off synnes that god wolde haue punisshed / he wolde haue them punyshed not by the bysshops and rulers of the churche / but by the Iudgys off the worlde c. be not these wordes playne S. Paule sayeth / Omnis anima / ād origyn saythe / oīa crimina / So that S. Paule takethe awaye all men from their subieccion / And orygen taketh awaye all crymes from their correccion what glosse can they make of these wordes a fore youre grace / yf they laye for them the olde custom ād their lawys I will laye a genst thē oure master Christ S. Paule / S. peter Origen And I will denye their customs / their church and also their lawys And this wil I not doo onlye / but I will proue yt bi their awne lawe that I may doo yt rightfully / These be their wordes Disti 8. c. qui He that doth dispisse the verite ād presume to followe the custome / eyther is envyous malicious agenst hys bretherne to whom the veryte is opened / or els he is vnthankefulle towardes god by whose inspyracion his churche ys instructe / for the lorde sayth not I am the custom / but I am the veryte c. these wordes be playne agēste all customs and al churches that be agenste the worde of god Distin 8. c cōsuetudo This same thynge haue they also in another place in these wordis / that same custom / that ys crept in vn to certayne mē / maye not lett but that the veryte must preuaylle and ouercome For a custom with outh the verite ys but an olde erroure c̄ These wordes be playne that all customs be but errours that be agenste the veryte And as for to denye their churche I maye lawfully do yt / for that is not the churche that ys with out and contrarye to the worde of god for christis churche heareth his worde onlye / as christ sayth my shepe heare my voyce / Ioa. 10. and they follow not a straunger but flye from hym / for they know not hys voyce Also in a nother place / he that is of god hereth the wordes of god / and therfore do not you here / Ioan. 8. by cause yov be not of god Here is yt opyn that they that be not of god heare not the worde of god nor be of hys churche / but of the churche of the deuylle whyche he dothe hate Now haue I prouyd vn to youre grace / that I may ryghtously denye there churche / their lawys and their customs Not with stondynge all thys / yet will I prove by their awne lawe that they haue none auctorite tēporall / but al their auctorite ys allonlye in the ministracion of godes worde whyche they do sore despyce / these be the wordes of their lawe The churche that knoweth no corporall wepons / 16. q. 3. Porro ▪ doth paciently abyd allonly god whyche is her defēder / whan it shalle plese him for to haue mercy c̄ Here is playne that the church knoweth no temporall wepons Also in a nother place The holy churche of god hath no swerde but the spirituall swerde / with the whych she dothe not kylle / 33. q. 2. Inter her but quikkyn These wordes be playne / that the churche hathe no swerde but the spirituall swerde Now how comme the bisshops by the temporal swerd Lyke wyse in a nother place I may morne / I may wepe / I may waylle agenst wepons / agenst sodyars / and agenst the Gothos 23. q. 8. Cōvenior For my teris be my wepons / for suche thyngis be the wepons of preastes / otherwysse I ovght not nor I may not resyst c̄ Here yov this my lordes how that S. Ambrosse had none other wepons / but wepyngis ād prayers / and that he might not in ony wysse defende him selfe with other wepons How thinke yow / was not he of the churche was not he preuileged of god as wel as ye and yet coulde he not nor ought not defend hym nor medylle with the temporall swerde Moreover yt is open in yovre awne lawe .24 q. 4. Quesitum That the temporal swerde / the mynystracyon of the worde are of God / 24. q. 4. Quesitū and these too be dyuers and the one may not vsurpe others auctorite / the wordes of youre lawe be these The mediator betwene god and man Christ Iesus / hathe deuydyd the offices of bothe powers in to their proper actes and in to dystincte dygnityes / Di. 10. ◠Quoniam wyllinge bi hys awne medycinalle meknes that mens hartes shulde be lyfted vpp / and not with mans pryde agayne to be drowned in these inferior thynges / so that christen Emperours As consernyng eternalle lyfe shulde haue nede of bysshops / and lykwysse