selfe and not to cast my selfe awaye after this manner For to read the rolle said they was but a small thing and I was neuer the worse maÌ„ And I should sée that my Lord Cardinall should bée good gracious vnto me and they would all speake for me so that I supposed in very déede that they would haue required no more of me but for to haue read the rolle afore y e face of the world that I should not séeme to haue the victory agaynst them all which thing I did not greatly regarde But in very déede and if I had knowen that there had beene so mischieuous poyson tyranny and cruelnes in them as I founde afterward I would neuer haue read it to haue dyed for it But God bryngeth all thinges to passe at his pleasure Now vpon this opinion that I had in them and by the reason of theyr good wordes and pituous that they spake vnto mée I graunted to reade the roolle But than when I woulde haue read it the Byshoppe of Bathe sayd it was to late so was there a great disputation betwéene them vppon the matter Till that Doctour Quarton sayd my Lorde it is not to late for it is all in one session and in the tyme of one iudgement But the Byshop of Bathe our Lord forgéeue him sought all y e meanes y e hée
then those men that call thē selues y e holy church yea take away the name of the church and set in her stéede the name of the deuyll how will you then know a byshop frō the deuyll By their workes nay trewly for they bée all one And yet will you bée the heades of Christes church yea the holy church her selfe not so yée wicked not so Wherefore that this blessed spouse of Christ may bée knowen from thée open and abhominable whores and harlotes therefore will I by gods grace set out what holy Church is and where by men shall know her This worde Ecclesia both in y e new testament and the olde is taken oftētymes for the whole congregatiō and and the whole multitude of y t people both good and bad as it is in the booke of Numeri Why haue you brought the congregation or Church of God into wildernes Also in an other place The king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation or Church of Israell and all the Church of Israell stoode Likewise in the new testamēt Saint Paule to the Corinthians I haue sēt vnto you Tymothy the which shall learne you my wayes y e bée in Christ Iesu as I doe learne euery where in all congregations Also in an other place doe you despise the congregation of God and shame thē that haue not In all these places in many moe is it open that this greke word Ecclesia is taken for the whole congregation both of good bad Wherfore this is not y e church that we will greatly speake of for in this church are Iewes and Sarasens Murtherers and Theeues Baudes and Harlots though we know them not But there is an other holy Church of the which S. Paule speaketh you men loue your your wiues as Christ hath loued the Church and hath geuē him selfe for her that hée might sanctifie her and clense her in the fountaine of water through the worde of life to make her to him selfe a glorious Church without spot or wrincle or any such thyng but that she might bée holy without blame Here haue you the very true Churche of Christ that is so pure and so cleane without spotte But wherby is shée pure cleane not by her owne merites nor by her owne might not by exteriour araye not by gold nor siluer nor yet by precious stones neither by myters nor crosestaues nor by pillers nor pollaxes But wherby then by Christ onely which hath geuen him selfe for that intēt that hée would make her cleane and therefore sayth S. Paule Hée gaue him selfe that hée might sanctifie her that hée might clense her and make her to him selfe a glorious Church Also in an other place you are washed you are sanctified you are iustified in the name of Iesus Christ and in the spirite of God Sée my Lordes how the Church is washed by Christ by his holy spirite and not by your blessynges not by your spirituall ornamentes nor by your spirituall holy water for these thynges cannot helpe the holy Church for she is holy in spirite and not in outwarde hypocrisie she is also clensed by Christes blessed bloud not by outward disguisinges This doth S. Augustine wel proue saying Of Christ is the church made fayre first was she filthie in sinnes afterward by pardon and by grace was she made fayre c. Here S. Augustine sayth y t Christ hath made his Church fayre and that by his grace his pardon and not by your pardons nor by your grace For this Church stādeth by Christes election not by yours And if Christ haue not washed you chosen you then bée you none of this Church though you ride with a thousand spiritual horses and haue all the spirituall tokēs on earth For and if y e sonne of God haue deliuered you thē are you truely deliuered Ye can not make by all your power and holynes that we shall alwayes finde good ale or wyne where there hangeth out a gréene signe and will you with your spirituall signes and tokens make the Churche of God to folow you or by them assigne out where the Churche shall bée Nay nay my Lords it will not bée but they that beléeue y e Christ hath washed them from their sinnes and sticke fast vnto his merites and to the promise made to them in hym onely they bée the Church of God so pure and so cleane that it shall not bée lawfull no not for Peter to say that they bée vncleane but whether they bée Iew or Gréeke kyng or subiect carter or Cardinall butcher or Byshop tancardbearer or cannelrater frée or bounde Frier or fidler Monke or miller if they beléeue in Christes word sticke fast to his blessed promises and trust onely in the merites of his blessed bloud they bée the holy Church of God yea and the very true church afore God And you with all your spiritual tokens with all your exteriour cleannes remaine in your filthynes of sinne from the which all your blessings all your pardons all your spirituallitie all your holynes can not clense you nor bring you into this Churche Boast crake blast blesse curse till your holy eyes start out of your head it wil not helpe you for Christ chooseth his church at his iudgement and not at yours The holy ghost is frée inspireth where hée will hée will neither bée bound to Pope nor Cardinall Archbishop nor Byshop Abbot nor Prior Deacon nor Archdeacon Parson nor Vicare Nunne nor Frier Briefly come all the whole rabble of you togither that call your selues y e holy Churche and exclude all other yea and take sunne moone starres to helpe you with all the frendes you haue in heauē and earth and yet shall you not bée of holy church except that you haue y t spirite of Christ bée washed in his blessed bloud For y e holy Churche of Christ is nothyng els but that congregation that is sanctified in spirite redéemed with Christes bloud and sticketh fast and sure alonely to the promises that hée made therein So that the Church is a spirituall thyng and no exterior thyng but inuisible from carnall eyes I say not that they bee inuisible that bée of the Church but that holy Church in her selfe is inuisible as fayth is and her purenes and cleanes is before Christ onely and not before the worlde for the worlde hath no iudgement nor knowledge of her but all her honour and cleanes is before Christ sure and fast And if there appeare any of her goodnes vnto the worlde of that shée maketh no reckenyng nor thinketh her selfe any thyng thyng the better that the worlde iudgeth well of her for all her trust is in Christ onely She suffereth the worlde to rage and blaspheme both agaynst her and agaynst Christ her maker Shée standeth fast and beléeueth sted fastly that that shal haue a shamefull ende and euerlasting
