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death_n	serpent_n	sin_n	sting_n	4,692	5	12.2188	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68831	The vvhole workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes, three worthy martyrs, and principall teachers of this Churche of England collected and compiled in one tome togither, beyng before scattered, [and] now in print here exhibited to the Church. To the prayse of God, and profite of all good Christian readers.; Works	Tyndale, William, d. 1536.; Barnes, Robert, 1495-1540. Works. aut; Frith, John, 1503-1533. Works. aut; Foxe, John, 1516-1587. Actes and monuments. Selections.	1573 (1573)	STC 24436; ESTC S117761	1,582,599	896

swete water and bloud of very agonie conceiued of his passiō so nighe at hand The bloud stricken on the postes saued thē that they were not plagued with the Egyptians deliuered them out of the captiuitie of Pharao And the bloud of Christ strickē on the postes of our consciences deliuereth vs from the captiuitie of Pharao the deuill and smitting of his aūgels c. There might not a bone thereof be broken no more were there of Christes though the ij that were hanged with him had either of them his legges his armes brokē Moreouer that it was a very prophecie of y e death of Christ of the vertue of his passion it is made the more manifest by the woordes of Christ himselfe Luke 22. for the night before hys passion when he had eaten Pesah with his Disciples he sayd I will no more ●ate of it henceforth till it be fulfilled in the kyngdome of GOD. As who should say This memoriall which we yearely haue hetherto obserued was once fulfilled in the kyngdome of this world when your fathers were deliuered out of bondage and seruitude of the Egyptians But it hath yet an other signification hetherto vnknowen vnto you which must be fulfilled spirituallie in the kingdome of God by my passion that is at hand and bloud that now shall shortly be shed by the which ye shal be deliuered out of the power of Sathan sinne and hell made heyres of the kyngdome of heauen Neither was it the lambes bloud that deliuered you then For what regarde hath God in the bloud of shepe and calues but the bloud of Christ whom that lambe figured and described his innocencie purenes and obedience to hys father and compassion to mankynde ward whose feble nature he had put on with all the infirmities of the same saue sinne did then deliuer you to bryng you to the fayth of this deliueraunce and to make you through faith partakers therof Many things there be in the Scripture whiche haue a carnall fulfillyng euen there where they be spoken or done and yet haue an other spirituall signification to be fulfilled long after in Christ and his kyngdome and yet neuer knowen till the thyng be done As the Serpent of Brasse which Moses hāged vp in the wildernes though it tooke effect carnally in the wildernes yet it so describeth the liftyng vp of Christ vpon the crosse the vertue of his passion that no toūg could better declare it to make the hart feele it If ye aske why they may not be knowen till they be done and what prophecie may helpe I aunswere If men dyd vnderstand them before they were done they would endeuour to let the fulfillyng of them and when the significatiō is fulfilled then to see how playnly it was described in the Scripture doth excedyngly cōfirme the fayth thereof and make it better to be vnderstand And when this Pesah was fulfilled spirituallie in the kyngdome of heauē by the death and bloud ●heddyng of Christ it ended there And in y t roome therof cōcernyng that spirituall significatiō came the signe of the Sacramēt of the body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ as Baptisme came in stede of Circūcision thyngs more easie lesse paynefull and tedious to be obserued and more gentle to prouoke and entise the Heathen For as the lambe describeth the death of Christ to come and the maner of his passion by which we should be deliuered euen so doth the ceremonie of the body and bloud of Christ testifie vnto vs that he hath giuen him selfe to death for vs and redemed vs already if we beleue and cleue 〈◊〉 to the profession of our Baptisme 〈…〉 th●●in or will if any tempest had 〈◊〉 vs out of the right course returne to the right way agayne This to be so the wordes of the Institu●●d declare which are these 1. Cor. 11. The Lord Iesus the night that he was betra●ed tooke bread and gaue thankes and brake it and sayd Take eate this is my body that shal be giuen for you this doe in remembraunce of me And likewise he tooke the cup whē Supper was done saying This cup is the new Testamēt in my bloud this do as often as ye shall drinke it in the remembraunce of me Here ye see by these woordes that it was ordeined to kepe the death of Christ in minde and to testifie that his body was giuē and his bloud shed for vs. And Luke 22. This is my body that is giuē for you do this in remembraunce of me And this cup is the new Testament in my bloud whiche shal be shed for you Loe here ye see agayne that it was instituted to kepe y t death of Christ in minde and to testifie wherfore he dyed euē to saue vs from sinne death and hell that we should seeke none other meanes to be deliuered with for there is none other name for vs to be saued by but onely by the name of Iesus Actes 4. And as the children of Israell stong of the firie Serpents could haue none other remedy to saue them from present death then to go and behold the brasen Serpent hanged vp by Moses in the wildernes whiche lookyng on onely healed them Euen so if the styng of death whiche is sinne haue wounded their soule with the workyng of the law in the consciences there is none other remedy then to runne to Christ which shed his bloud