the bysshops for the course allonly of these temporall goodes / shulde vse the Emperours lawys / so that the spirituall accion shulde be distyncted from the worldlye courses / and he that shuld serue god shulde not wrappe him selfe in worldlye busynesses c̄ Here is playne that youre grace must haue fulle power over al worldlye coursis / and the bysshops allonly mynistracion of the worde of God and as youre grace maye not vsurpe to preache the worde of god / no more maye they vsurpe any power that belōgeth to youre swerde This same sētēce haue they di 96. c. dis 96. c. cū ad verū Cū ad verū So that youre grace may opēly se by godis lawe / by their awne lawe / by the practice of oure master christ of his apostils and bi the exposiciō of holy doctours that the bysshops neither haue nor yet maye haue any power tēporal / but all ys allonly in youre graces honde / and you are bound to vse yt to execute yt / in youre awne parson to the vttermost strength that God hathe geuyn yov And in no wysse may youre grace geue this power or parte thereof vn to other men / for so doyng do yov breake the ordinaunce of godes word and declare youre selfe a fore god that yov are vn worthy and not sufficient to minyster the honoure that god of heuyn hath frely geuyn vn to yov This may not youre grace do / for that were as moch a fore god as though yov wolde controlle his ordinaunce / or els that yov wolde not mekelye a plye youre selfe with dyligēce to mynister that thyng that god hathe enioyned youre grace vn to Not with stondynge / this may youre grace doo allonly yf the busynes be so greate that belongeth to youre administracion that youre grace can not alone discharge thē / than may youre grace chose and assyne certayne other so many as shall be necessary / whyche shal dyscharge all maner of causes All ways prouided / that these men shall be but mynysters and seruauntes vnderneth youre grace / and no kyngis nor they may not vsurpe any power as kyngis by no lawe
takyn from the aulter Now did I saye that Christ was oure aulter / but this myne aduersaryes vnderstod not / But I haue meruell what this artycle dothe a monge the other heretycalle artycles / I thynke they do not rekkyn it heresy The .25 Article HE dyd not praye for the thre estates of holy churche / neither made he his prayers in the begynynge of the sermon accordyng to the olde custom but at the laste ende / and for the true knowlege of all christeÌ„ men makynge no prayer to oure ladye / nor for the soules in purgatory / nor for grace expedient If the bysshops had had any indyfferencye in them or any wysdom or lernynge they wolde haue byn a shamyd that suche articles shulde haue be brought a fore them / what is this to the purposse of heresy that I dyd not praye for the thre estates of holy churche and yet they gravnt that I prayd for al true christen men and that men myght come to the trew knowlege is not al the churche conteynyd in this But they be mad men with out all consyderacion / they be so blyndyd in theyr worldly honour that God doth al ways send them suche shame And that I dyd not pray to oure lady nor for the soules in purgatory / what ys that to heresy for than were the apostles heretykes / for they dyd not pray in theyr sermons to oure ladye nor yet for the soules in purgatorye And as for praynge for grace expedyent that is not the preacher bound to do opynly But my thynketh by these artycles that god gaue me a great grace / that I durst so boldly repreue the abhominable lyuynge of the bysshops not feryng the danger that shulde come there of / but this I leue to others mens Iudgement / and I dare say boldy that if I had spokyn tentymys as muche ageÌ„st the auctorite of oure noble prince / and agenst al his dukes and lordes / and had takyn all power / both temporall and spirituall from them and geuyn it to oure ydyll belligodes the bysshopes / than had I byn a faythefull christen man for I had defendyd the lybertis of the holy churche / yee and if the kynges grace wolde haue put me to dethe I doute not but thei wolde haue made of me an holy stinckynge marter as they haue donne of meny other for suche causys but God send them his grace Amen NOw if youre grace do not take vppon you / to heare the disputacion and