learnyng will graunt that euill men bée the dead members of the Churche what they bée worth let other men iudge But M. More reckoneth that there is not such a Churche here in earth that is without spot and wrincle as S. Paul sayth For the Church sayth hée is here gracious and not glorious Truely I haue marueile what hée meaneth thus to expound Saint Paules saying for I thinke hée can not prooue but that S. Paules saying is verified of the Church that is here militant and not of the church triumphaunt But I will not at this tyme greatly dispute with M. More But and if hée were as hée hath béene I would say some thyng more to hym then I will doe at this tyme. Hée can neither mocke me nor iest me out of coÌ„ceite and if I were disposed to couple with hym nor it is not hys foule shameles woorkes and vntrue sayinges that hée layeth to me that could feare me But now that it hath pleased God without any helpe or know ledge of me to bryng hym vnto this fall I will praye to God for hym to geue hym grace that hée may reuoke all such false doctrine as hée hath brought into the worlde For doubtles if hée abyde in the meanyng that hée is now in I doe not sée how hée can dye Gods seruaunt Yea his own knowen Church is agaynst hym whoÌ„ hée sayth men are bound to beléeue vnder payne of damnation But truely as God shall iudge me I am sory for hys trouble if I could helpe hym with any lawfull meanes I would doe my best so euill will beare I him But to procéede farther in my matter I will not greatly speake much of the Church by the reason that many other men sence my fyrst writinge haue declared this article much better then I can doe it Wherefore I will all onelye resite the places of holy doctours that I haue brought for mée in my fyrst booke and the intent wherefore I aleaged them to prooue that y e Church was afrée thing throughout all the world and not bounde eyther to place or to person I brought for me y e saying of S. Augustine saying these wordes The holy Church are wée But I doe not saye are we as one should say we that bée heare all onely that heare mée now but as many as bée heare faythfull christean men in this Church y e is to say in this Cytie as many as bée in this region as many as bée beyonde the sea as many as bée in all the whole world for from y e rysing of the sunne tyll the goinge downe is the name of God praysed So is y â— holy Church our mother c. Also Lyra sayth The Church doth not stand in men by the reason of spirituall power or seculer dignitie For many princes and many Popes and other inferiour persoÌ„s haue swerued from the fayth Wherfore the church doth stand in those persons in whom is the true knowledge and confession of fayth and of veritye c. Here Lyra sayth as much as I doe in cleare wordes And M. More doth not nor yet caÌ„ refell hym Afterward I bring a saying of S. Augustine to prooue that the Church hath spottes and wryncles in her And yet by confessing of them and by stycking to Christes bloud they bée not imputed vnto her This is his saying The whole Church prayeth Lord forgeue vs our sinnes Wherfore she hath spottes and wryncles But by knowledging of them her wryncles bée streatched out and by knowledging her spottes are washed away The Church continueth in prayer y e shée myght bée clensed by knowledgeing of her synnes And as long as we here liue so standeth it And when euery maÌ„ departeth out of this body all such sinnes are forgeuen hym the which ought to bée forgeueÌ„ For they bée forgeuen by dayly prayer and hée goeth hence clensed And the Church of God is layde vp in the treasure of God for puregolde by this meane the Church of God is in the treasure of our Lord without spotte or wrynkell It foloweth Let vs therefore pray that God may forgeue vs and that we may forgeue our dettours séeing it is sayde and it shall be forgeuen vnto you We say this dayly and dayly we doe this and this thing is done dayly in vs. We are not here without sinne But we shall departe hence without synne c. Let euery man iudge whether that this place of S. Augustine maketh for my purpose or not that is to say whether that y e Church hath any spottes or wrincles in her or not And yet neuertheles shée hath no spottes nor wrincles For S. Augustine sayth y e Church of God is in the treasurie of God without any spotte so that through Gods mercy nothing is imputed vnto her Her cleannes is not y e shée hath no spots but béecause that for Christes sake there is nothing layd to her charge M. More maketh many wordes of â—enyall synnes and deadly synnes But to speake after his owne schoole men it should bée to harde for hym to defende that exposition that hée here maketh of S. Augustine But to proue that the Church is cleane by the reason of Christ I brought for mée their owne lawe whose wordes bée these Therefore is y e Church holy because shée beléeueth righteously in God c. Furthermore to prooue that this congregation of faythfull men is the Church that can not erre I brought for mée their owne lawe Whose wordes bée these The holy Church can not erre c. Also in an other place The Congregation of faythfull men must néedes bée which also can not erre c. So that it is cleare first that there must nedes bée a congregation of faythfull men which bée neyther bounde to Rome nor to Hierusalem uor yet to any certayne place but it is spread abroade throughout the whole worlde and standeth in the vnitye of faythfull christen men And that is the church that God suffereth uot to erre in those thinges that belong to saluation Wherefore I dyd say in my other booke that the Popes councels were not the church that coulde not erre For for y â— most part those couÌ„sels did not order themselues after Gods worde Wherfore I sayd they myght well erre And for that cause a pryuate person hauing scripture for hym ought to bée preferred afore a whole counsell if they had no scripture For Gods worde ought to bée iudge ouer all counsels and to prooue this I brought for mée the saying of Panormitanus which sayth The counsell may erre as it hath erred concernyng y e contracte of matrimony inter Raptorem Raptam And y e saying of S. Hierome was afteaward preferred aboue the statute of y â— couÌ„sell as it is prooued 36. quest 2. Tria For in these thynges concernyng the fayth the saying of a priuate person is to bée preferred before the saying of the Pope if
a burden of a tyraunt that is layde on vs and neither helpeth to the increasing of gods honour nor to the edifiyng of our brethreÌ„ they them selues kéepe theÌ„ not Of these speaketh our master Christ they binde gréeuous and vntollerable burdens lay them on mens neckes but they themselues will not once set their litle â—inger to them As for an example To eate fleshe on the Fryday is forbidden by the Byshoppes now if they compell thée to it as vnto a thyng necessary and without the which thou canst not bée saued then shalt thou not doe it vnder the payne of sinne but if they will haue thée kéepe this as a thyng of congruence and as a thyng that may bée an exterior meane to mortifie the bodie or an outwarde shyne of holynes and vnto this he will compell thée by outwarde paynes this thyng shalte thou doe of thy charitie béecause thou wilt not breake the outwarde order nor make any disquietnesse for those thinges that neyther make thée good nor yet condemne thee béefore God for as S. Paule sayth if wée eate neither are wée the better nor if wée eate not are wée the worse Alwayes prouided that in these indifferent thynges thou neyther set confidence nor holynesse nor yet offende thy weake brothers charitie for therein though thou bée frée in thy selfe the thyng is also indiffereÌ„t to thée yet of charitie fréely makest thou thy selfe seruaunt to all meÌ„ as S. Paule saith When I was frée from all thynges yet dyd I make my selfe a seruaunte that I might winne many men Note that hée alwayes speaketh of weake brethren and not of obstinate and indurate persons agaynst whome thou shalt alwayes withstand and defende thy libertye as hée dyd hée is thy weake brother that hath a good minde and béeléeueth the worde of God neuerchelesse hée hath not that gifte to perceaue as yet this libertie to vse indifferent thynges fréely wyth thankes Therfore fayth and charitie must bée thy guide in all these thynges and folowing them thou canst not erre FINIS That all men are bounde to receiue the holy Communion vnder both kyndes vnder the payne of deadly sinne IF men had stucke to the opeÌ„ scriptures of God to y e practise of Christes holy church and to y e exposition of olde doctours as it did béecome Christen men to doe then had it not béene néedefull for mée to haue taken these paynes labours in this cause nor yet to haue layd to their charges those thinges y â— Antichrist doth onely But now seeyng that they will doe the open déedes of Antechrist they must bée conteÌ„t that I may also geue them his name And that all the world may openly know y â— Antechrist doth raine in the world yea and that vnder the name of Christ I will