hangyng vpon the Crosse and to his euerlastyng Testament and mercyfull promise that it was shed for vs for the remissiō of our sinnes If thou be stong with consciēce of sinne the Cockatrice of thy poysoned nature hath beheld her selfe in the glasse of the righteous law of GOD there is none other salue for remedie thē to runne to Christ immediatly and to the father through him And to say father I haue sinned agaynst thee and thy godly holy and righteous law agaynst my brother whom I ought of all right to loue for thy sake as well as my selfe forgeue me O father for thy sonne Iesus Christes sake accordyng to thy most mercyfull promises Testament I will aske my brother forgiuenes if the peace I meane be not made already and will make to my power such satisfaction to hym as shall seme right in his eyes if he be reasonable or as the congregatiō shall assigne or faythfull men thereunto appointed by the congregation or such as I and he will agree vpon and will endeuour my self to do so no more with the helpe of thy grace And will submit my selfe to the wholesome ordinaunce of the cōgregation accordyng the doctrine of thy sonne Iesus and of his faithful Apostles For there is none other name giuen vnder heauen wherby we shal be saued but onely the name of Iesus Hereof ye see that the Sacramēt is an absolutiō of our sinnes as often as we receiue it where it is truly

attrition character Purgatory pickepurse and how through confessiō they make the Sacramētes and all the promise of none effect or value There seest thou that absoluyng is but preachyng the promises cursing or excommunicating preachyng the law and of their power of their keyes of false miracles prayeng to Saintes There seest thou that ceremonies dyd not the miracles but faith euē as it was not Moses rodde that did y ● miracles but Moses fayth in the promise of God Thou seest also that to haue a fayth where God hath not a promise is Idolatry And there also seest thou how the pope exalteth him self aboue God and commaūdeth him to obey his tyrāny Last of all thou hast there that no mā ought to preach but he that is called Thē foloweth the bely brotherhead of Monkes Friers For Christ hath deserued nought with them For his sake gettest thou no fauor Thou must offer vnto their belyes thē they pray bitterly for thee There seest thou that Christ is the onely cause yea all the cause why God doth ought for vs and heareth our complaint And there hast thou doctrine how to know and to be sure that thou art elect and hast Gods sprite in thee And hast there learnyng to try the doctrine of our spirites Then folow the foure senses of the Scripture of which three are no senses and the fourth that is to wite the litterall sense which is the very sense hath the Pope taken to him selfe It may haue no other meanyng thē as it pleaseth his fatherhode We must abyde his interpretatiō And as his belles thinke so must we thinke though it be impossible together any such meanyng of the Scripture Then hast thou the very vse of Allegories and how they are nothyng but ensamples borowed of the Scripture to expresse a text or an open conclusion of the Scripture and as it were to paynte it before thyne eyes that thou mayest feele the meanyng and the power of the Scripture in thyne hart Then commeth the vse of worldly similitudes how they are false Prophetes which bring a worldly similitude for any other purpose saue to expresse more playnly y ● which is cōteined in an open text And so are they also whiche draw the Scripture contrary to the open places and cōtrary to the ensample liuyng and practising of Christ the Apostles and of the holy Prophetes And then finally hast thou of our holy fathers power and of hys keyes and of hys bindyng and excommunicatyng and of his cursyng and blessyng with ensamples of euery thyng The end of the obedience of a Christen man ¶ An exposition vppon the v. vi vii chapters of Mathew which three chapters are the keye and the dore of the scripture and the restoring agayne of Moses law corrupte by the Scribes and Pharises And the exposition is the restoring agayne of Christes lawe corrupte by the Papistes ¶ Item before the booke thou hast a Prologe very necessarie contayning the whole summe of the couenaunt made betwene God and vs vppon which we be baptised to kéepe it Set forth by William Tyndall ¶ The Prologe HEre hast thou deare Reader an exposition vpon the v. vi and vij chapters of Mathew wherin Christ our spirituall Isaac diggeth agayne the welles of Abraham which welles y t Scribes Phareses those wicked spitefull Philistines had stopped and filled vp wyth the earth of their false expositions He openeth the kingdome of heauen which they had shut vp that other men should not enter as they themselues had no lust to go in He restoreth the keye of knowledge which they had taken away and broken the wardes with wresting the text contrary to his due and natural course with their false gloses He plucketh away from the face of Moses the vaile which the Scribes and Phareises had spred thereon that no man might perceaue the brightnes of his countenaunce He wedeth out the thornes and bushes of their Pharesaicall gloses wherewith they had stopped vp the narrow way and straight gate that fewe coulde finde them The welles of Abraham are the scripture And the Scripture may well be called the kingdome of heauen which is eternall lyfe and nothing saue the knowledge of God the father and of his sonne Iesus Christ Ioh. xvij Moses face is the law in her right vnderstanding and the law in her right vnderstanding is the keye or at the least waye the first and principall keye to open the dore of the Scripture And the law is the very way that bringeth vnto y ● dore Christ as it is writtē Gala. iij. The