the probacion of thys artycle out of the very grounde of holy scriptur / my lordys the bysshops wille condemne yt a fore they reade yt as their maner is to do with al thyngis that pleasse them not / and whyche they vnderstond not / and than Crye they herese / heresy / an heretyke / an heretyke / he ought not to be harde for his matters be condemned by the churche / and by holy fathers / and bi alle longe customs and by alle maner of lawys Vn to whom / with youre graces fauour I make this answere I wolde know of them / if all these thyngis that they haue here rekenyd can ouercome christ and hys holy worde / or sett the holygost to scole / and if they can not / why shulde not I be harde / that do require it in the name of christ / aÌ„d also bryng for me hys holy worde / And as for the holy fathers they haue vnderstonde Godis worde as I do / There fore though they wille not here me / yet must they nedys here them / Neuerthe lesse if it pleasse youre grace it wâ—re no ryght to bynde vs all ways to the IudgemeÌ„t / of our olde fathers for than what nede we the gyfte of wysdom what nede we the gyfte of vnderstondyng but let vs vse their wysdom / and their vnderstondynge / what nede we to studdy / to make any new thyngys for the fathers haue made all Breuely what nede we ony syngulare gyftes of god For we can de nothyng that is syngular with them / for the fathers haue done all / But what ryght were yt / thus to bynd vs more to oure fathers / than oure fathers were bounde to theirs why did they not all beleue the first father ye why dyd they not all beleue christ the master of al fathers 1. Tess v. Breuely why dothe S. Paule commauÌ„de vs that we shuld proue al thyngis / and a byde by that that is good / what nede we to proue that thyng / whyche we are bound to reseue our Iudgement is not lokyd for in the thyng whych we are bouÌ„d to reseue / and than what nede S. Paule to saye / holde that thyng that is good / for alle the fathers be good / and none bad / and whether they be good or bad we must reseue them after the bysshops lernyng / but than how shall we folow Sayn IoaÌ„s counsell / that biddeth vs to be ware of Antichrist for he shalle be in al agys / and wyth out doute he shal be no dyspysyd parson in the world / nor no fole / nor vnlernyd / nor with out the coloure of holynes / nor with out the name of a father / no nor vn to mans Iudgement / with out a good spiryte And therfore / that men shulde not be dysseyuyd with these exterior dysgysynges / as with holy hyprocrisy / with the name of lernyng / with the name of fatherhod ye with the name of christ / he byddythe men prove of whence the spritys be / whether they deny chryst or none for he that denyeth that Iesus christ is come in the fleshe / is aÌ„tichrist / 1. Ioan. 4. Now if these lordis or ony off the fathers do deny / that christ is come in the fleshe than are they aÌ„tichristes / But my lordis wille say that they do not deny / nor none off their fathers do deny that christ is come in the fleshe / for they do graunte that christ is borne of a vyrgyn / and is very god and man / and dyd here lyue on erthe and preachid thaught aÌ„d did many great miracles / afterward dyed and assended vp to heuyn and there sytteth on the ryght hond of the father wyth many other thinges more / which they do not allonly graunt but are also ready to dye in the cause wherfore they wyll say / that this is nothing agenst them nor yet agenst their fathers My lordes I pray god yt be not / but geue vs the lyberte that the apostylle geuythe vs here / to prove youre spretys / than shall we know off whence you are First all those thinges be trew that you haue graunted of christ / but. S. IohaÌ„ wyl that we must prove you nerare than thus / for in thys is no probacion of the spretys / for the deuylls graunt all or the moste parte of these / and if there shulde come one that wolde deny with open wordes any of these
