THE RESCVER OF THE ROMISHE FOX AND hys whelpes, agaynst the hunter & hys houndes.
THe examination of a prowd praesumptuous hunter / who under a crafty praetence of huntyng the romishe fox / breakethe the pale of the enclosed park / and with hys rasheand knauishe houndes entendethe to destroy the dere of the same.
All Good and indifferent men whiche haue sene my huntynge can beare me recorde that the intent and purpose of it was to fynde out the romishe fox / and to proue that he was still abydynge in Englonde / and that ye master gardinere with your companiones did manteyn and holde hym still in the realme / contrari to the kyngis commandament / whiche appoynted yow to dryue hym clerly out of all places of hys dominion. And yow also yowr selfe in thys your examination grant that it is the bisshop of romis doctrine that i write agaynst but that it is not there for tobe cast away / becawse he hathe tawght & ordened it. There fore i hunt the fox in dede and not praetende to hunt hym as ye say. But how [Page] chanceth thys / that yow / whome with youre other felows i haue in my huntyng accused of idolatri / of heresi and mantenance of the fox / the kyngis enemi / that in the stede of an answerer / ye ar now becumed my examiner / and iudge / and your own iudge also? It is far agaynst all reson that ye whiche haue long bene my open enemi / and ar my aduersarie in thys cause shal be now alowed to be an examiner and a iudge of me and mi accusation / whether i accuse you sufficiently orno / seyng that hatrede blyndeth all examiners and iudges. It is as far wyde from all ryght that ye shal be allowed to be an examiner and a iudge vpon the accusation made agaynst your self / seing that as Plato sayethe / no man canbe an equal & indifferent iudge of hym selfe / for eueryman is blynde in that thyng whiche he louethe / Therfore it were more semyng that ye shuld leue of your examination / and answere to youre accusation / Ye resemble miche in maners your holy father pope iuly the secund / whiche after that he was dede and deposed from hys popedom / (as it is writen of hym (commanded saynt peter so imperiously to lete hym in at heuen gates / as he had wont to cō mande hys seruantes when he was alyue / euerdremyng of hys old state as thoge he hadbene a lordely pope still / so ye master gerdiner / the comune examiner of all them that ar accused for breakyng the traditiones ordened by your popishe fathers / whether the transgression be don in your diocese or your brother bonors (whiche wold be [Page] better but for yow) when it is at the last ones cū mede to your course to he accused of heresi and idolatri your oun selfe / ye dreame still that ye ar an examiner / as ye had wont to be / as Iulius dre med still thatt he was pope / If thys be not so it is lykely that of a set purpose ye will not seme to be accused of heresi and idolatri and of the mantenance of the fox / leste any other besyde me shulde arise here after and accuse yow of the forsayde crymes as i do / and then the accusationes of ij shulde be allowed / or at the leste shuld betaken for a comon reporte / and then it shuldbe harde for yow / withe all the hally watter that ye made thes seuen yeares / to purge poure selfe from the fame of a popishe heretike / as ye can not euen at thys houre withe all the learnyng and law that ye haue clere your selfe from the thyng it self whiche makethe a popishe heretike / Therfore for feare ye shuld be accused here after of papistri heresi and Idolatri and that my accusation shuld nether be taken for a witnes nor an increase of the comon fame that ye be a popishe heretik / ye make your self an examinet / dissemblyng that ye ar accused / of the crymes aboue rehersed / Where as ye call me a proud presumptuous hunter / he that knew bothe yow and me and ower lyuynges & saw youre mule / your iely styropis your gentle men goyng before yow in theyr ueluet cotes / your daly apparel and myne your castyng of your nose in the winde ly ke as a storke doth in hyr nest / wold say (or ellis i am deceyued) [Page] that i had good occasion to say / hypocrite or disguised player pul firste surthe the beame of thy own ey & then take own the mote of myne. Wherfore am i proude? my houndes haue no ueluet colars / my nettes ar not of silke / I can not gess whi that i shuld be called proude except it be for huntyng of the proude fox your father whiche makethe emperoures and kynges kys his fet / and yow whiche haue so many proude ueluet cotes goyng be fore yow euery day. What mean ye by your sayng that i break the pale of the