heare set you forth an act of his which wheÌ„ it is coÌ„pared to our M. Christes wordes I doe not doubt but all trew Christen men will iudge it to bée of the deuyll as it is in very déede though that the childreÌ„ of the world doe iudge it otherwyse This doe I say of an acte that the Councell of Constance dyd make agaynst the most holy and glorious sacrament of our eternall God Iesus Christ Where in the one kynde of this most blessed sacrament was condemned as vnlawfull for lay men to receiue and y â— euery man may know by what auctoritie they dyd it what thing did moue them to condemne so blessed and so gloryous an ordinance of our Lord Iesus Christ here will I wryte their owne wordes which be these As this custome for auoyding certayne sclaunders and perrils was resonably brought in notwithstaÌ„ding in the béeginning of the Church this sacrament was receiued of Christen men vnder both kindes afterward it was receiued al onely vnder y e kind of bread wherefore séeing that such a custome of the Church and of holy fathers reasonably brought in long obserued must bée taken for a lawe y t which shall not bée lawfull to reprooue nor without auctorytie of the Church to chauÌ„ge it at a maÌ„s pleasure Wherfore to say y â— it is sacrilege or vnlawfull to obserue this coÌ„suetude or law must bée iudged erronius and they that doe pertinaciter defende the contrary of these premissis must bée restrayned as heretikes and greuously punished by the Byshops or their officials or by them that bée inquisitores hereticae prauitatis which that bée in kyngdomes or in prouinces in these men that doe attempt or presume any thyng agaynst thys decrée shall men procéede agaynst them after the holy and lawfull decrées that bée inuented agaynst heretickes and their fauters into the fauoure of the Catholicall fayth c. Now wyll I exhorte all Christen men in y e glorious name of our mightie Lord Iesus Christ which is both their redéemer shall bée their iudge that they wyll indifferently heare this article discussed by the blessed worde of our Maister Christ Iesus whiche was not alonely of God but also very God himselfe and all that hée dyd was done by the counsel of the whole trinitie and not alonely by his by whole counsell all counselles both in heauen and earth must bée ordered and that counsell that is contrary to it whether it bée of Sainte Angel or of man must bée accursed and iudged to bée of the deuil though they bée neuer so mighty neuer so well learned and neuer so many in multitude for there is no power no learning nor yet no multitude neither in heauen nor in earth nor no ieoperdies nor no sclauÌ„ders that may iudge Christ and hys holy worde nor that they may géeue place vnto Wherfore if I can prooue by open Scriptures of our Mayster Christ and also by the practise of holy Church that this counsell is false and damnable then let all Christen men iudge which of vs must bée heard and béeléeued eyther the counsell hauyng no scripture yea contrary to all scripture or els I that haue the opeÌ„ worde of God and the very vse and practise of the holy Apostles of holy church Christ is of God that no maÌ„ doubteth but y e holy counsell though there were fiue thousaÌ„des of byshops therin must proue theÌ„selues to bée of God by the worde of God and by theyr workes the which they can not doe if they bée contrary to Christ and hys blessed worde Moreouer Christ is not true vnder a condition bycause that men doe a low hym for though all the worlde were agaynst hym yet were hée neuerthelesse true but the couÌ„sell is not true but alonely vnder this condition bycause it doth agrée with Christes holy worde and of it selfe it hath no veritie but is of the deuill if it varye from Christ Before the dreadfull trone of God shall y e counsell bée iudged by Christes holy worde Christ shal not bée iudged by the decrée of the counsell but hée shall bée the counsels
t Pope doth and speaketh more generally but the thynge is all one For the Marcianites iudgeth mariage vncleane for their sorte and so doth the Pope for his sorte Farthermore Marcian sayth that among Christen men may bée no temporal maryages but all coniunctions must bée turned vnto a spirituall mariage And the selfe same thing saith the Pope of his Priestes Wherefore séeing that they doe graunt how that blessed S. Paul and also holy fathers hath condemned this heresie of Marcian it mâ—st néedes also folow that the opinion of the Pope is lykewyse condemned But yet paraduenture here will bée sayde as Doctour Eckius and other meÌ„ writing of this matter sayth how that the Pope doth not condemne maryage but hée causeth men alonely to kéepe their vowe I aunswere that thys is but a small euasion For first the Pope coÌ„pelleth them if they wyll bée priestes to vowe and to forsweare maryage For if there were no statute made béefore of the Pope that all priestes should forsweare maryage then shoulde there no vowes bée made of priestes against mariage but the thing shoulde bée frée So that the vowe commeth out of the Popes decrée prohibition and not the decrée out of the vowe Therfore y e probation goeth béefore the vowe Wherfore this euasion can haue no place Take an exaÌ„ple The Emperour maketh a statute that no man shalbée admitted into his seruice excepte that hée first sweare to bée an enemy vnto the kyngs grace of England Is not now the Emperour first an enemye vnto the kynges person and then also a forbydder of loue and fauour towardes the kinges grace of EnglaÌ„d I thynke hys grace wyll take this acte none otherwise For though hée doth not nor can not make all men the kynges enemies yet hee maketh all that appertayne to hym to bée the kinges enemies So lykewise the Pope though hée doe not forbid all men maryage yet hée forbyddeth as many as will bée Priestes Yea and hée will admitte no man to bée priest excepte hée first forsweare maryage So that y e vow is first made ere that that pristhoode is géeuen Now if hée were not an enemy in very déede vnto maryage what shoulde mooue hym to compell hys priestes to forsweare maryage why doth hée not as well bynde all hys Priestes to maryage as hée doth to chastitie Yea why doth hée not at y t least kéepe hymselfe indifferent and neither make decree against mariage nor agaynst chastitie But the very trueth is that all the protectours of vncleannes filthy liuing doth know very well that this solution is of no strength or valure For in very déede their hartes doth recken matrimony vncleane and vnpure and though they woulde now make a glose yet their owne lawes y t which bée sprong out of their hartes doth shewe how much they holde of holy vnpolluted matrimony The pope doth cal clarks y t bée maried impios y t is wicked cursed vncleane filthy and all y t nought is Also in an other place hée cauleth the matrimony of lay men a fleshly and carnall thyng and the chastitie of his spiritualtie hée cauleth spirituall maryage What saith Marcian more then this is Is not this abhominable doctrine thus shameles to speake of holy and sanctified matrimony and to call it fleshly and carnall And yet hée is not thus content but hée cauleth y t maryage of priestes sinne and defenders of the same sectatores libidinum the folowers of filthy lustes preceptores viciorum the teachers of vice laxantes frena luxuriae géeuing libertie to lechery Tell mée if any man woulde speake and reprooue y t whores of the stewes what other wordes coâ—ld hée vse agaynst them more shameful then these And yet they wil not bée noted to condemne matrimony What mischiefe can not the deuill cloke if men woulde beléeue hym But farthermore let vs sée how holy and blessed that hée reckeneth matrimony for to bée by the reason of honours and rewardes that hée geueth vnto priests that marry First saith hée if a Priest doth marry of ignoraunce by the reason that hée knew not the statute of the pope forbidding priestes to marry that then this priest fyrste shall forsake his wife and then shall so continue with out any farther promotion as long as hée lyueth And if there bee any Priest that will defeÌ„d his mariage by the example of the Priestes in the ould lawe hym doth the Pope priuate of all maner of Ecclesiasticall honour for euer Moreouer hée sayth that if any spirituall maÌ„ doth after this decrée marry then his sinne shall neuer bée