law was our scholemaster to bring vs to Christ that we might be iustified by fayth And Rom. x. the ende of the lawe that is to say the thyng or cause why the law was geuen is Christ to iustifie all that beleue That is to say the lawe was geuen to proue vs vnrighteous and to driue vs to Christ to be made righteous the row forgeuenes of sinne by hym The lawe was geuen to make the sinne knowen sayth Saint Paule Rom. iiij and that sinne committed vnder the law might be the more sinfull Rom. vij The law is that thyng which Paule in his inward mā graūted to be good but was yet compelled oft tymes of his mēbers to do those thinges which that good lawe condemned for euill Rom. vij The law maketh no man to loue the law or lesse to do or commit sinne but gendereth more lust Rom. vij and increaseth sinne Rom. v. For I cannot but hate the lawe in as much as I finde no power to do it and it neuerthelesse condemneth me because I do it not The lawe setteth not at one with God but causeth wrath Rom. iij. The lawe was geuē by Moses but grace and veritie by Iesus Christ Ioh. j. Behold though Moses gaue the law yet he gaue no man grace to do it or to vnderstand it aright or wrote it in any mans hart to consent that it was good and to wishe after power to fulfill it But Christ geueth grace to do it and to vnderstand it aright and writeth it wyth his holy spirite in the tables o● the hartes of men and maketh it a true thing there and none hypocrisie The lawe truely vnderstoode is those fierie serpentes that strong the children of Israell with present death But Christ is the brasen serpent on whom whosoeuer beyng stoge with cōscience of sinne looketh with a ●ure fayth is healed immediatly of that stinging and saued from the paynes and sorrowes of hell It is one thyng to cōdemne and pronoūce the sentence of death and to flyng the conscience with feare of euerlastyng payne And it is an other thing to iustifie from sinne that is to say to forgeue and remitte sinne and to heale the conscience and certifie a man not only that he is deliuered from eternall death but also that he is made the

necessary to prepare this Pathway into the Scripture for you that ye might walke surely euer know the true frō the false And aboue all to put you in remembraunce of certaine pointes which are that ye well vnderstand what these wordes meane The old Testament The new Testament The law The Gospell Moses Christ Nature Grace Workyng and beleuing Dedes and faith Lest we ascribe to the one that which belongeth to the other and make of Christ Moses of the Gospell the Law despise grace and robbe fayth fal from meke learnyng into idle despitions brawlyng and scoldyng about wordes The old Testament is a booke wherein is written the law of God the dedes of them which fulfill them of them also which fulfill them not The new Testament is a booke wherein are conteined the promises of God and the dedes of them which beleue them or beleue them not Euangelion that we call the Gospel is a Breke word and signifieth good mery glad and ioyfull tydinges that maketh a mans hart glad and maketh him sing daunce and leape for ioy As when Dauid had killed Goliath the gyaunt came glad tydinges vnto the Iewes that their fearefull and cruell enemy was slayne and they deliuered out of all daunger for gladnes wherof they song daunced and were ioyful In like maner is the Euangelion of God which we call Gospell and the new Testament ioyfull tydinges and as some say a good hearing published by the Apostles throughout all the world of Christ the right Dauid how that hee hath fought with sinne with death and the deuil ouercome them wherby all men that were in bondage to sinne woūded with death ouercome of the deuill are without their owne merites or deseruinges losed iustified restored to life and saued brought to libertie and reconciled vnto the fauour of God set at one with him agayne whiche tydinges as many as beleue laude prayse thanke God are glad syng and daunce for ioy This Euangelion or Gospell that is to say such ioyfull tydinges is called y ● new Testament Because that as a mā whē he shall dye appointeth his goods to be dealt distributed after his death among them whiche he nameth to bee his heyres Euen so Christ before hys death commaūded and appointed that such Euangelion Gospell or tydynges should be declared throughout all the world and therewith to geue vnto all that repent and beleue all his goodes that is to say his lyfe wherewith hee swalowed and deuoured vp death hys righteousnes wherewith he banished sinne his saluatiō wherwith he ouercame eternall damnation Now cā the wretched man that knoweth him selfe to be wrapped in sinne and in daūger to death hell heare no more ioyous a thyng them such glad and comfortable tydinges of Christ So that he can not but be glad and laugh frō the low bottome of his hart if hee beleue that the tydinges are true To strēgth such sayth with all God promised this his Euangelion in the old Testament by the Prophetes as Paul sayth Rom. 1. How that he was chosē out to preach Gods Euāgeliō which he before had promised by the Prophetes in the Scriptures that treate of his sonne which was borne of the sede of Dauid In the Gene. iij. God sayth to the Serpent I wil put hatred betwen thee and the woman betwen thy seede and her sede that selfe sede shall treade thy head vnder foote Christ is this womās seede he it is that hath troden vnder foote the deuils head that is to say sinne death hell all his power For without this seede can no man anoyde sinne death hell and euerlasting damnation Agayne Gene. xxij God promised Abraham saying in thy seede shall all the generations of the earth be blessed Christ is that seede of Abraham sayth S. Paule Gala. iij. He hath blessed