inclosed parke? What meane ye by the pale / and what is thys parke? So far as i can spye / ye mean by the parke / the Chirche of englonde / and by the pale / the unprofitable & letworde ceremonies whiche were ones thurst in to the chirche by the Bisshop of rome Telme for what intēt haue yow and your fathers made thys pale of youres / for the chirche of englonde / to hold in / or to hold out sumthyng that shuld not cū in? If ye haue made your traditional / and ceremonial / pale to kepe the dere within it that they may not go furthe to get them selues sum good meat abrode / whē as ye ether gyne them non but contagious meat / or lok up theyr good meat from them (as ye dyd of late when ye tooke the worde of God from / them and commanded them in payn of deathe to eat your stollen brede that is to kepe your traditiones) ye do the thyng your selfe whiche ye lay falsely un to my charge / that is ye kill sum of the kyngis dere withe poy so ned meat and other sum withe hungre. [Page] If your pompons pale be made to holde out / ye haue welobteyned your purpose / for wiche your ceremonies and mannis inuentiones / whiche ye grant that the pope hathe made / ye hold out the worde of god whiche shuld only be the meat of all the deare of thys parke / and the true preachers of the same / for hally water must be coniured / and cast about / then it must be expounded what it me anethe / legendes / sequences secretes colates ante mes litanies and dirges for the dede must ether be sayde or song / the cros must be crepto an kissed asshes and hally brede must be taken / palmes and candelles must be borne / thes ceremonies must haue theyr tyme to be don and expounded in whiche tyme / the word of god myght be red and expounded / but if ether of bothe must be left undon the worde of god must be left of / for the ceremonies ar rekened to be goddis seruice as the worde of god is not rekened / How many preachynges ar on Christen mes day nay it is to dere a day or to hye a feste to preache on it / & the holy ceremonies may not be left of for the prechyng. I heard ones an indifferently well learned diuine say on a Christen messday / a short sermon wolddo well to day / as a long sermon were not alowable / for hyndering of the ceremonyes whiche ye call god dis seruice / If a preacher cum from oxford or cambridge / frely to preache the worde of god to the peple / & require to be heard / the preste useth to gyne thys ansiuere to the preacher / if he smell any thyng of the new learnyng / we must thys [Page] day rede the six articles other wise called gardiners gospel / and so the preacher goethe away / Therfore your traditional pale holdeth out in dede. If that ye say that your pale holde the out here tikes / the contrari is true / for loykyn of an werp that arche heretike / the spoylers / & the dauidianes with all other suche sectes with all theyr folowers kepe all the ceremonies that ar kept in Englond and mo to / and alow them as decent rites / and yit for all that thys pale of your ceremonies cannot hold out / damnable and detestable heresies and heretices out of thos parkes wher of they ar the pales / Thys pale of youris after my iudgement is not the pale of our english chirche / or at leste shuld not be / but it is the pale of the poe pis pyn fold / where in / ye and your felowes set all them agaynst theyr willes / whiche haue agaynst your myndes / tastede of the corne of goddis vnmingled worde / your pale may be called the pale of the popis gardin / where of bysshop steuē ye ar gardiner / and there in ye compell all men to worke & to eat of your popishe wedes in payne of deathe / The pale of all the rede dere of christis hyrde / is the word of god / which wil holde all that argood / with in theyr boundes / if they will not kep them with in ther boundes the chefe keper wereth not a wodknyfe in vayn / To breake thys pale were playn felony / but to break your popishe pale and to set it all in a fyre in my mynde were a dede of charite no less thē the dede of Ezechias / which brake the brasen serpent / for he that shuld [Page] breke / your pale / shuld delyuer many a pore prysoner pituously pyned with in youre popish pynfold. And where ye say that i intend to destroy the dere of the parke that is the kynges subiectes / it is not true for i intend only to hunt out the fox and to fynde out hys fautors and manteyners / If ye fele your self in ieperdy of your lyfe by my huntyng / then ar yow ether the fox or on of hys manteyners / for theyr ar no other in ieperdy by my huntyng.