forgeuen hym nor they may neuer afterward handle the blessed sacrameÌ„t because that mariage is a fylthy and a foule concupiscence sayth hée Now iudge indifferently ChristeÌ„ reader if this bée not dispising of holy matrimony thus shamefully to speake of it and so cruelly to handle them that holyly doth liue in it hauing nothing for hym but a lousy decrée of Pope Siricius So that men may perceaue clearely how that hée byndeth not his priestes by the reason of their vowe as his protectours doth say but by y t reason of the statute that Siricius had made afore the priestes had vowed any chastetie S. Paule when hée should order such byshoppes as should bée in the Church of God irrepreseÌ„sible among all other thinges hée would that hée should bée a man of one wife hauing children well brought vp Here Saint Paule aloweth hym one wife How commeth it then that men say that a Priest shall haue no wyfe How agreeth this one with none Men must at the least wayes graunt that S. Paule dyd not recken mariage vnpure vncleane for a byshop for if hée had hée would not haue grauÌ„ted hym one wife Yea moreouer hée speaketh of his children well brought vp in the which hée admitteth and aloweth the coniunction and copulation béetwéene them two for to bée godly and vertuous Hée hath other eyes to looke on the blessed and holy coniunction which is betwéene man and wyfe then the Pope hath For the Pope rekeneth it fylthy and not semely that a Priest should with his holy handes touch a womans body with the same handes to conscecrate y t holy sacrament Oh Lord God what caÌ„ not the deuill bring to passe what abhominable holynes of hypocrisye is this to recken a Priest vnpure and vncleane béecause hée hath vsed hym selfe in Gods holy ordinaunce Is not this as much to say God thou art an inuenter and ordayner of that thing that maketh men vnpure vncleane thou art the auctour of this vncleanenes For haddest thou not instituted it so had men not vsed it Alas how fayne would I chide I could here say some thing If I would but I may not Neuertheles it gréeueth mée for I can not tell where to vse euell wordes if I shall not vse theÌ„ against such abhominable and execrable heresye
more diligeÌ„tly pray maketh nothing for the Pope For if wée should bée bouÌ„de as y t pope saith not to marry by the reason that we ought to pray then might no lay man marry a wife For laye men are as much bounde by the Gospell to prayer as priestes bee There is no tyme that the Gospell coÌ„maundeth a priest to pray in nor yet no prayer that is commaunded to priestes by y t gospell but lay men are bonnd to the same Wherefore if the pope will conclude that priestes shall haue no wiues because they are bound to pray By the same reason will I prooue y t no christeÌ„ man may haue a wife Nor it will not help to say that priestes are more bound to pray then lay men therefore they haue no wyues For whether that they be bounde lesse or more that maketh no matter to y t argumeÌ„t For both the parties are bounde to prayer Therefore after the popes doctrine neyther of them both may marry But whether the one be more bounde then the other it maketh no matter to mée for they are both bounde therfore they must both abstayne I woulde desyre all Papistes to let this reason of myne stande still vnassoyled An other reason their is of Pope Leo the. ix that bringefh this text of S. Paule Haue not we power to leade aboute with vs a wyfe as the brother of our Lord and Cephas Out of this texte disputeth the pope thus S. Paule sayth not we haue power amplectendi muliereÌ„ to embrace a woman But circunducendi that is to leade her with vs that shée may bée sustayned as the Pope sayth of her husband But there may bée no company of maryage betwéene them Euery ChristeÌ„ man may sée what a skleÌ„der argument this is of the pope S. Paule sayth not amplecteÌ„di sed cercuÌ„ducendi Ergo non licet sacerdotious habere vxores This can no man denye but S. Paules mening is there how that priests may lawfully haue wiues as the example of Peter doth there prooue Wherefore I thinke no man so madde to iudge that the Apostels dyd myrry wyues alonely to lead theÌ„ about with them as the Pope sayth and to put other men to costes and charges For this office they might haue had of all other women and neded not to marry for leading about of women with them Wherefore it must néedes follow séeing S. Paules meaning is that priestes may lawfully haue wiues that they may also lawfully vse the office of matrimony For his owne doctrine is that the man hath no power ouer his owne body but his wife Wherefore it must followe that the pope maketh an euell supposition when hée supposeth that the Apostles hadde wiues and did onely but cary them about to geue them meate and drinke and not to company with them Also marke of this argument how the pope graunteth that the apostles had wyues Wherefore he must now prooue that the Apostles forsooke the company of their wiues as hée sayth But I am content to take this argument at the popes hand This the pope graunteth that the Apostles ledde their wyues aboute wyth them Wherfore it must néedes follow eueÌ„ after the Pope that our priestes may also leade wiues aboute with them If ye graunt me this I am content I will not binde priestes amplectendi vxores I will put it to his wiues discretion and his as they two caÌ„ agrée so am I coÌ„tent alonely to let them haue the libertie that the Pope graunteth the holy Apostles to haue had And I doubt not but there wyll folow tokens not onely of circumducendi but of amplectendi Truely I haue great maruayle y t men bée not ashamed thus to trifle with holy Scripture yea and that in matters that bée so waighty wherby they sée dayly so great offence and sclaunder to spring in the holy church of God An other Scripture the pope hath which is this They that are in the fleshe can not please God On thys text disputeth the Pope thus They that are defiled are in the fleshe But priestes that marry wyues are defiled therefore they bée in y t fleshe and can not please God If men had eyther feare of God in thier hartes or els reuereÌ„ce to Gods holy institutions and ordinaunces they would not thus speake nor iudge of pure cleane matrimony I trust there is no ChristeÌ„ man but bee will grauÌ„t mée that matrimony is of gods ordayning and settinge Wherefore it must néedes bée pure aâ—d cleane For our God is no God of vncleanenes or of filthines let the pope iudge hym as hée wyll Nowe to the Popes argument The Pope sayth in hys minor how Priestes that marry bée vncleane I denye that and say stedfastly that the pope blasphemeth both God and his holy giftes And wheÌ„ hée can prooue his minor true then will I graunt it vnlawfull for Priestes to marry But I wyll take the Popes argument and prooue that no man shall haue wiues and so shall the worlde soone bée at an ende The popes maior is this They that bée in the flesh can not please God But maryed meÌ„ as the Pope thinketh lyue after y e flesh therefore no maryed man can bée saued Let the pope of Rome and all hys adherentes aunswere to my argument and I will soone aunswere to theirs For this I am sure of that y e scriptures which he bringeth maketh not agaynst matrimony nor yet more against priests then agaynst lay men Wherfore let hym conclude what hée can out of them against priestes and I will conclude the same agaynst laye men These bée all the Scriptures that I can finde in the Popes law against this matter Wherefore now will I goe to their reasons Their principall reason is this Maryed men may bée choseÌ„ to bee priests but after their priesthoode say they may they not marry These meÌ„ must first consider what doctrine they defend y t is to say how they inteÌ„de to defeÌ„d y e popes doctrine and y t doctrine which they call the doctrine of the church for there is none other doctrine agaynst vs but that Nowe doth this doctrine clearely deterne agaynst them and say how no maÌ„ that hath a wife may bée choseÌ„ to bée Priest or a DeacoÌ„ neither they caÌ„ bring mée one exaÌ„ple that euer the Pope did graunt that a maryed man myght bée a priest excepte hée got money for dispensing So that the Pope by his dispensation hath alwayes testified that it was against his law for a maryed man to bée a Priest Wherfore these meÌ„ if they will defende the lawes of the Church must bée bound to prooue that maryed men may after the lawes of the Church as they call them bée chosen or elles their aunswere is naught For it is no reason that they should faine this solution of their owne braynes and say that it may bée so But they must prooue me that