obedyent vnto temporalle prynces / ye and that vnto infidels And not alonlye he / but all hys ordinaunce All hys wrytynges / and all his bisshops dyd agre to the same And yff they wyll dispice S. Paule / by cause he was but a begger / and no lorde off the parlament what wyll they say to oure Master Christe oure mighty / gracious / and excellent prynce / was not he obedyent vn to Pylate that was an infydelle / and in auctorite muche lesse than youre grace / dyd not he obey in bodye and goodes / dyd not he paye tribute vn to Cesar / was not he crucifyed / vnder Pons Pylat / was not he a spirituall man / was not his cause ryghtuous / was not he mighty to defende his cause was not he worthy to be exempted / was he not annoynted I meane not with oyle but wyth the holy gost so well as they / and yet wolde kepe the order / that was sett by hys heuynly father Dyd not he sore rebuke Peter / that wolde haue defended his cause / and sought for suche carnall lyberte / agenste the power off princes / Dyd he not clearly take a waye / the temporall swerd from hym we neuer rede that euer he drewe yt after / and yet we reade that he had causys suffycient And now commyth Peters successoure / and he wyll drawe yt out / and hed pryncis there with who gaue master vicare auctoryte / to doo that the the parson durste neuer doo / ner coulde neuer doo yt / was his cause neuer so ryght ye though yt were to defēd christ wyth out greate rebuke of his master Thus youre grace maye se / how they do vsurpe / bothe the name of christ / and off his holye appostles / but they neyther agre in worde nor dede what dothe yt profyte / to call an open whore an honest woman / the name can not make here honest / Disti 40. Nō est facile di 40. multi sacerdot◠so lykewysse as their lawe saith They be not the chyldern off holy men / that sytte in the romes of holy men / but they that doo their workes c̄ Also in a nother place The seate dothe not make a preaste / but the preast maketh the seate The place dothe not sanctifie the man / but the man sanctifyeth the place / All preastie be not holye / but all holye men be preastes c̄ Nowe yff youre grace wolde follow their awne lawe / what were they lesse than bysshops Take a way theyr seate / that is their worldely pompe and pryde / their outwarde shynynge / their glorious name / and what remayneth in them / Surelye not one poynte that belongethe to a bisshope / Thys may youre grace well doo / there is neyther lawe nor consciēce can lett you ye bothe the lawe of god / and also conscience dothe bynde you to doo yt / how can youre grace otherwyse be discharged / except yov sett other men in their romes / that wille doo those thynges / that belongeth by holy scripture to bysshops to doo There out commith their name / why shulde they not also be hounde to lyue there after youre grace hathe taken some off them from the bochers staulle and made them bysshops / you haue taken some out of the carte and sett them in Peters Chayre / who can denye but this youre grace maye doo All ways providyd that they doo those thynges that belongeth to their office by the worde of god / or els youre grace is in daunger But who can proue / that they are worthye off thys dignite / that youre grace hath heuen them moche lesse to be youre controllars / yee and also to be aboue all youre lawes / and to haue auctorite to deposse you But yf youre grace wolde doo thē ryght / you shulde returne them home ageyne / the bocker to his staulle / The begger to hys wallet / the carter to hys whyppe / and than aske them yff they be of the church and what exempcion they haue from youre obedyence and from youre lawe / and what auctorite to deposse kynges But as for thys / youre grace can order yt moche better / than I cane deuyse I saye yt for no nother purposse / but for to declare youre graces power / and youre goodnes towarde them / and lykewyse their vnworthynes / and ingratitude / agenst youre most noble grace I wylle returne agayne to oure Master Christ / whan the multitude wold haue chosene hym kyng dyd he not flye Io ▪ So that he dyd not allonly lerne obedience in his doctrine / but also he dyd practice yt in his outward workes and lyuinge Fynallye / they shall neuer be able to prove to youre grace / but that Chryst and alle his apostles were subiect / to the temporal princes / bothe in bodye and goodes / and toke no nother rule in this worlde / but only to preache the eternalle worde of god / and lefte all wordly rule / vnto temporall princes / whether they were faythefull / or vnfaythefull But now commyth oure spirituall