Syth it hathe pleased allmyghty God / autor of unite to raduce thys realme to perfect accorde and agrement in the truthe / and by good polytike lawes / hathe under the ouly autorite of the kyngis maiesti enclosed / and as is were imparted / the derebeloued subiectes for theyr sauegarde / with in the forche and streynghe of the same / how mych is it to be lamented / to se arrogance in the eyes of the sayde subiectes / as with breache and uiolacion of the sayd lawes / to make a tumult and a clamor / under pretence of huntynge the fox that is [Page] all redy dryuen out / therby to moue and troble the hartes of the good peple / and to corrupt suche other as be easy for theyr simplicite to be seduced.
To thank allmyghty god for all hys benefittes whiche he hathe sent us / and to knowledge that they cam from hym / when we haue the benesittes / it is i grant well don / and thankefully / but if thersites the fowlest of xv thowsande and mo / shuld thank God for hys beateous and well fauored face / shuld he not trifle? Euen so do ye to thank God for it that ye haue not / that is for accorde and agrement in the truthe / when as the thyrd parte of the realm dissentethe from the other ij partes in the cause of religion / There ar x thowsande and mo honest men in englonde whiche in theyr consciences dissent from yow / & hate with all theyr hartes your fals doctrine / whiche ye so ernestly withe worde and writyng do defende / There ar bisshoppes in inglond & many honorable men of the tē peralti whiche dissent from yow and all thē that uphold the popishe doctrine that ye defende / There is not a citi nor a great town in all englonde where in ar not many that dissent from yow in doctrine & wold openly speake agaynst yow if they durst / your seruātes of late wold haue the pope hede os te chirche / the bisshop of cātorberies seruātes will haue the kynge supreme hede in hys oun realm / is not here / good agremēt? The moste parte / [Page] of all the learned men both of oxforde and cambrydge whiche haue bene brougth up in the bosum of the holy scriptur / wold be delyuerde gladly of the unberable burdē of seruile cerimonies / where withe they ar bothe hyndered, from theyr study and the laymen ar hyndered from hearynge of the worde of god / The more then moste parte of vnlearned mattenmūblynge sacrifieers whiche can do nothyng ellis but / play in ceremonies and / cast hallywater with all them haue takem any degre in the canon law / saue a uery few (truely i know non) wold haue the popis cere moties to continue still and yit ye say that theyr is so good agrement in the truthe / The cok and the fox ar enemies on agaynst an other / the fox lo uethe not the cok / be lyke because he with hys crowyng / bewrayethe the fox when he wold on the night cum to worry hennes / Then when all the cokkes ar dede / or ellis put to sylence / the fox rekeneth that he hathe good peace that he may worry hennes & chikkinges and do what so euer he lyst / noman speakyng on worde agaynst hym Go ye ij footed foxes after that ye haüe kylled iij well crowyng cokkes at a cast for crowyng only a gaynst yowr doctrine / and haue pulled all the fethers of ij cokkes of kynde / and haue put them to sylence / & haue brought the mater so to pass that nether cok nor hē nor chikking for feare of theyr ly ues dare speake one worde agaynst your deuelish doctrine / and that no man may examin your doctrine whether it be argeyng with the worde of [Page] god or no / ye reken that the yr is good agreament and peace of opiniones / in the realme / There is i grante great accorde and agrement among yowe traditionerres / and that non of yow dissenteth from an other / in popistri / but how can ye agre to gether in the truthe whiche persecute the truthe and forbid it to be red / leste by redyng of it men myght spye out your noughty lyvyng & deuelish doctrine? The scripture is as it were the lyght of the day the preachres ar as cokkes & wate chemē / theues & murderers hate bothe / therfore haue ye forbyddē the scripture / to be red openly in the chir che / & put preachres to silence or kill them that be wray your vngodlynes / What agrement is thys in the truthe? Where ye say that god hathe inclo sed thekyngis derebeloued subiectes only under the autorite of hys maiestie / by good polytike lawes / what meāe ye by thes lawes? meane ye god dis polytike lawes or man̄is polytike lawes? By thes polytike lawes ye cannot understande the law of moses / nether the law of the gospel / for ye mean of suche lawes as ye accuse me here after to be a transgressor and a breaker of / in the huntyng of the fox / in thes