pardon already had and not as a cause of remission to bee receaued ¶ S. Ambrose vpon the. 1. Cor. 2. TO remit sinnes and to geue the holy ghost is onely in Gods power If God therfore gaue the effect of our saluation maÌ„ hath nothyng in this behalfe to glory of 5. Beda in Lucam Lib. 5. cap. 68. GOe your wayes and shew your selues vnto the Priest And it came to passe that as they weÌ„t they were made cleane It is not found that the Lord sent any of those to whom hee shewed these corporall benefites vnto the Priestes but onely lepers soothly because the Priest hode of the Iewes was a figure of the regall Priesthode to come which is in the Church by the which all pertainyng to the body of Christ the hyghest Priest and Prince of all others are coÌ„secrated And who soeuer from hereticall malice or gentilical superstition or iudaicall trechery or els with brotherly discord as from the spotted coullour of leprosie shal bee clensed by the grace of Christ it is necessary for hym to come to the Church and there shew the true coullor of his fayth which he hath receaued But other vices as it were diseases of the members of the soule the senses y e Lord by him selfe inwardly in the conscience and vnderstanding doth heale and correct them S. Chrisostome Tomo 6. Sermone de confessione BVt now is it not necessary that our sinnes should bee confessed before witnesses Let thy offences be searched out in thy inward thought and let that shewyng bee without a witnesse and let God onely heare thy coÌ„fession God I say that obbraideth not thy sinnes but looseth them because of thy confession ¶ S. Ierome vpon Math. 16. TO thee I will geue the keys c. This place the Byshops Priestes not vnderstandyng doe arrogate vnto theÌ„ selues some thyng of the Phariseis pride forasmuch as they thinke they may condemne innocentes or release sinners Where as beefore God the seÌ„teÌ„ce of the priestes is not regarded but the lyfe of the offenders is considered We read in Leuiticus of the lepers where as they are willed to shew them selues to the Priestes And if they had the lepry then by y t priest were they made vncleane not that the Priestes did make men lepers vncleane but because they had the knowledge who were lepours who were not and could discerne who were cleane and who were vncleane Lyke as therfore the Priests dyd there make the lepour cleane or vncleane so doth our Byshop or Priest loose or bynd not those which bee sinnefull or innocent but accordyng to his office when hee hath heard the varieties of the sinnes hee knoweth who is to bee bound and who is to bee losed S. Origine in Math. Homel 1. IT was therefore truely sayd to Peter Thou art Peter c. Notwithstandyng it semeth to bee sayd also to all the Apostles and to all perfect faythfull men because they bee all Peters rockes and vppon them all is the Church of Christ builded agaynst no one of those that bee such shall the gates of hell preuayle Notwithstandyng by that which foloweth let vs see farther Doest thou thinke that to Peter onely were geuen the keyes of the kingdome of heaueÌ„ and shall no other of the blessed Saintes receaue them If it be coÌ„mon to all that was sayd I will geeue thee the keyes why should not all that was referred to Peter before seeme to bee common to all the Apostles For in the Gospell of S. Iohn Iesus geuyng the holy Ghost to his Disciples by breatnyng sayd these wordes Receaue the holy ghost c. as though hee said it to all such so affectionated as Peter was For all which bee folowers of Christ in like maner are named rockes Thou art Peter c. But because they which do chaleÌ„ge the place of a byshop doe vse this text as Peter dyd teach vs that they haue receaued the keyes of the kyngdome of heaueÌ„ from Christ because that who soeuer bee bound by them they bee bound in heauen also they which bee loosed by theÌ„ y e is haue receaued remission of their sinnes bee loosed in heauen also We must say that they say well if they haue those good workes for the which it was sayd vnto Peter Thou art Peter and if they bee such as Peter was that on them may bee builded the Church of Christ if the gates of hell shal not preuayle agaynst theÌ„ Otherwise it is a vayne iest to say that he which is tyed with the bondes of sinnes and draweth his sinnes after hym as a long rope and his iniquities be as the hoofes of a calfe for that onely that hee is a called Byshop should haue such power that they which bee loosed of hym bee also loosed in heauen or who so bee bounde in earth by hym bee bounde also in heauen Let the Byshoppe therefore whiche doth bind or loose an other man bee irreprehensible him selfe Hee that is worthy to bynd or lose in heauen must bee the husband of one wife sober chast comely apparelled a louer of hospitalitie apt to teach not geueÌ„ to ouer much wyne no striker nor greedy of filthy lukre but gentle no quareller abhorryng couetousnes one that ruleth well his owne house hauyng childreÌ„ in subiection in all chastitie If hee bee such a one hee shall not vniustly bynde vpon earth neither shall hee lose without good aduisement For if there shall bee as I may say a Peter and hath not these giftes here mentioned as it weâ—e to Peter and shall thinke that he can so bind sinnes that the same shall bee bound in heauen so lose theÌ„ that they shall bee losed in heauen hee deceaueth him selfe not vnderstandyng the meaning of the Scripture but puffed vp hee falleth into the iudgement of the deuill ¶ Tripartita historia lib. 9. cap. 35. Verba Sozemeni BEcause it is knowen to bee a diuine thyng and aboue maÌ„s nature neuer to sinne God commaunded remission to bee geuen to sinners that doe repeÌ„t But they which refuse to acknowlege their sinnes they heape vnto theÌ„selues a greater burthen of sinnes Wherfore it seemed good to the auÌ„cieÌ„t Byshops that as it were vpon a stage vnder the testimony of the Ecclesiasticall people their sinnes should be opened And for this purpose they appoynted a Priest of good conuersation a wise man and a keeper of secretes vnto whom they commyng that had offended confessed their owne sinnes But hee accordyng to euery maÌ„s offence assigned a penaltie Which custome also hitherunto is obserued in the Weasterne Churches especially at Rome where there is also a certaine place appointed for repentaunt sinners For the offenders stand amongest the peniteÌ„tes and morners For when as the holy celebration is a doyng they not participating the communion prostrate them selues vppon the earth with mornyng and lamentation vnto whoÌ„ the Byshop repayring hee also prostrateth him selfe with
doe For wee doe not accompt the most part of brute beastes to bee more continent theÌ„ others because they bee nourished w t vilder foode For in all such kynde of thynges which we vse not so much by consideration of their nature as of the cause of vsyng theÌ„ or the maner of desiryng them wee either allow or improoue them ¶ S. Augustine ad Ianuar. Epist 12. WHereas the Friers bee so precise from eatyng of fleshe that they thinke them vncleane which doe cate it is most manifestly agaynst fayth and sound doctrine I am sure that in two preceptes of God all thynges bee contained and that the end of the precept is loue proceedyng from a pure hart a good coÌ„science and an vnfayned fayth What soeuer therfore is ordeined ouer and besides custome that it shall be obserued as though it were a SacrameÌ„t I can not allow it albeit because I would not bee an offence to any holy or weake persons I dare not freely disalow many such thynges It foloweth true Christian religion which the mercy of God would haue free onely with the celebratioÌ„ of a few and manifest Sacramentes they oppresse with seruile burdens so that the state of the Iewes is more tollerable then ours who although they knew not the tyme of libertie were but subiect vnto thâ— bâ—…ens of the law and not to mans presumptions I â–ª Distinct 41. cap. Delitiae ALl kind of delicate meates if they bee taken without any greedy desire bee not hurtfull and vilde meates greedely