all the world through the Gospell For where Christ is not there remaineth the curse that fell on Adam as soone as he had sinned so that they are in bōdage vnder the damnation of sinne death and hell Against this curse blesseth now the Gospell all the world in asmuch as it cryeth opēly vnto all that knowledge their sinnes and repēt saying who soeuer beleueth on the sede of Abraham shal be blessed that is he shal be deliuered from sinne death and hell and shall hence forth continue righteous and saued for euer as Christ hym selfe sayth in the xj of Iohn He that beleueth on me shall neuer more dye The law sayth Iohn i. was geuē by Moses but grace and verity by Iesus Christ The law whose minister is Moses was geuen to bryng vs vnto the knowledge of our selues that we might thereby feele and perceaue what we are of nature The law cōdemneth vs and all our deedes and is called of Paule in the ij Cor. iij. the ministration of death For it killeth our consciences and driueth vs to desperation in as much as it requireth of vs that which is vnpossible for our nature to do It requireth of vs the deedes of an whole man It requireth perfect loue from the low bottome and grounde of the hart as well in all thinges whiche we suffer as in the thinges which we do But sayth Iohn in the same place grace and veritie is geuē vs in Christ So that when the law hath passed vpō vs and condemned vs to death which is his nature to do then haue we in Christ grace that is to say fauour promises of life of mercy of pardon freely by y e merites of Christ in Christ haue we veritie truth in that God for his sake fulfilleth all his promises to them that beleue Therfore is y ● Gospell the ministration of life Paule calleth it in the fore rehearsed place of the Cor. ij the ministration of the spirite and of righteousnes In the Gospell when we beleeue the promises we receaue the spirit of life and are iustified in the bloud of Christ from all thyngs wherof the law condemned vs. And we receaue loue vnto the law and power to fulfill it and grow therein dayly Of Christ it is written in the fore rehearsed Ioh. i. this is he of whose aboundaunce or fulnes all we haue receaued grace for grace or fauour for fauour That is to say for the fauour that God hath to his sonne Christ he geueth vnto vs his fauour good wil al giftes of his grace as a father to his sonnes As affirmeth Paule saying whiche loued vs in his beloued before the creation of y ● world So y ● Christ bringeth the loue of God vnto vs and not our owne holy woorkes Christ is made Lord ouer all and is called in Scripture Gods mercy stole who soeuer therfore flyeth to Christ can neither heare nor receaue of God any other thyng saue mercy In the old Testamēt are many promises which are nothyng els but the Euāgelion or Gospel to saue those

God those thousād yeares and an other had wrought the will of the deuill as long and this day turne and bee as well willyng to suffer with Christ as I hee hath this day ouer taken me and is as far come as I and shall haue as much reward as I I enuie hym not but reioyce most of all as of lost treasure found For if I be of GOD I haue these thousād yeares suffered to winne him for to come prayse the name of God with me These thousand yeares I haue prayed sorowed longed sighed and sought for that which I haue this day found and therefore reioyce with all my might and prayse God for his grace and mercy A Table expounding certayne wordes of the second booke of Genesis ALbe a long garment of white linnen Arke a cofer or chest as our shrines saue it was flatte and the sample of ours was taken therof Booth an house made of bowes Brestlap or brestflappe is such a flap as thou seest in the brest of a cope Consecrate to appoynte a thyng to holy vses Dedicate purifie or sanctifie Ephod is a garment somewhat lyke an amice saue y e armes came thorow and it was girded to Geeras in weight as it were an English halfepeny or somwhat more Heaue offringes because they were houen vp before the Lord. House he made them houses that is he made a kynrede or a multitude of people to spring out of them as we say the house of Dauid for the kinred of Dauid Peace offering offering of thankes geuing of deuotion and not for conscience of sinne and trespasse Pollute defile Reconcile to make at one to bring in grace or fauour Sanctifie to cleanse and purify to appoynt a thing to holy vses and to seperate from vncleane vnholy vses Sanctuary a place hallowed and dedicate vnto God Tabernacle a house made tentwise or as a pauilion Tunicle much lyke the vppermoste garment of the Deacon Waueoffring because they were wauen in the priestes handes to diuers quarters Worship by worshippyng whether it was in the olde testament or newe vnderstand the bowing of a mans self vpon the ground as we ofte tymes as we kneele in our prayers how our selues and lie on our armes hands with our face to the ground Of this word I will be commeth the name of God Iehouah which we interprete Lord and is as much to saye as I am that I am 3. Chap. That I here call a shepe in Hebrue is a worde indifferent to a shepe and a goate both 12. Chap. The Lambe was called passeouer that the very name it selfe should put them in remembraunce what it signified for the signes that God ordained either signified the benefites done or promsses to come and were not done as the signes of our domme God the Pope Iehouah Nissi the Lord is he that exalteth me chap. 17. Ephod is a garment lyke an amice Chap. 25. Shewbread because it was alway in the sighte and presence of the Lorde Chap. 25. A Prologue into the thirde booke of Moses called Leuiticus THe ceremonies whiche are described in y t booke following were chiefly ordeined of God as I sayd in the ende of the prologue