wordes / with uiolatione of the sayd lawes / to make a tumult under the pre tence of huntyng the fox / but in my huntyng of the fox i wrote only agaynst thos ceremonies & traditiones whiche ye can̄ot deni but the bisshop of rome hathe made / therfore ye mean by your politike lawes of whos transgression ye accuse me / nether the lawes of the new testament nor [Page] the olde / but the ceremonies and traditiones / whiche the bisshop of rome hathe ordened. If that i had writen in my huntyng agaynst the lawes of moses / or the gospel / ye myght haue found out sum excuse for your self / but now seyng that i wrote only agaynst the popis ceremonies / i gather of yow thys / that ye say that god hathe inclosed & as it were inparked / the kyngis dere beloued subiect es / vnder the authorite of the kyngis maiesti alone / by the ceremonies & traditiōes which ye grāt that the pope hath ordened / for other polytike lawes can ye not meane of in thys place / I beleue that all the subiectes of all kynges and emperourers ar enclosed under theyr autoxite alon / bi the euerlastinge worde of good / and not by any corruptible polytike law of man / for as man is corruptible so is all that he makethe / then if the kyngis subiectes be enclosed ūder hys autorite by mā nis polytike lawes / whē thes lawes is broken (as he that maked a law may breake the same agayn) the kynges subiectes ar no longer under hys auto rite / wherby ye gyue mē occasion to gather of yow that yemeāe that the kyng is supreme guerner of all hys suciectes & all hys / ar under hys autorite alon / by the popis cerēonies & traditiones / Is not thys a suer grounde that ye byld the kynges supremeci upon? Hathe not the kyng autorite ēoghe of the scripture for to māteyn hyssupremeci with al but that he must be fayn to fet sum of the popis ceremonies to help the scripture whiche were not able to do it alōe? What a crasty for is thys to say [Page] that ceremonies enclose the kynges subiectes under hys autorite alone / for that intent that the kyngis hyghnes seing that hys suprēicie were fortified with ceremonies / suld be the redier to fortifi thē agayne / Mark also ā other subtiltie of the fox / where as in my former hūtyng i made suche argumētes agaynst the popis ceremōies & traditi ones as he could not solute / now because he seyng that he cānot defēde the pope ūder the nāe of ceremonies & traditiōes / now calleth hym good polytike lawes where with the kyngis subiectes ar inclosed under hys autorite alō / & after thys meruelous trāsformatiō / he makethe the popis ceremonies the kyngis polytike lawes / Marck also how that he wold makethe pope the kyngis frēde whi lsi he makeththe popis ceremōies māteyners of the kyngis supremeci / for whē as the pop & hys doctrine ar al on / if the popis ceremonies māteyn the kyngis supremeci / the pope doth the same / Is not the kyngis hyghnes myche bound to master gardiner for purchessyng hym such a frende? Now syr tell me / if ye cā / whiche of thes polytike lawes that i haue writen agaynst haue enclosed the kyngis subiectes under hys autorite? If that there be no polytike lawes whiche i haue writen agaynst that incloseth the kyngis subiectes under hys autorite alon (as iam suere ye can shew non that i wrote agaynst) then must ye be taken as ye haue bene many a day / for an impudent & an vnshamefaced lyer Because ye say that i breake good polytike lawes / & [Page] therwithe make a tumult and a clamor / let me know i pray yow whiche good polytike lawes i haue broken and i shal knoledge my offence & take the ponishement worthy for suche an offence / I wrote agaynst a sorte of popishe ceremonies / & vngodly tradiciones / but that i remembre i neuer in all my booke wrote agaynst one polytike law / A polytike law is an ordinance deuised by wise men for the profit of a citie or a cuntre / or a comon welth / Suche ordinances did not i ones touch in my booke / let them be iudges which haue red the book / And that thys manis lying may be more manyfeste i will shorthy per use and go thorow all the traditiones whiche i haue ether made mention of or spoken agaynst in my boke / What polytike law is it to command all the peple of a realme / to knele before a pece of molten or casten syluer to crepe to it / and to kiss it / and to syng Crucem tuam adoramus Domine, lorde we worship thy cross? What polyci is it to go so ernestly about to dryue the deuel out of acorn or ij of salt whiche noman eatethe / and to coniure the deuel out of the hally water fat where noman saylethe and to suffer hym to be still / in the great