receaued doe hinder the fruite of abstinencye For Dauid powred out water that was euilly lusted and Helyas dyd eate flesh ¶ In the same place cap. Quod dicit AS concernyng that the Lord sayth in the Euangelist wisedome is iustified of her children he declareth that the sonnes of wisedome vnderstand that righteousnes consisteth neither in abstainyng nor in eatyng but in the pacient sufferyng of scarcitie and in temperauÌ„ce not to corupt them selues by toe much aboundaÌ„ce and in conuenieÌ„t taking or not taking of those thinges whereof the gredy lust is reprehended and not the simple vse For it forceth not at all what nurrishments thou receaust to the necessary sustinaunce of thy body so that it be agreable to those kinde of nurrishmentes by the which thou mayst liue Out of the generall couÌ„cell of Pope Martine Destinct 30. Cap. Si quis IF any man doe abstaine from fleshe not for abstinaunce but for the abhorring of the meate it is willed by y t counsell that hee doe first taste it and then if hee will let him abstaine But if hee so despise it so that he will not taste of the porrage wherein the flesh was sodden this man if he bee not obedieÌ„t and remoue not from him selfe the suspition of heresye let him bee deposed from the order of the clergie ¶ Origine in Leuiti Home 10. THou therfore if thou wilt fast fast according to the precept of the gospell and keepe in thy fast the lawes of the gospell in the which the Lord commaundeth of fasting in this wise When thou doost fast annoynte thy head c. Wouldest thou that I should yet shew thee what kind of fasting thou oughtest to fast Fast from all sinne take no meate of malice make no bankeres of pleasure waxe not to whot with wine of sensualytye fast from euill artes practises abstaine from euill talke stay thee from euill thoughtes Touch not the stolen breade of peruers doctrine and thou shalt not lust after the deceauable foode of philosophy which may seduce thee from the trueth Such fast doth please God But to abstaine from meates which God hath created to bee receaued of the faythfull with thankes geuing and this to doe with them that crucified Christ can not bee acceptable to God The Phareseys on a tyme were offended with our Lord because his disciples did not fast vnto whom hee aunswereth that the children of the bridegrome can not fast as long as the bridegrome is preseÌ„t with them They therefore doe fast who haue lost y e bridegrome We y t haue the bridegrome with vs can not fast Neyther yet not withstanding doe we say this to let lose the bridle of christian abstinencye For we haue the time of Lent coÌ„secrated to fasting and we haue the fourth and the sixth ferye of the weeke in the whiche we doe solemnlye fast But Christians haue libertie to fast at any time not by superstitious obseruances but by the vertue of continencie ¶ De consecra distinc 5. Cap. Ieiunium THe great and generall fast is to abstaine from iniquities and from vnlawfull pleasures of y t worlde which is the perfect fast in this worlde c. ¶ Athana vpon S. Paules Epist to the Hebru Cap. 13. IT is good that the hart be stablished with grace and not with meates c. Hee reprehendeth those which brought in the iudaicall abstinence and obseruance of meates For you sayth hee are to be stablished by fayth and to bee certified that nothing is vncleane and that to the beleuing all thing is pure Therefore this fayth and not the obseruaunce of meates is necessary For they whiche haue sinned through meates y t is which be alwayes busyed in such obseruances of meates it is manyfest that these haue nothing profited c. That the vniust excommunication of the Pope doth not hurt the excommunicated translated into Englishe out of his booke De docto sent ¶ 11 Quest 3. Cap. Illud plane THey sayd not that without good aduisement that if any of the faythfull shall be vniustly excommunicated it shall be rather hurtfull vnto him that doth then to him that suffereth the iniury For the holy ghost dwelling in the saintes by whome euery man is bounde or losed doth punish no man wrongfullye for by him is loue poured into our harts which doth not amisse The peace of y t Church forgeueth sins can hee that is out of the peace of the church detaine his sinnes Not according to the sentence of men but according to the will of God the rock retaineth sinnes and the rocke remytteth theÌ„ The doue retaineth the doue forgeueth In like maner sayth Salomon euen as a bird flying to an vncertayne place and as any sparow flying in the ayer so a curse in vayne cast out commeth on him who sent it ¶ In the same place Verba Augustini cap. qui HEe that is iust and is vniustly cursed to him is it turned for a reward ¶ In the same place Cap. Cuiest illata Gela. ON whome sentence is geuen let him geue ouer his errour and it is voyded but if the iudgment bee vniust for so much hee neede not to care for as much as before God and in his church wrongfull iudgment can â—urt no man Therfore let hym not desyer to be absolued of that whereby hee perswadeth hym selfe to bee nothing bounde ¶ In the same place Cap. Cepisti verba Aug. THou hast vndertaken to accompt thy brother as a
is built Bindyng and losyng how it is to be vnderstand The keyes Behold here Antichrist how he wresteth the Scriptures Christes power is 〈◊〉 saue sinners Of this maner iuggleth â—ee with all textes At the sufferyng of Christ the offeryng of sacrifices ceremonies â–ª ceassed for Christ offered hym selfe once for all Christ gaue all his Apostles like authoritie To bynde and lose is to preach Christ sent out all hys Apostles not Peter â—â—â—nâ— Note We are bound to forgeue our neighbours aswell as Peter was Christ builded his Churche vpon the confession of Peter not vppon Peter A woman hath power to bynd How 〈…〉 man may bynde and lose To bynde the conscience and to reproue opeÌ„ sinners perteineth to the congregation Reasons that Peter was not y â— greatest by authoritie geuen hym of Christ Peter had first his seate at Antioche Christes power is in the Gospel Paul is called to helpe In the presence of the greater the power of the lesser doth 〈◊〉 Paule is made equal felow with Peter Peters seate what it is Peters seate Peters doctrine Peters keyes are all but one thyng Peters seate is Christes Gospell The Pope sitteth in thâ— deuils seate whose Vicare he is Purgatory The Pope sayth that Purgatory â—s in â—arth Vowes Othes TestameÌ„ts The Pope altereth meÌ„s willes testameÌ„ts at his pleasure The popes marchaundise Vnion The great and shamefull abuse of â—bbeyes DispeÌ„sations purchased of the Pope Choppyng and chaungyng vsed by the pope The wicked bestowing of benefices by the Pope The church can â—ot erre The Pope sayth that the Scripture is true not of it selfe but because he alloweth 〈◊〉 approueth it A similitude This doctrine the papistes vsed in those dayes The câ—â—mon and 〈◊〉 and â—…ching of â—he Papistes The Abbotes keep the monks in ignoraÌ„ce and the bisshops y e priestes â—alne ioyned w t pain maketh â—â—yne nothing The vse of vniuersities â–ª Prouiso S. Tho. de Aquino Saintes Thomas of Canterbury Tho. â—eâ—ket Tho. Wolsey copared together The Pope rewardeth his seruaÌ„ts highly wheÌ„ they be dead Policie The practise of little master parson K. Herold Robert of CaÌ„terbury Remission of sinnes to conquere England Note here how well Christ and the pope agre Christ biddeth saue the pope biddeth kill The pope is a cruell mercilesse tyrant Anselmus a chapleine of y e popes ☜ The pope is well pleased to admit priestes to haue whores but not wiues Note here the pryde and wickednes of the Pope Remission of sinnes to coÌ„quere England Thomas Arundell Practise of Prelates The popes clergy are secret and subtile conspirators ☞ A trayterous practise ☜ The Papistes are styrers vppe of warres sheders of bloud Duke HuÌ„frey Papistes are cruell A Parliament kept at Bury The death of Homfrey Duke of Gloucester protectour of the Realme of England This is Syr Tho. More The Clergy cannot abyde them that can iudge talse miracles Thre causes why the Duke of Gloucester was murthered The Pope is the whore of Babylon An other practise of Prelates Popes haue deposed Emperours and lykewise Emperours haue deposed Popes No man may rebuke the Pope for any mischief that he doth Venetians The Pope may geue and take agayne at hys will pleasure The Venetians â—aâ—e not for the popes cursing nor blessing FrenchmeÌ„ EnglishmeÌ„ The practise of the pope with all kinges princes The pope a breaker of peace The abuse of the sacrament How y â— sacrament should be broken betwene kinges and princes The Pope would not haue the Emperour to strong Remission of sinnes cleane deliuerance out of puâ—gatoâ—ye A frier Forest or a vicar of Croiden Popish practises Dissembled â—ruce Henry v. K. Henry v. conquered more then the prelates thought he would do Henry vi The crafty practise of the popes legate The mariage of king Henry vi The Duke of Glocester trayterously murthered ☜ Frier Bongaye Cruel war betwene k. Henry and the erle of Warwike Confession in the eare was a wicked inuention Lycence of the Pope for xiiij to study Nicromancy A subtile practise of Prelates He meaneth Cardinal Wolâ—ey Leut. 2â— Deut. 28. 