vpon Exod. to occupye the myndes of that people the Israelites and to kepe them from seruing of God after the imagination of their blynde zeale and good entent that their consciences might be stablished and they sure that they pleased God therin which were impossible if a man did of his own head that which was not commaunded of god nor depended of any appointment made betwene hym and God Such ceremonies were vnto them as an A B C to learne to spell and read and as a nurse to feede them with mylke and pappe to speake vnto them after their own capacitie and to lispe the wordes vnto them accordyng as the babes and children of that age might sound them agayne For all that were before Christ were in the infancy and childhoode of the world and saw that sonne whiche we see openly but thorow a cloud and had but feble and weake imaginatiōs of Christ as children haue of mennes deedes a few prophets except which yet described him vnto other in sacrifices and ceremonies likenesses riddles prouerbes and darke and strange speaking vntil the full age were come that god would shew him openly vnto the whole worlde and deliuer them from their shadowes and cloudelight the hethen out of their dead slepe of starck blinde ignorancy And as the shadowe vanisheth away at the comming of the light euē so do the ceremonies and sacrifices at the comming of Christ and are henceforth no more necessary then a token left in remembraunce of a bargayn is necessary whē the bargayne is fulfilled And though they seme plaine childishe yet they bee not altogether fruitelesse as the puppets xx maner of trifles which mothers permit vnto their yong children be not all in vaine For albeit that suche fantasies be permitted to satisfie the childerns lustes yet in that they are the mothers gift be done in place and tyme at her commaundement they keepe the children in awe and make them know the mother and also make them more apte against a more stronger age to obey in thinges of greater earnest And moreouer though sacrifices and ceremonies can be no groūd or foundation to build vpon that is thoughe we can proue nought with them yet when we haue once found out Christe and his mysteries thē we may borow figures that is to say allegories similitudes or examples to opē Christ and the secretes of God hid in Christ euen vnto the quicke and to declare them more liuely and sēsibly with them thē with all the wordes of the world For similitudes haue more vertue power with them then bare wordes and leade a mans wittes further into the pithe and marye and spirituall vnderstandyng of the thyng thē all the wordes that can be imagined And though also that al the ceremonies sacrifices haue as it were a starrelight of Christ yet some there be that haue as it were the lyght of the broad day a litle before the sonne rising and expresse hym and the circumstaunces and vertue of hys death so plainly as if we shoulde play his passion on a scaffold or in a stage play openly before the eyes of the people As the scape gote the brasen Serpent the Oxe burnt without the hoste the passeouer Lambe c. In so muche that I am fully persuaded and cannot but beleue that God had shewed Moses the secretes of Christ and the very maner of hys death before hande and commaunded hym to ordaine them for the confirmation of our faythe which are now in the cleare day light and I beleue also that y e prophets which folowed Moses to confirme his prophesies and to maintayn his doctrine vntil Christes comming were moued by such thinges to search further of Christes secretes And though

here also a woorde or twayne We had neede to take hede euery where that wee bee not begyled with false allegories whether they be drawē out of the new Testament or the old either out of any other story or of the creatures of the world but namely in this booke Here a man had neede to put on all his spectacles and to arme him selfe agaynst inuisibles spirites First allegories proue nothyng and by allegories vnderstand examples or similitudes borowed of straunge matters and of an other thyng then that thou entreatest of And though circūsion be a figure of Baptisme yet thou canst not proue Baptisme by Circumcision For this argument were very feble the Israelites were Circumcised therfore we must be Baptised And in like maner though y e offering of Isaac were a figure or example of the resurr●ction yet is this argument nought Abraham would haue offered Isaac but GOD deliuered him from death therefore we shall rise agayne and so forth in all other But the very vse of allegories is to declare and open a text that it may bee the better perceaued and vnderstand As when I haue a cleare text of Christ and of the Apostles that I must be baptised then I may borow an example of Circumcisiō to expresse the nature power and frute or effect of baptisme For as Circumcision was vnto them a common badge signifiyng that they were all souldiers of god to warre his warre and separating them from al other nations disobedient vnto God euen so baptisme is our cōmon badge and sure earnest and perpetual memoriall that we pertaine vnto Christ and are separated frome all that are not Christes And as Circumcision was a token certifyeng them that they were receaued vnto the fauour of God and their sinnes forgeuē them euen so Baptisme certifieth vs that we are washed in the bloud of Christ and receaued to fauour for his sake and as Circumcisiō signified vnto them the cuttyng awaye of their owne lustes and sleayng of their free will as they call it to folow the will of GOD euen so Baptisme signifieth vnto vs repentaunce and the mortifying of our vnruly members and bodyes of sinne to walke in a new life and so forth And likewise thoughe that the sauing of Noe of them that were with him in the shyp thorough water is a figure that is to say an example and likenesse of Baptisme as Peter maketh it 1. Peter 3. yet I can not proue Baptisme therewith saue describe it onely for as the shyp saued them in the water thorough fayth in that they beleued God and as y ● other that would not beleue Noe perished euen so Baptisme saueth vs through the worde of fayth whiche it preacheth when all the world of the vnbeleuyng perish And Paule 1. Corin. 