heapes of salt wher with mennis meat / is seasoned / and to let hym tary still vn coniured in the great ryuers / and brode se / and in the alefattes? It were a more polytike law to send thes coniuiurers to the salt pannes and to the brode se wher into we ar suer that the deuel ran ones with the swyne of the gergesenes / then to make [Page] such a besynes a bout a litle water and salt / whiche must bothe be cast way al to gether and neuer cummeth in any mannis belly. What polycye is it to desyre of god to gyue a new vertu uuto salt to hele burnyng agues / and to water to hele cold dropsies and other colde diseases? What polytike law is it to orden that chirches shalbe consecrated for the sacramentes and for goddis worde & then a non after to make a place of them to rede polytike lawes in and all deuelysh doctrine that antichriste cā deuise? What polici is it to rrcey ue the sacrament of Christis body and blood whiche was ordened to be reuyued in the remnmbrā ce of Christes passion / to take it for sik horse / and in the remembrance of dedemē? What polytike ordinance is it to syng dirge ether to bryng damned sowles out of hell or ellis to rayse mē from death tolyfe agayn? Thys is a praty polyci to deserue remissiō of syn̄es by the mixtur of bothe the partes of the Sacramēt to gether / What polytike law is thys that the psalmes whiche were ordened for the maker and creator shal be song in the honor of the creatures? What polytike lawes ar thes that amā may not as wel prays god in lent in he brew as in latin / & that all the yeare thorow messes matines diriges euensongas shall be song in a tong that noman understandeth sauyng they that ar learned? What polytike laues ar thes that the lay menshal haue but the half of Christis supper / and that the prestes shal haue the hole Sacrament / and that the water of the font shal be [Page] halloweyd / as thoge the element took away original sin / and to hold styngkyng water half a yeare and more / and to put in the coldest day of all winter a yong tendre infant in it / ouer bothe hede and eares / where by many childer ar loste and many cache such / diseases as they can not claw of as long as they lyue agayn) Is it not a praty polytike law that thoghe a preste haue the frenche pox or the cankre that he must spit in the childes mouthe / What polytike law is it to ordeyn that a man may eat so mich fishe at one mele as wold serue for ij and to call that fastyng and to forbid to eat an vnce of fleshe & to suffer men to eat iiij poundes of the dayntiest fisshes that can be found / and to suffer the most norisshyng fruites an strongest wynes that can be goten to be receyued? What good polytike law is it to commande men to beleue that no preste nether any other man / can make an vn aduised uow after xxj. years of theyr age? What polytike law is it to lok up mariages from prestes all theyr lyfe tyme / and from all laymen also for the hole halfe yeare? saue six wekes / and to set the stewes open all the hole year no day that i her tell of except? If any man thynk that thys is not true red it that is writen of thys mater in your comon man̄ual in thes wordes / Traditio uxorum, & nuptiarum solennitas certis temporibus fieri prohibentur, uidelicet ah Aduentu Domini us (que) ad octauas Epiphaniae. six wekes and six dayes ar betwene / Et a Septuagesima us (que) ad octauas paschae, x. wekes [Page] / Et a Dominica ante Ascensionem Domini us (que) ad Octauas Pentecostes, iiij wekes. Now put to thes the frydayes embryng days and Apostellis euens / and ye shall fynde that the hole half year is lokked up from mariage saue vj. wekes. What polytike laws is it to command the preste tosyng saynt Maries merites bryng us vn to the heuenly kyngdom / and to desyre god that Petronilla and diuerse other sayntes shuld do the same? What polytik lawes ar thes to orden that myndeles pypes shall play that Christen men shuld syng / and say / with theyr hartes? to make altares for sacrifices when all sacrifices ar all redy sufficiently offered vp that ar necessari for our saluation / and god requirethe of use no other sacrifices but the sacrice of our own bodyes and of our prayers? What polytike lawes is the popis canon law which maketh Antichriste under hede of the hole Catholike chirche whiche is Christis spouse / aboue all emperouers and kynges and all other lauful polytike gouerners? Now haue i rehersed all the maters of religion / which i ether wrote agaynst in my huntyng or reersed to be of the popis makyng / whiche of all the ceremonies & traditiones that i haue rekened here