29. A practise of the Prelates with their poore Priestes Thomas Wolffe The description of Cardinall Wolsey The kings byrth calked by the Cardinall Byshops talke kings natiuities Kyng Henry the viij had Cardinall Wolsey in great estimation The maner practise of Cardinal Wolsey The kyng is betrayed The quene is betrayeâ— Note this deuilish practise The Byshop of Lyncolne Cardinall Wolsey ruled altogether K. Lewes Pope Iulye This is a true story The new Thomas Maximilian the Emperour was K. Henry 〈◊〉 his souldier Remission of sinnes Note here the subtletie craft of the pope Now King Henry 8. with aâ— his army was abused The Prelates see euer before-hand what is like to folow Papistes are great forecasters of perils Practise The kinges sister 〈◊〉 to Fraunce Traiterous Prelates ☜ The pomp and apparell of the Cardinall his chapâ—aines passed the xij Apostles Prelates SalutatioÌ„ Cardinall Wolsey was a subâ—… worker A certaine secreat Milane Turnay The Emperor came thorough England Nurturing of kinges Practâ—â—e The french king sendeth a defiance to K. Henry viâ— Armies sée into stance The Cardinal was the Emperours freÌ„d openly and the french kinges secreatly The sege of Pauie Pauie A false pope and leud Cardinall Pace the 〈◊〉 of Englands Ambassadour Burbon The Emperour setteth vpon y â— french king by night These shippes were english Angels of gold At the taking of the french king Te Deum was song and great triumph made in England Subtile practises of the Cardinall The marte shold haue bene at Cales A ruffelar The pride and arrogancie of Cardinall Wolsey Cardinall Wolsey a great traytor Cardinall Wolsey coÌ„mitted treason agaynst the Emperour Cardinall Wolsey preferred More to he Chauncelour Treason layd to the Cardinall charge Mortunries probate of Testamentes Pluralitie of benefices Tithes The Churchewardens haue bene accustomed to gather the tithes and to geue the Paâ—â—o his reasonable stipend and to geue the reâ— to the poore Princes haue herein much to aunswere The loane first forgeuen by the Clergie The loane forgeueÌ„ by the temporalitie The Byshoprieke of DurhaÌ„ Tunstall Byshop of Durham brent the new Testament A Bishopricke is a superfluous honor and a lew de liberty The Carnall clearely discharged DefeÌ„der of the fayth The title of the defeÌ„dour of the fayth came froÌ„ Rome The Popishe and vayne glorious maner of Cardinal Wolsey The Cardinals hat The falsest and vainest Cardinall that euer was The chirch erreth if y â— pope and bishops be the chirch Marten Luther submitted him self to king Henry viij More is proued a lyer Sir Thomas HittoÌ„ A daunce in Paris Here Tindal prayeth for y â— ceasing of persecution Tindall proâ—eth the vnderstanding of such as of right should succeed to the crowne Tindall warneth al the Cardinals secretaries to repent and turne to God A generall exhortation to all kinds of people Popish
not commauÌ„ded to care for hys flocke as well as Peter Moreouer if to fede Christes shepe is to be greatest as no doubt to fede Christes flocke is to be great and most to fede is to be greatest in which office though Peter was great yet Paule was greater how commeth it that the pope by that authoritie chaleÌ„geth to be greatest yet this viij hundred yeares fedeth not at all but poysoneth their pasture with the venemous leuen of hys traditions and with wrestyng the text vnto a contrary sense Then came he to this text Math. xvj Thou art Peter and vppon this rocke I will builde my congregation or Church Lo saith Antichrist the carnall beast Peter is the rocke whereon the Church of Christ is built I am his successour and therfore the head of Christes Church When Christ ment by the rocke the confession that Peter had confessed saying Thou art Christ the sonne of the lyning God which art come into this world This fayth is the rocke wheron Christes Churche is built For who is of Christes Churche but he onely that beleueth that Christ is Gods sonne come into this worlde to saue sinners This faith is it against which hell gates caÌ„ not preuaile This fayth is it which saueth the congregation of Christ and not Peter TheÌ„ he goeth forth vnto that which foloweth Vnto thee I will geue the keyes of the kyngdome of heauen and what soeuer thou byndest in earth it shal be bound in heauen c. Loe sayth he in that he sayth what soeuer thou bindest in earth he excepteth nothyng therfore I may make lawes and binde both King Emperour When Christ as he had no worldly kyngdome euen so he spake of no worldly bindyng but of bindyng of sinners Christ gaue hys Disciples the keye of the knowledge of the law of God to binde all sinners and the keye of the promises to loose al that repent to let them into the mercy that is layed vp for vs in Christ Then coÌ„meth he vnto an other text which Christ rehearseth Mathew last saying All power is geuen me in heauen and earth go ye therfore and teach all natioÌ„s Baptising them in the name of the father and the sonne of the hely ghost teachyng them to kepe all that I commauÌ„ded you And behold I am with you vnto the worldes end Loc sayth the Pope Christ hath all power in heauen and earth without exceptioÌ„ and I am Christes Vicare wherfore all power is myne and I am aboue all kynges and Emperours in temporall iurisdiction and they but my seruauÌ„tes to kisse not my feete onely but my N. also if I list not to haue them stoupe so low When Christ as I sayd because he had no temporall kyngdome euen so he ment of no temporall power but of power to saue sinners which the processe of y e text declareth by that he sayth go ye therfore and teach and Baptise that is preach this power to al natioÌ„s and wash of their sinnes through fayth in the promises made in my bloud Then hee commeth vnto an other text Heb. vij which is The priesthode beyng translated the law must needes be translated also Now saith the pope the Priesthode is translated vnto me wherefore it pertayneth vnto me to make lawes and to binde euery man And y â— Epistle meaneth no such thyng but proueth euidently that the ceremonies of Moyses must ceasse For the Priestes of the olde Testament must nedes haue bene of the tribe of Leâ—i as AaroÌ„ was whose duty for euer was y e offeryng of sacrifices Wherfore when that Priesthode ceased the sacrifices ceremonies ceased also Now y t Priesthode ceased in Christ whiche was a Priest of y e order of Melchisedeke not of the order of Aaron for then he must haue bene of the tribe of Leâ—i and that he was not but of the tribe of Iuda of the seede of Dauid Wherefore they that are vnder Christes Priesthode are vnder no sacrifices or ceremonies And of this maner iuggle they with all the Scripture whiche falshed lest the laye men should perceaue with reading the processe of the text is all their feare what soeuer they pretend Moreouer that thou mayst perceaue the Popes falshed marke Christ sayd vnto Peter I will geue not I geue neither sayd he I will geue vnto the onely Therfore looke in the. xx chapter of Iohn where hee gaue them the keyes after his resurrection and thou shalt see that he gaue them vnto all indifferently saying As my father sent me so send I you Whether sent he theÌ„ into all the world and vnto all natioÌ„s What to do to preach the law that the people might repent and the promises that they might beleue in Christ for the remission of sinnes saying receaue the holy ghost who soeuers sinne ye forgeue they shall be forgeuen By which holy ghost he gaue