10. maketh the sea and the cloude a figure of Baptisme by which and a thousād mo I might declare it but not proue it Paule also in the sayd place maketh the rock out of which Moses brought water vnto the children of Israell a figure or example of Christ not to proue Christe for that were impossible but to describe Christ onely euen as Christ him selfe Iohn 3 boroweth a similitude or figure of the braien serpēt to lead Nichodemus frō his earthy imagination into the spiritual vnderstādyng of Christes saying As Moses lifted vp a Serpent in the wildernesse so must the sonne of man be lifted vp that none that beleue in hym perish but haue euerlasting lyfe By which similitude the vertue of Christes death is better described then thou couldest declare it with a thousād wordes For as those murmurers agaynst God as soone as they repented were healed of their deadly woundes thorough lookynge on the brasen Serpent onely without medicine or any other helpe yea and without any other reason but that God hath sayd it should be so and not to murmure agayne but to leaue their murmuryng euen so all that repent and beleue in Christ are saued frō euerlastyng death of pure grace without and before their good works and not to synne agayne but to fight agaynst sinne and henceforth to synne no more Euen so with the ceremonies of this booke thou canst proue nothyng saue describe and declare onelye the putting away of oure sinnes thorowe the deathe of Christe For Christe is Aaron and Aarons sonnes and all that offer the sacrifice to purge sinne And Christ is all maner offering that is offered he is the oxe the shepe the gote the kyd and lambe he is the oxe that is burnt without the host and y t scape-gote that caried all the sinne of the people away into the wildernesse for as they purged the people from their worldly vncleanesses thorow bloud of y e sacrifices euen so doth Christ purge vs frō the vncleannesses of euerlasting death with hys owne bloude and as their worldly sinnes coulde no otherwise be purged then by bloud of sacrifice euen so can our sinnes bee no otherwise forgeuen then thorowe the bloud of Christ All the deedes in the worlde saue the bloude of Christ can purchase no forgeuenesse of sinnes for our dedes do but help our neighbour and mortify the flesh and help that we sinne no more but and if we haue sinned it must be freely forgeuen thorow the bloud of Christ or remayne euer And in lyke manner of the Leapers thou canst proue nothing thou canst neuer coniure out confession thence howbeit thou hast an handsome example there to open the binding losyng of our priests with the key of Gods worde for as they made no man a Leper euen so oures haue no power to commaund any man to be in sinne or to go to purgatory or hell And therefore in as much as binding and loosing is one power as those Priestes healed no man euen so oures can not of their innisible and domme power driue any mans sinnes away or deliuer hym from hel or fayned purgatory how be it if they preached Gods worde purely which is the authoritie that Christ gaue them then they shold binde and lose kill and make alyue agayne make vncleane and cleane agayne and send to hel and fetch thence agayne so mighty is gods worde For if they preached the lawe of God they shold bynd the consciences of sinners with the bondes of the paynes of hell and bring them vnto repentance And then if they preached vnto thē y e mercy that is in Christ they shold loose them and quiete their ragyng consciences certifie them of the fauour of God and that their sinnes be forgeuen Finally beware of allegories for there is not a more handsome or apte thyng to beguile withall then an allegory nor a more subtle and pestilente thyng in the world to perswade a false matter then an allegory And contrariwise there is not a better vehementer or mightier thyng to make a man vnderstand with all thē an allegory For allegories make a man

Christ which fulfilled the lawe for vs may euery parson that repenteth beleueth loue-eth the law and mourneth for strēgth to fulfill it reioyce be he neuer so weake a sinner The two pence therefore and the credence that he left behynde him to bestowe more if neede were signifieth that he was euery where mercifull both present and absent without fayning cloking complayning or excusing and forsoke not his neighbour as long as he had nede Which example I pray God men may followe and let opera supererogationis alone MAry hath chosē a good part which shall not be taken from her Luk. x. She was first chosen of God and called by grace both to know her sin and also to heare the worde of fayth health and glad tidinges of mercy in Christ and fayth was geuen her to beleue the spirite of God loosed her hart from the bondage of sinne Then consented she to the will of God againe and aboue all thinges had delectation to heare the worde wherein she had obtayned euerlasting health and namely of his owne mouth which had purchased so great mercy for her God chuseth vs first and loueth vs first and openeth our eyes to see his exceeding aboundaunt loue to vs in Christ and then loue we agayne and accept his will aboue all thinges and serue him in that office whereunto he hath chosen vs. Sell that ye haue and geue almes And make you bagges which waxe not olde