from the meates which god hath created to be receaued with thankesgeuyng of thē which beleue and know the trueth For euery creature of god is good / nothing to be refused / that is receaued with geuynge of thankes for it is sanctified by the word of god and praier I suppose deare iudges that as touching these matters / Paul hath with these wordes sufficienthly answered for vs / seyng he saieth euidently / that they which forbyd to mary / and commaunde to absteyne fro meates / are departed from the faith and folow the deuels doctryne Paul also him self wrythet thus to the Corinthians what so euer is solde in the flesh market / that eate / and aske no question for conscience sake For the erth is the lordes / and all that is therin And to the Colossians he wryteth let no man therfore trouble youre consciences aboute meat or drynke / or for a pece of an holy daye / or new Moone / or of the Saboath daies / which are the shadow of thinges that were for to come / but the body it selfe is in Christ And afterward it foloweth yf ye be deed then with Christ frō the ordinaunces of the world why are ye holdē with such tradicions / as thoug ye liued after the world As whan they saye / Touche not this / taist not that / hādle not that All which thisges do hurte vnto men because of their obuse / which commeth onely of the commaundmentes and doctrynes of men etc. All this doth Christ confirme / whan he saieth what soeuer entreth in at the mouth / defyleth not the man And what can be more clearly spokē But so false and vnrighteous is the iudgment of such vnreasonable mē / that yf a Christen mā do taist but a litle flesh vpō a daye prohibited by thē / Immediatly without any farther advisement / they proclame him to be an heretike / and cast in his tethe such a tradicion of fasting / as though a mans saluacion depended vpon the difference of meates and yet the ypocrites them selues / though they eate no fleshe / are neuerthelesse so full of flesllye desyres / that they can vnderstond nothing but fleshlye / somtyme are not ashamed to vtter their fleshely lustes with excesse Euen as greate wrong do they thorow their damnynge of prestes mariage But to the intent that men shulde iudge them to be excellent manteyners of chastite / they prayse virginite out of measure / which in very dede is a singu gift of god / but keuen vnto few Neuerthelesse that they go aboute to māteyne / not virginite / but a state to liue vnmaried / it appeareth playnlie by this / that whan a prest taketh a wife / they wil not onely haue him deposed from his mynistracion / but iudge him worthy to be put to death also But yf he agaynst all honestie / take an harlot / or kepe another mans wife / he is suffred / as a profitable membre of the church of Rome I meane O what an horrible wickendesse is this Yet was ther neuer a people so wilde or vnnaturall / but they had an ordynaunce concernynge mariage / and keping of cōcubynes Onely Romishe prestes maye in this matter do as they lust themselues They take harlottes at their pleasure / whan they will / and where / and aske no question for conscience sake / so that they paye the bishope the whore toll And euen with like audacyte put they them awaye from thē agayne / and shame neuer a whitt Yet are they not satisfied with such vnmeasurable libertie / but haunt other mens wifes / and defloure virgynite No thing cā be safe from them with their filthie wantonesse defyle they euery thing / the angelicall defenders of chastite all which is so manifest / that it can not be hydd But lest I be reputed more to be an accuser of Romishe prestes / then a defender of this Christen man / I will passe ouer many thinges that might be spoken concernyng this matter / and contēt me with the iudgment of Pāul / who saieth yf they cā not absteyne / let them mary / for it is better eo mary thē to burne Wherfore let this iudgment remayne / let troubled cōsciences be helped / and the mynistres of the church restored agayne to an honest conuersacion lest yf we contynue in this synne / we fall in to that horrible iudgment / wherwith god will iudge fornicatours and aduoutres Now / thou vnreasonable accuser / hast thou a sufficiēt answere to all the poyntes of thy complaynte and I wold hope that thy madnesse shulde therbye be mitigate / yf I feared not that the light of thy body were darkened for very malyce Now yf the light that is in the be darknesse / how grerte wil the darknesse it selfe be / euen thou thy selfe / I saye knowest well / that all that I haue sayde / is true And why resisted thou than the open trueth Thou vnhappy man / art thou so farre vnaduysed / that thou canst not pōdre / how weake a groud thou hast in this vngodly matter / and agayne how mightie and invyncyble an aduersary thou hast / namely Christ Iesus the onely begotten deare sone of god Thy furye hath now raged ynough agaynst this innocent Christen man Ceasse now at the last from peruerting the right waye of the lorde Alas man / how oft hast thou in this thy enuyous complaynte / denyed the faith openly / in that thou hast dyuerse tymes sayde / that onely faith maketh not righteous before god I praye the / art thou not ashamed of so detestable a lye Doth not the scripture teach euidently / that fait onely iustifieth in the fight of god Who euer denyed this / yf he were not mad / and such one as thou art Thou bostest of great workes / wher of thou thy selfe hast not touched one with thy litle fyngre And who knoweth not / that faith and charite can not be separated Yf charite then hang vpon faith / and can not be ydle / but allwaye occupied / how shulde not the workes of charite and loue folow afterwarde of theim selues Yea the same workes are now not oures lest any man boast himselfe but Christes / who worketh in vs thorow faith / as in his owne membres Thou takest to recorde the Epistle of S. Iames / whose wordes are these faith without workes is deed Here thou reioycest as though thou haddest gotten the vittory / and tryumphest as though thou werest ouer the hedge all ready S. Iames saieth / that faith without workes is no faith / for faith loue or charite cā not be sondred Thinkest thow that one can loue another / to whom he geueth no credence Or that one cā put all his hope and trust in him whom he loueth not S. Paul saieth yf I had all faith / so that I coulde remoue hilles / and hadde not loue / I were nothing The same putteth he for a thing vnpossible
/ and declareth therbye / that faith can not be without loue or charite Therfore will we discerne these thre thinges faith hope and charite one from another / but so / that they remayne vnseparated Faith onely iutifieth before god loue or charite worketh toward hir neghboure hope doth paciētly wayte for the promes of god / and shal not be confounded Thou saiest we lacke good workes / not such as come of loue / or that Christ shal requyre of vs at the daye of iudgment but to go a pilgremage / to set vp cādils before ymages / to nombre vp what we pray / to tell ouer a payre of beedes / to put deffence in clothing / in meates / in prayers / in titels or names / wher one had rather be called a charter house monck or a barfote frere / then a Christen man These and such like sklender and childishe workes requyrest thou of vs which though one had done them alltogether / it were euen asmuch as though he in the meane season had rydden vpon a sticke with boyes in the strete But declare thou vs thy faith out of such workes / as belong to a Christē man / and we wil shew the oure workes put of faith Seist thou how this Christē mam whom thou accusest stondeth here so weake fleble thorow the stynck and tedyousnesse of the preson / that he can scace stond vpon his legges And why I praye the. Hath he committed anye euell dede No. For yf he haue done ouhht that deserueth death / or so the Iudges haue the law / they haue the swerde / let thē execute it / I wil make no request agaynst it Wherfore is it than I wil tell the. Euen because he hath frely preached the gospell of Christ and the grace that is geuen vs thorow him for he beleued / therfore hath he spoken and hath taught that what soeuer is agaynst the gospell ought to be put dawne / to the intent that the kyngdome of god might come vnto vs / that his name might be santified thus of a feruent loue hath he endeuored himselfe to instructe all mē and to bring them to the true knowlege of god / and of his sone Iesus Christ Summa / his mynde was so set to serue his negboure / that he hath not abhorred the darck dongeon and preson / to be desolate and alone / in honger and thirst / yea in daunger of death Such are the workes of a Christē mā / which must not be ascrybed vnto vs / but vnto the lorde that worketh them in vs. Such true fasting is accepted of the lorde such true obediēce belongeth to his sayntes Now forasmuch as I haue sufficiently declared that oure aduersaries complaynte is cleane agaynst equyte / ther is no more to be requyred saue onely that ye / Right deare Iudges whose mynde is to do euery man right quyte this Christen man acording to youre beneuolēce A short recapittulaciō vnto the Reader Here haste thou harde moste Iētle Reader how beninge / how lovinge / how myndfull owre moste mercifull father is / and ever hatthe ben / ouer his electe and chosyn children / namely euē now And for an ensample haue we this poore and simple creture sett before owre iees / to calle vs to remembrance that he is ny vnto all them that / in tyme of tribulaciō or persecucion will calle / a pon hym in treweth and verite Se we not here how mercifully He stirechith owte his hande / he spredith a broude his wynges to hyde and cover this his tender birde frome the gleyde or bosarde And in conclusion he mollifieth and movith the harte of this verteouse prince and by hym as by an enstrumēt of his one / doeth he not only defende this poore mans cause / or rather the trewthyt selfe but also delyueryth him frome the cruell hādes of all his emnies / no otherwise / thē evin as it were frome death to lyfe soche is his godly nature / soche is his properte an a customed maner / that in the mydist of aduersytes tribulacion persecucion / where men thinck him moste furthist of / ther is he moste nyest and present / with soche cōsolacion and comforth as canne not be expressid wyth / tonge What more Ioye cāne ther come to them whiche be afflicted persecuted and vnder the swete crosse of Iesu Christ / then to calle to ther remembrance the confortable