them vnderstaÌ„dyng of the Scripture and of all that they should preach as thou mayst see Luke last where he opened their wittes to vndestand the Scripture and sayd that repentauce and forgeuenesse of sinnes must be preached in his name to all nations and that they were witnesses to preach it Whereby thou seest that to bynde and to lose is but to preach to tell the people their faultes to preach mercy in Christ to all that repent And when he sayth all power is geuen me he sayth not go thou Peter preach but saith vnto all indifferently go ye and preach this power geuen me of my father to saue all that repent and to damne them that repent not but folow the lustes of their flesh with full desire to lyue beastly beyng enemyes vnto the law of God And Math. xviij Peter asked Christ howe oft hee should forgeue hys brethren whether seueÌ„ tymes And Christ sayd seuentie tymes seuen tymes As who should say as ost as he repenteth and asketh forgeuenesse Now though this were spokeÌ„ vnto Peter onely because Peter onely moued the question yet pertaineth it not vnto vs all as well as vnto Peter Are not we as much bound to forgeue our neighbours that repeÌ„t and aske forgeuenesse as Peter Yes verely But because Peter onely asked the question therfore did Christ teach vs by Peter If an other had asked he would haue taught vs by that other And in lyke maner when Christ asked who say ye that I am if any other of the Apostles which beleued it as well as Peter had sayd as Peter did thou art Christ the sonne of the lyuyng God whiche art come into the world of sinners to saue them vnto him would Christ haue auÌ„swered as he did to Peter that vppon the rocke of that his coÌ„fession he wold haue built his church and would haue promised him keyes as well as he dyd Peter Yea and in the xviij chapter of Mathew Christ sayth to all the Apostles yea and to all congregatioÌ„s
where sinners be â–ª that what soeuer they bouÌ„d should be bound and whatsoeuer they loosed should be loosed Moreouer euery man and woman that know Christ his doctrine haue the keyes and power to bynde loose man order and in their measure as tyme place and occasion geueth priuately May not a wife if her husband sinne agaynst God and her and take an other woman tell him his fault betwene him her secretly and in good maner humbly binde his conscience with the law of God And if he repent may she not forgeue him and loose him as well as the Pope Yea and better to as long as the sinne is secret in as much as hee sinneth specially agaynst her and not agaynst the Pope And so may the sonne do to hys father and a seruaunt to his master and euery man to his neighbour as thou seest in the sayd xviij chapter of Mathew Howbeit to bynde and lose in the conscience by open preachyng pertaineth vnto the officers that are appoynted therto And to bynde and lose open sinners and them that will not repent till they be complayned on vnto the congregation pertaineth vnto the congregation Finally there were many that preached Christ at Rome yer Peter came thether if he came euer thether as Paule and many other Had they not authoritie to bynde and lose Or els how did they conuert the people Peter also was an Apostle and went srom place to place as Paule dyd and as Paule ordeyned Byshoppes in euery place to teach the people so no doubt did Peter Why then might not those Byshops chalenge authoritie by Peter as well as they of Rome They say also in their own Legendes that Peter had his seate at Antioch first Dyd he runne to Rome leauing no maÌ„ behynde hym to teach the people at Antioch God forbid Why then myght not that Byshop chalenge Peters authoritie They will haply say sooner theÌ„ proue it that Peter dyed at Rome and therefore his authoritie is greatest there Then by that rule Christes power is no where so full as at Hierusalem But what hath Christes inuisible kyngdoÌ„e to do with places Where Christes Gospell is there is his power full and all his authoritie as well in one place as in an other Finally to get authoritie whence so euer they caÌ„ snatch it they ioyne Paule with Peter in their owne lawes Distinctio xxij saying By the authoritie of Peter and Paule Which is cleane agaynst themselues For they say in their awne lawe in the presence of the superior the power of the inferior ceaseth and is none at all Now if Peter be greater then Paule then by that rule where Peter is preseÌ„t there Paule is but a subiect and without authoritie And where Christ is present bodely and preacheth himselfe there the Apostles geue vp their authoritie and holde their peace and sit downe at hys feete and become scholers harkeÌ„ to Wherfore in that they ioyne Paule wyth Peter and chalenge their superioritie as well by the authoritie of Paule as of Peter there they make Paule fellow and equall wyth Peter And thus it is false that Peter was greater then his felowes But y t blinde owles care not what they houle seyng it is night and the day light of Gods worde shut vp that no man can spye them Moreouer with this terme Peters seat they iuggle a pase as with infinite other saying that Peters seat is the chiefe seat but what Peters seat is that they tell you not For wist ye that ye should soone perceaue that they lye Peters seat is no stoole or chayre for what hath the kingdome of Christ to do with such baggage but it is a spirituall thing Christ saith in the Gospell Math. xxiij The Scribes Phariseis sit on Moses seat What was Moses seat there a chayre or the temple or the châ—rches or sinagoge of the land Nay verely for Moses came neuer there But Moses seat was Moses lawe and doctrine EueÌ„ so Peters seat is Peters doctrine the Gospell of Christ which Peter taught And the same doctrine is Peters keyes so that Peters seat Peters keyes and Peters doctrine is all one thyng Now is Peters doctrine Paules doctrine and the doctrine of all the xij Apostles indifferently for they taught all one thing Wherefore it followeth that Peters keyes and Peters seat be the keyes seat of Paule also and of all the other xij Apostles and are nothing saue the gospell of Christ And thus as Peters doctrine is no better then Paules but one thing Euen so Peters seat is no greater nor hyer nor holier theÌ„ the seat of the other xij Peters seat nowe is Christs seat Christes gospel on which all the Apostles sat and on which this day sitteth al they onely y e preach christ truely Wherfore as Antichrist preacheth not Peters doctrine which is Christes Gospell so he sitteth not on Peters seat but on the seat of Sathan whose vicar he is and on the seat of his owne lawes and ceremonies and false doctrine wherunto he compelleth all men with violence of sworde Then he clame to Purgatory with the ladder of the sayd text whatsoeuer thou bindest in earth c. Purgatory sayth he is in earth wherefore I am Lord there to Neuerthelesse as he can proue no purgatory so caÌ„ he not proue that if there were any it should be in the earth It might well be in the element or spere of fire vnder the Mone as well as in the earth But to bynde and lose is as I haue aboue sayde to preach and to feede and with Christes doctrine to purge soules And they that be dead be not of the flocke which Christ bad Peter feede but they that lyue onely TheÌ„ clame he vp with the same ladder still ouer all vowes and professioÌ„s of all religious persoÌ„s and ouer othes made betwene man and man to dispence with them and ouer all mens testamentes to alter them For what thou makest an hospitall that will he shortly make a colledge of Priestes or a place of religion or what he lusteth TheÌ„ all maner Monkes and Fryers and like draffe tooke dispensations of hym for the ordinaunces of theyr olde fouÌ„ders And because as they thought they had prayed distributed for theyr soules inough to bring them out of purgatory they thrust theÌ„ out of theyr beadrolles and tooke dayly moe and moe But euer since they tooke dispensations of the Pope both for their rules and to deuide all among them they receaued in the name not of the poore but of purgatory to queÌ„ch the raging fire thereof which is as hote as theyr bellyes can fayne it and fooles be out of their wittes to beleue it promising a Masse dayly for xl shillinges by the yeare of which foundations wheÌ„ they haue gotten twenty they will yet with an vnion purchased of the Pope make