and treasure which faileth not in heauen Luke xij This such like are not spoken that we shoulde worke as hyrelinges in respect of rewarde and as though we shoulde obtayne heauen with merite For he saith a little afore feare not little flocke for it is your fathers pleasure to geue you a kingdome The kingdome commeth then of the good will of almighty God thorough Christ And such thinges are spoken partly to put vs in remembraunce of our dutie to be kynde agayne As is that saying let your light so shine before men that they seyng your good workes may glorifie your father which is in heauē As who shoulde say if God hath geuen you so great giftes see ye be not vnthankefull but bestow them vnto his praise Some things are spoken to moue vs to put our trust in God as are these Beholde the Lyllies of the fielde Beholde the byrdes of the ayre If your children aske you bread will ye proffer them a stone and many such lyke Some are spoken to put vs in remēbraunce to be sober to watch pray and to prepare our selues agaynst tēptations and that we should vnderstand and know how that temptations and occasion of euill come then most when they are least looked for least we should be carelesse and sure of our selues negligent and vnprepared Some thinges are spoken that we should feare the wonderfull and incōprehensible iudgementes of God lest we should presume Some to comfort vs that we dispayre not And for lyke causes are all the ensamples of the old Testamēt In conclusion the scripture speaketh many thynges as the world speaketh But they may not be worldly vnderstand but ghostly and spiritually yea the spirite of God onely vnderstandeth them and where he is not there is not the vnderstandyng of the Scripture But vnfrutefull disputyng and braulyng about wordes The scripture sayth God seeth God heareth God smelleth God walketh God is with them God is not with them God is angry God is pleased God sendeth his spirite God taketh his spirite away and a thousande such like And yet is none of them true after the worldlye manner and as the wordes sound Read the second chapter of Paule to the Corinthians The naturall man vnderstandeth not the thinges of God but the spirite of God onely and we sayth he haue receaued the spirite whiche is of God to vnderstand the thynges which are geuen vs of God For without the spirite it is impossible to vnderstand them Read also the viij to the Romaines They that are led with the spirite of God are the sonnes of GOD. Now the sonne knoweth his fathers will and the seruaūt that hath not the spirite of Christ sayth Paule is none of his Likewise he that hath not the spirite of GOD is none of gods for it is both one spirite as thou mayst see in the same place Now he that is of God heareth the word of God Iohn viij and who is of God but he that hath the spirite of God Furthermore sayth he ye heare it not because ye are not of God that is ye haue no lust in the word of God for ye vnderstand it not that because his spirite is not in you For as much then as the Scripture is no thyng els but that which the spirite of GOD hath spoken by the Prophetes and Apostles can not be vnderstand but of the same spirite Let euery man pray to God to send him his spirite to loose him from his naturall blindnes and ignoraunce and to geue him vnderstandyng and feelyng of the thynges of God of the speakyng of the spirite of GOD. And marke this processe First we are damned of nature so cōceaued and borne as a Serpent is a Serpēt and a tode a tode a snake a snake by nature And as thou ●eest a yoūg child which hath pleasure in many thynges wherein is present death as in fire water and so foorth would slea hym selfe with a thousand deathes if he were not wayted vpon and kept therfro Euen so we if we should liue these thousād yeares could in al that tyme delite in no other thing nor yet seeke any other thyng but that wherein is death of the soule Secondarily of the whole multitude of the nature of man whom God hath elect and chosen and to whom he hath appointed mercy and grace in Christ to them sendeth he his spirite whiche openeth their eyes sheweth them their miserie and bryngeth them vnto the knowledge of them selues so that they hate and abhorre them selues are astonyed and amased and at their wittes endes neither wot what to do or wher to seeke health Then lest they should flee from God by desperation he comforteth thē agayne with his swete promises in Christ certifieth their harts that for Christes sake they are receaued to mercy and their sinnes forgeuē and they elect and made the sonnes of GOD and heyres with Christ of eternall lyfe thus through fayth are they set at peace with God Now may not we axe why GOD chuseth one and not an other eyther think that God is vniust to damne vs afore we do any actual dede seyng that god hath power ouer all hys creatures of right to do with thē what he lyst or to make of euery one of them as he listeth Our darknes can not perceaue his light God wil be feared and not haue his secret iudgementes knowen Moreouer we by the light of fayth see a thousand thynges which are impossible to