storyes of the scripture acording to the sayeng of sent Paul What so euer thyng is wrytten / it is wrytton for owre doctryne and lernyng / that throwgh pacience and the consolaciō of godes worde / we may haue sewre hope truste Hou lycke a loving lorde / saued he / Isaac / frome the mortall and deadly strock of the swerde / with howe petiful aneye lokyd he on Noe the precher of ryghteousnesse / restoryng hym frome the rough ragyng wawes of the vnmercifull see / he deliuerid Loth at an enstant frome the conuersacion and cōpany of they vngodly Sodomytes Gomorrians / keppt he not Ionas saue and sownde / after he was devoured and swaloed vp of that houge and monstruus fishe Sydrach / Misach / and Abdenago / preserued he frome the flamyng fornace of burnyng fyrd Daniel be deliueryd frō the devouryng mowthes / of the hongry liōs Moises amōge the reedes and flages hydde hangyd by the water syde in a baskyd / whas restored agayne to his naturall mother to be norsed of her Paul was left downe in a baskyt / and so escaped the handes of his persecuters / Susanna / whas preserued and defended pure and vndefiled / frome the lecherus lustes of the false prestes and Iudges / Iudith / with moche Ioye and victorye whas delyueryd frome the feyrce violence / and myghty power of all they emnies of god These / and many mo godly ensamples be lefftt in the holy scripture to the great comforth and consolation of them that suffer persecuciō for Christes sake / acording to the saieng of Christ hym selfe Blessed are all they which suffer persecucion for ryghteousnes sake for theyr is the kyngdome of heauen Agayne / as many as will lyue godly in Christe Iesu muste suffer persecution / it is the blessyng of god the swete rodde of correctiō / where wyth all the feathe of the feathfull must ther wyth betryed For evyn as owre lorde and god / doeth all wayes and at all tymes preserue / kepe / and defende his poore persecuted afflicte in al extremites so doeth he caste downe / and neuer rayse vp agayne / all soche that so obstinatly and wilfully resistyth his eternall testament and worde / oppressyng his prechers / and persecutyng Christ / the only sone of god in his members Seyeng now that soche trowble and persecucion chansith all wayes apon the simple and pore afflicte / specially now / in these dangerus perelus seyson let not therfore the wordes of Paul be owte of they remēbrāce of thē that be at liberte / where he sayeth Remēbre them that are in bandes / evyn as though ye were in bandes wich thē and be myndfull off them whiche are in aduersite Lett this shorte an bresse lesson / be suffycient at this tyme to put the / moste Christen reader in remēbrance of some paerte of thy dewty and to render thanckes vnto the lorde for the great strength and power he gaue vnto this Christē prynce to confesse his lord god / before all men hym shalle the lorde cōfesse agayne before the father of heven / the lorde sende vs many soche prynces that wil wyth so redy a mynd defende the lyuely worde of god / deliuer the innocent / cōfute the false accuser / and to conclude to be prest redy to gyue his lyffe for his pore brother To the great discomforth of that hongry horse leche / and bloude thyrsti Romanyst the generation of wome ys never satisfied tyl yt hathe bloud God defende all thē that beleue in hys worde frome ther cruelite / and ylluminate they hertes of all prynces that they maye onest spye and perceyue what kynde of people they be that cause thys great dissencion discorde and warres / now in this trowbelous tyme / and thou I put no dowte but that kyngdome of antichriste / whyche now hangyth by a twyne threde / shall shortly take a falle / the kyngdome of Christe magnyfied amōge all nacyons to the great honor and lawde of god to the consolacion and confort of the wolle Christen congregatiō of Iesu Christe / to whome be praise both now euer AMEN ¶ Printed at Nurenbergh / And translated owt of douche in to Englishe by Myles Couerdale / in the yeare of our Lorde M.D.XLV in the laste of Octobre
fre autorite to vse the keyes Yet hath oure aduersary one reesō / wher by he thīketh to proue that Christ gaue the superiorite vnto Peter / nālye because that in the end of S. Ihons gospell / the lorde Iesus sayde vnto him Symon Ioannes / louest thou me more then these Peter ansuered him yea lorde thou knowest that I loue the. Iesus sayd vnto him fede my shepe / that same spake he thre tymes Out of this will oure aduersary conclude / that the whole flock of Christ was committed vnto Peter to be fed and because the lorde sayd I haue prayed for the that thy faith fayle not / he will that we shal therby vnderstonde the church of Rome Yf he now will haue that vnderstonde of the church of Rome / as of Peters habitacion to come / then out of Christes commaundment which foloweth immediatly after / let him lerne / that vnto the church of Rome ther was geuen no preemynence more then to other churches / but that there is equalite And thou saieth Christ whan thou art conuerted / strength thy brethren he saieth not / strength thy shepe / as the chefe shepherde nether thy childern / as the most holy father but strength thy brethren And as oft as ther arose any contencion among the disciples