fathers So muste we call them allonly of customme and of no deseruynge and wyll commaunde prynces to be sworne vn to them / and to defende them / and their lybertes / with all their gorgyousnes / and prowde dignytyes of this worlde which othe / yff the prynces wyll not make to thē / they wyll interdyte theyr londe / and priuate them of theyr dignite / yee and also asoyle men off the othe / that they made to their prince This ys opyn in their lawe / de hereticis De hereticis Ad abolendum Ad abolendum How dothe thys agre wyth S. Paulys commaundement / and wyth oure Master Christes factes Is thys obeying to princes / to depelle them their royalme / yff they wyll not be sworne vnto them / Be these trewe subiectes Is this the offyce of byshops / Be these the successors of Peter / Paule Be these the perfyt men that haue forsaken all thyng and followed Christ Doubtles they forsake all thynges / that they can not gett Be not these perfytt / forsakers But they wyll saye that princes be bounde to be sworne / to defēde their churche / from heretykes or ells to be deposed This ys yt that I lokyd for Vvhom call you heretykes Vvho shall iudge these men to be heretikes After what lawe shall they be iudged yff you call them heretikes / that speke agenst youre lawes / and agenst youre libertyes / and agenst youre dignite / than are Christ and all his holy appostles heretikes For they defende pertinaciter as yov say their lerninge agēste youre lawes / and that not in one place / but in euery place / as yt ys open in holy scripture But now yff you take them for heretykis that be agenst Christ and his holy worde / than ys the kynges grace sworne to expelle you his realme and
yt Fol. v. Kynges croune what it signifieth Fol. viij Lawes constitucions and decrees which be not grounded in scripture bynd not oure conscieÌ„s C.xij Lyra saith / the churche doth not stonde in men / by the reason of spiritual power or secular dignyte / for manye princes and manye popes and other inferior persons haue swarved from the faithe wherfore the church doth stonde in those parsones in whom is the true knowlege and coÌ„fession of faith and verite cÌ„ lx Monye is a marchaunte lxxix Onlye faith iustefieth before god xxxvij Origene saieth / alle maner of synnes that god wold haue punished shulde not be punished by the bisshopes rulars of the church but by the iudges of the world accordinge to S. Paule Roma xiij And why shuld not princes punish prestes for their knavery xv Origene hath these wordes / Paule saiethe that the iustificacion of faithe is alonly sufficient so that if a maÌ„ do beleue alonlye / he is iustefied though there be no workes done of him at all By faith was the thefe iustefied with out the workes of the lawe wherefore a man is iustefyed by faith vnto whom as concerninge iustificacion / the workes of the lawe helpe nothinge xli Origene sayeth / vppon these wordes thou arte Peter cÌ„ these wordes were spoken vn to Peter / vnto all appostles / vnto all maner of perfeite faithfulle men for all they arte Peter / and in all them is buylded the church of christ / agenst none of them can the gates of hell prevayle cÌ„ lxxv Pope contrarye to the prerogatiue of alle princes did depose the righte kinge of fraunce / and set in pypinum and assoyled al fraunce of their oth and allegiaunce due vnto their right kynge as his lawe testifieth Fol. v Pope wyll not be repreued although he drawe innumerable people vnto the deuell Fol. vij Popes lawe saithe that the pope maye make no newe lawe where christ or the appostles or holy doctoures haue dertermyned any thinge Fo. 7 Popes lawe saieth that we must kepe vnto princes and powers / faith and reuerence / but the pope doth otherwyse Fol. viij Popes lawe saieth / they are not the childern of holye men that sitte in the sete of holye meÌ„ / but they that doo their workes Fol. ix Popes lawe saiethe / the seate doth not make a preaste but a preast maketh the seate / the place doth not sanctifie the man but the man sanctifieth the place All preastes be not holye / but all holye men be preastes / but now oure popes denye this Fol. ix Popes lawe saith / he that dyspyseth the veryte and presumeth to folow the custome is envious and malicious agenst his brethren and