hathe inclosed the kyngis subiectes under hys autorite / alon? Whiche of all thes that i haue writen agaynst ar ether good ciuile or polytike lawes? Not one / where fore your lordship lyeth ones agayn where [Page] re yesay that i make a tumult withe the uiolation of good & polytike lawes. If they be polytike lawes / what do they in the chirche? for theyr is no place for them but for the worde of god alone / ne ther were the chirch bare if alle your polytike lawes were in the popis bellies frō whence they cāe / for where Christis chirche is richely replenisshed with Goddis worde / there can no man iustly complayne that the chirche is naked and bare as ye canonistes meane it shuld be if your fathers traditiones were casten all out of the chirche with your father / And if ye wold say that your polytike lawes manteyn & fortifi goddis worde besyde that i haue proued agreat sorte of them clerely contrari vnto goddis worde / and the rest hynderance unto the preachyng of it / i say that the worde of god / whiche cam in to the world / all polytike braynes as yours ar / laboryng all that they cold / to hold it out / bothe withe lawes and diuers kyndes of dethes nedethe no polytike lawes to manteyn it / for as all thynges that lyue ar norisshede withe the same where of they be made / as the wise man sayethe / so the lawes whiche ar of god and cum from hym / ar only norished / & man teyned by allmyghty god / and receyue no norishement / nether substance of any manis ordinance / Then do princes manteyn godes worde as Micheas heth in them when they se that it is diligently and syncerely preached / whiche thyng when they do / it hathe no nede / master gardiner / of your fathers traditiones and yowris / to manteyn it & [Page] to further it. Where as ye say that i make a tumult & a clamore and seduce the peple / thys sklander suffer i comon withe the prophetes withe Christe and hys apostelles & all other good men whiche euer at any tyme assayd to destroy / & driue away / olde and longe roted idolatri / or any other deuelishe doctrine. Euen so do ye now unto me as the masters of a certayn mayd whiche had in hyr an euel sperit / did unto Paule / Thys made whiche had thys spirite in hyr / brought no smal aduantage unto hyr masters by prophecyinge / and when Paule cam by with hys companiones / she folowed them and cryed and sayd thes men ar the seruantes of the hyest god / whiche shew yow the way of helthe / an thus did she many dayes / but Paule not abydyng that / turned hym and sayd unto the spiret i commande the by the name of Iesu Christe to go out of hyr / and in the self houre he went out / but hyr masters seyng that the hope of theyr aduantage was gone / took Paul and Silas an brought them to the court or lawhouse to the ruelers / and they delyuered them vp to the officers sayng thes men troble our citi / and yit ar they iewes and teache ordinances that we whiche ar romanes ought not to receyue and kepe / and then was the appostelles bet and scorged / The bisshop of romis canon law withe hys deuelyshe ceremonies entred into the chirche of Englond and brought no smal aduantage unto the pope the master of thys doctrine and to hys childer / of the same law and traditiones / all ye that [Page] haue in Englonde the bisshop of romis mark in yowr crownes receyne miche profit and aduantage / and thoghe i know that your father the pope in hys ceremonies and canon law aloweth with hys voice Christis doctrine / yit seyng that i know that he doth that for that intent that / he may tary stil in the chirche & be undryuen out to flatter preachers with all / and to purches credence unte hys [...] [...]octrine / i thynck that for all hys namyng [...] Iesu and flatteryng of the Apostelles / that hys hole heape of Traditiones is to be castenn out / And as the romanes appeched paule and hys companiones of a tumult and of trublynge theyr city / because they saw that theyr vantage was loste when the spirit was cast out / so ye fautors of the romishe doctrine feryng that your pom [...]s state shuld be minisshed if the popis traditio [...]es / shud be dryuen out with the pope / ye accuse me of a tumult and a clamore / because i wold haue the bisshop of romis doctrine whiche is a fals sprete of propheci / ētred in to the chirche / cast clerly all together out of the chirche / And whether i haue bene accused by yow and youres / to the rulers and haue ben ponisshed openly or no / my tormentoures whiche ar yit a lyue / can testi fi / and if i were at thys hour with in your reche / i shuld not escape so lyghtly as paule and