for the superiorite / Christ allwaye rebuked them / and sayde / that they were brethren Therfore saieth S. Paul also vnto euery one of vs is geuen grace acording vnto the measure of the gifte of Christ And immediatly after it foloweth and he himselfe made some Apostles / some prophetes / some Euangelistes / some shepherdes and teachers / to the edifiēg of the sayntes / to the worke ministracion c. In this rehearsall of ministracions / where nameth he one of them to be head among the Apostles What is become of the name of the chefe shepherde It foloweth also let vs folowe the trueth in loue / and in all thinges growe in him which is the head / euen Christ Here se we that all sayntes are membres of one body / whose head is Christ himselfe Nether is here mencion made of any other head And in another place saieth Paul they which samed to be som what and greate / added nothing vnto me But contrarywise whan they sawe / that the gospell ouer the vncircuncision was committed vnto Peter for he that was mightie in Peter in the Apostelshippe one the circuncision / the same was mightie in me amonge the heithen whan the grace that was geuen vnto me / then Iames / Cephas and Ihon / which sewed to be pylours / gaue vnto me and Bernabas the right handes of that feloshippe that we shulde be Apostles amonge the heithē / and they in the circuncisoō What can be founde more playne S. Paul saieth / that he had commission of the Apostelshippe amōg the heithē / as Peter had among the circumcision Thus after oure aduersaries doctryne / we must haue two heades / ard two chefe shepherdes the one amonge the Iewes / the other omong the heithē And why do not the Romaynes boast thē selues of S. Paul / whom euery man reputeth an Apostel of the heithē / of whō they come But let them heare the rest of the texte / where it sayeth that Iames Cephas and Ihon semed to be pylours Why calleth he Cephas or Peter a pyloure like the other Wherfore doth not he calle him the foundaciō of the church Why nameth he him not the chefe among the Apostles They gaue me saieth he and Barnaba the right hand of that feloshippe Here he affirmeth / that they were receaued of them as cōpanyons All which thinges declare no superiorite / but a brotherly equalite among the Apostles But let vs graunt / that Peter was the chefe among the Apostles / the chefeshepherde of the lordes flock / and the true vycare of Christ vpō erth though we nede none such / for asmuch as Christ hath promised vs to be with vs vnto the end of the world / nether is his kyngdome of this world but put the case that it so is / why will the bisshoppes of Rome yet vse any such title What excellēt thing soeuer was in Peter / that same receaued he at the grace of god thorow his faith loue The same grace lacked not Paul the other Apostles for though Peters shadow dyd heale many / yet helped Pauls napkyn not a fen thorow like working of the lorde / which confirmed his worde with such tokens But what is that to the bisshopes of Rome Doth the same proue / that Peter Paul preached at Rome As for Peter it is not very certeyne that euer he came there But let vs graunt that he was at Rome / bisshope there also Shal therfore all the bisshoppes of Rome comming aster / inheret likewise the grace that Peter had O how blessed an estate hath the bisshope of Rome / yf euen the same grace of god that was in Peter / be adioyned to his office Yf he might inheret the faith loue of Peter / doutles he shulde also opteyne like grace But euery mā knoweth / that these thinges were gistes of grace in Peter and in the other Apostles / consideringe that vertues or vyces come not to inheritaunce But euery soule that synneth / the same shall dye vertue also doth seldome take place in the successours Why do the Romishe than boast thē selues so sore Do thei it onely because that Prter was at Rome That were euen as yf a shoomaker dwelling in a house wherin a great lerned man dwelt somtyme wolt boast himselfe to haue opteyned some sciences of his predecessoure by reason of that dwellyng place Yea it were euen as yf a poore felow entring in to an office / wherin had bene a riche man afore to whom greate dettes were owinge / not concernyng the office wol requyre of dewtie the same his predecessours dettes / because he succedeth him in the office Euē like argumentes in a maner doth oure aduersary vse / wherby he goeth aboute to make the bisshope of Rome like vnto Peter in auctorite Peter / saieth he was ordened chefe shepherde of Christes flock to him were committed the keyes of the kyngdome of heauē And the same Peter was somtyme bisshope of Rome / therfore all bisshopes of Rome / are the chefe shepherdes and haue the keyes of the kyngdome of heauen Though this be but a small argument / yet hath god permitted that thorow the craffte of the deuel / it is so suncke in to many mens myndes / that who so euer vndertaketh but with a worde to do ought ther agaynst / must stonde in daunger of his life Now is it manifest that for the mayntenaunce of his opynion / he namely oure aduersary hath nothinge / excepte we graunt him / that Peter was bishope of Rome Yf that now alone be sufficient for the establishing of such exceadinge greate auctorite / I referre it to