vnthankefulle toward god xv Popes lawe saith / the custome maye not lett but that the veryte must prevayle for a custome with out the verite is but an olde erroure xv Popes lawe saith that the church knoweth no corporalle wepons / and that the holye churche hath no swerd but the spirituall swerde but now the pope saith otherwyse xv Popes lawe saith / that the temporalle swerde the ministracyon of the worde are dyuerse offyces and that the one maye not vsurpe the others auctorite xvj Popes lawe sayeth / that the bisshoppes shulde vse the emperours lawes as concerninge temporall thinges and shulde not wroppe him selfe in wordlye busynesses Fol. xvj Popes lawe saieth that as a temporall officer maye not vsurpe to preach the worde / no more maye the minister of the worde vsurpe any power that belongeth to the temporall swerde xvj Popes lawe saieth / they that forbid men to worke on the saboth daye or sondaye are the preachers of Antichrist This lawe is like to make all oure clargye membres of Antichrist xxv Popes law saieth / Corneliê° ceÌ„turio beinge a hetheÌ„ maÌ„ was iustefied bi the gifte of the holy gost lv Popes lawe saith / therfore is the church holye / because she beleueth rightwyselye in god lxij Popes lawe saithe / the counsell maye erre as yt hath erred / as concerninge the contracte of matrimonye inter raptoreÌ„ et raptam / the sayenge of S. Hierome was afterwarde preferred aboue the statute of the counsell For in thinges concerninge the faythe ys the saynge of a pryuate persone to be preferred a fore the saynge of the â—ope yf he haue better reasons and scriptures 〈◊〉 him than the pope lxiiij Popes law saieth / the church doth oftymes excomunicate a man that is with in / that is / which is a true christen and a member of the church / And contrarye wyse kepeth him with in the church / which is with out and is in dede no membre of christes church lxv Popes lawe sayeth / if peter haue power alonly to bynde and to lose than doth it not the church / but if this be done in the church / theÌ„ dyd peter whan he receyved the keyes sygnyfye holi church lxxv Popes lawe sayeth / if christ as Paule affermeth be the power and wysdome of god / than to be ignoraunte in scripture is as moch as to be ignoraunte of christ C.viij Popes lawe recyteth a counsell which thought it exceadinge good for al christen men to be ocupied in the meditacyons of godes lawe C.viij Popes lawe sayth / we vnderstonde that certeÌ„ men receuinge alonlye the porcyon of the blessed bodye do astayne from the chalice of the holy bloude / the which doutles seynge I can not tel by what supersticyon they are lerned to abstayne let them eyther receue the hole sacrameÌ„t or els let theÌ„ be forbiddeÌ„ from the whole sacrament / for the diuisyon of one and of the same mysterie can not de done with out greate sacrilege cÌ„ C.xxviij Popes lawe sayeth / whan the hoste is broken and the bloude shed out of the chalice in to the mouthes of faithfull men / whatother thynge is there sygnifyed but the immolacion of oure lordes bodye on the crosse and the shedinge of his bloude out of his syde cÌ„ C.xxix Popes lawe sayth / if that the bloude of chryst be shed for remyssyon of synnes than ought I lawfullye for to receue it I which do al wayes synne must al wayes receave a medicine Cxxix Preastes will haue princes sworne vnto theÌ„ x. Preastes wyll defende their temporall godes with both swerdes by what auctoryte fo xij Preastes maye not apeare be fore a temporall iudge xij Princes maye make no statutes of preastes godes excepte any thinge shulde be geueÌ„ theÌ„ xii Preastes liuinges maye not be iudged of lay-men .xii Sacrament of the altare ought to be receyved of al meÌ„ vnder both kyndes or els the receuers synne C.xxiij Sayntes It is ageÌ„st scripture to honoure images or praye to sayntes C.xxxiij Scriptur It is lawfull for al maner of men to reade holye scripture C. Solucyons to the reasons scriptures which they falselye alege that workes shulde iustifye xlix Tertulian sayeth / that we must kepe the saboth not alonlye the seventh daye but everye daye so that oure saboth is nothynge but to harken vnto the worde of god and to lerne to abstayne from synne xxiiij Vvetheral prouincial of the fryar austynes xliii Amen