cōmyng of Christ as it is to see in the Gospell contrary vnto M. Mores deceitfull Poetry And agayn God reserued hym a litle flocke euer in Israell and had euer Prophets there some time openly and some time in persecution that euery man must hide hym selfe and keepe hys fayth secret and euen in the houses of the euill kynges both of Iewry and also of Israell he had good people and that among the hyghe officers but secretly as Nicodemus among the Phariseis So that the very Churche was euery where ofttymes in captiuitie and persecution vnder their brethren as we bee vnder ours in the kyngdome of the Pope Then he putteth no ieopardy to worshpp an vnconsecrated hoste But with what worshyp men should woorshyp the consecrated doth he not teach neither the vse of that Sacrament or any other nor how ought may be worshipped but teacheth onely that all thynges may be worshypped and sheweth not the right worshyp from the false Then he noteth Paul 1. Cor. 1. how he exhorteth vs to agree onely but not on the truth or on the good but onely to agree a great multitude together O this deepe blindnesse Dyd not Paule first teach them the true way And did hee not instruct them a new in the true way and in the said Epistle rebuke the false confidence that they had in men the cause of all their dissention and all errours that were among them Then he sayth the Iewes had Saintes in honour as the Patriarkes and Prophetes We teach to dishonour none But the Iewes prayed to none More Christ rebuked not the Phariseis for garnishyng the sepulchres of the Prophetes but for that they folowed the cōditions of thē that slew them Tyndale Yes and for their false trust in suche woorkes as we do you And ye Syr thinke that ye deserue heauen in worshyppyng the Saintes bones and be as ready to slea them that beleue teach and lyue as the Saintes dyd as your fathers were to slea thē besides that ye worshyp Saintes that folowed Christ after the example of your holy Cardinall of whom I doubt not but that ye will make a God in processe of tyme also Then repeateth he for forgettyng how Eliseus bones raised vp a dead body That was to confirme his preachyng onely For the Israelites as wicked as they were neither prayed to hym neither kissed his bones nor offered nor sticked vppe candels before hym Whiche thyng if they had done in the kyngdōe of y ● Iewes I doubt not but that some good kyng wold haue burnt his bones to ashes as wel as the brasen Serpent that was as great a relique as dead bones And Christ shewed miracles at the findyng of the crosse That was to stablish the faith of Christes death and that it should be a memory of his death not that we shuld trust in the wood as we do For which false abuse y t whole land where Christ dyd his miracles is destroyed Then he alledgeth the woman that was healed through touching of Christes coate because we should worshyppe it When Christ sayd her fayth hath made her whole not in the coate but in Christ And the miracle was shewed to prouoke to the worshyppyng of the preachyng and not of the coate Though to kepe the coate reuerently in the memoriall of the deede to prouoke vnto the fayth of Christ were not euill of it selfe And Paule by your doctrine sent hys napkin to heale y t sicke that mē should shrine his sneueled napkin and not to beleue his preachyng The x. Chapter THe x. chapter of Saint Walary is meete for the auctor and his worshipfull doctrine The xi Chapter IN the xi he iuggleth wyth thys misticall terme Latria I answere God is no vayne name but signifieth one that is almighty all mercifull all true and good which he that beleueth will goe to God to hys promises and Testament and not follow his owne imaginations as M. Mores doctrine teacheth He sayth that bodely seruice is not Latria No but bodely seruice done referred vnto hym ▪ which is a spirite is Idololatria He trusteth that men know the Image from the Saint I aske M. More why God did hide Moses body diuers other The Iewes would haue knowen y t Moses had not bene God and that Moses bones had not bene Moses And they knew that the brasē serpent was not God and that y t golden calues were not God that wod and stone were not God But Syr there is euer a false imagination by The world because they can not worship God in the spirite to repent of euill and to loue the lawe and to beleue that he wyll helpe at al neede therfore runne they vnto their owne imaginations and thinke that God for such seruice as they do to Images will fulfill their worldly desires for godly cā they nought desire Now God is a spirite and wil be worshipped in hys woorde onely which is spirituall and wil haue no bodely seruice And the ceremonies of the olde law he set vp to signifie his word onely and to keepe the people in mynde of hys testament So that he which obserueth any ceremony of any other purpose is an Idolater that is an Image seruer And when he sayth if men aske women whether it were our Lady of Walsingam or Ipswich that was saluted of Gabriel or that stoode by Christ when he hung on the crosse they wyll say neyther nother Then I aske hym what meaneth it that they say our Lady of Walsingam pray for me our Lady of Ipswich pray for me our Lady of Wilsdō pray for me in so much y ● some which recken thēselues no small fooles make them roules of halfe an houre long to pray after that maner And they that so pray thou mayst ●e sure meane our Lady that stoode by the crosse and her that was saluted therto Then he rehearseth many abuses and how that womē sing songes of ribaudry in processions in cathedral churches vnto which abhominatiōs yet our holy church that cānot erre cōsent wyth full delectatiō For on the one side they will not amende the abuse And on the other side they haue hyred M. More to proue with his sophistry that y e things ought not to be put downe Then he bringeth in how the wilde Irish and the Welch pray when they go to steale And asketh whether because they abuse prayer we should put all praying downe Nay M. More it is not like Prayer is Gods commaundement where fayth is there must prayer needes be cannot be away How be it thynges that are but mens traditions and all indifferent thynges which we may be as well without as wyth may well be put downe for their dishonouring of God thorow y ● abuse We haue turned kissing in the Church into the Pax. We haue put downe watching all night in the church on saintes eues for