silas did / If ye say unto me as Ahab sayd unto Ely the prophete / art thow he that troblethe all Englonde? i answe yow as Eli answered Ahab / I troble not Englōd butthow and thy fathers howse / betause ye haue [Page] left the commandementes of god and thow goest after baal / Thys is no new thyng then that false prophetes & maeteyners of idolatri / do call them that labor to dryue idolatri away / troblers and seducers of the comon welthe / Now is it tyme to cum unto that poynte where yesay that the fox is dryuen out all redy / If he be driuen out all redy ye grant that he was once amnoge yow / Then if ye durst answere me directly to my question i wold ax yow whether the fox whiche ye haue dryuen out all redy was the bisshop of romis body or hys dodoctrine / if ye say that he was the bisshop of romis doctrine / ye make a lye agaynst your self for ye say that hys doctrine is good and worthy to beholden and that only so miche of hys doctrine is to be reiected as was worthely to māteyn hys autorite to be reiect / and all hys doctrine was not to manteyn hys autorite / then was not all hys docrine after yowr mynde worthy to be reiect / & that whiche ye reken good that hold ye still / Then i wil reason with yow thus / the popis doctrin and the pope ar all one / but ye hold all the popis doctrine still sauyng the supremeci / and ij or iij trifles mo er go ye hold still the hole pope sauynge hys supremaci and ij or iij trifles that ye haue taken from hym. If that a duke commanded hys hunt to kyl a certayn fox in a wod whiche had kylled many of hys fyghtyng cokkes / and other pullen / if the hunt shuld only cut of the foxes eares / and clip of hys nayles and so let hym go / were thys fox kylled / [Page] had thys hunt kept hys masters com̄ande ment? no. And whi? for his masters mynde was that he shuld fyll no mo cokkes. Then who will say that ye haue kylled or dryuen away the romishe fox / whiche haue only pared of hys supremite / & hold all the reste of the fox still / and call them heretikes whiche only barked at suche ordinances as ye grant your self ar of the foxes makyng? ye grant your self that the popis doctrine contrari to the scripture is the pope / and suche haue i proued in my former booke that ye hold still / then is it not true that ye say that the fox is dryuen away all redy / The fox / say ye / is all redy dryuen out / and so sayethe the fox him self. But x. thousand enemies of the fox / sayethe that he is not dryuen out and i whiche was thrise bitten in Englonde withe the fox sence that tyme / that ye sayd he was dryuen out / say / that he is not dryuen out / whether shal more credence master gardiner begyuen vnto me & to x. thousande mo or to your father the fox and to yow in whose hows of late a yong fox or ij was foūde as ye camot your selfe de ni? The properti of a fox is to be wylye and crafty / & when he is in ieperdi of dethe / to fayn hym self dede all redy / that so he may escape / as it chāced ōce in the north cuntre / A certayn four foted fox / lept in at a wyndow in to a hows in the cuntre whos walles was deper with in then with out / and when he was ones in / he worried all the wyues hennis and cokkes of the howse / the good wyfe in the mornyng betyme spying hyr hennes and [Page] chikkinges all worried / looked a bout hyr and spyed the fox & all to knokked hym on the pate with a knoke / tyl he gaped and lay downe as dede / the wyfe trayled hym owt to the myddyng / for dede wher to cam all the neybores and childern of the strete to wonder at the fox / but after that the old folck was gon / none standyng about hym but childern / the fox toke hym to hys fete and ran away to the wod / and kylled hennes afteras he dyd before. So the ij foted fox your father for a pretence can say that he is dryuen out of Englond all redy / for feare that men shuld go more cruestly a bout to dryue hyme out in dede / when as he lurketh still in your howse and suche other canonistes houses / where as he gitteth comonly a litter or ij of yong fox whelpes euery yeare / Therfore where as ye say that he is all redy dryuē out / ye do that / but to saue hym / as a couetous and theuishe old wyfe sayd to a warryner for the sauyng of hyr cat Thys cat was a conny worryer and did myche harme in the warren / the warriner catched the cat at last / and hanged hyr up with polecattes & other murderers of conyes / as the cat was in hā gyng hyr mastres whiche had eaten many a good rabbet of the cattes catchyng / and fayn wold haue eaten mo / sayd to the warriner / syr thys cat i warrand yow is well enoghe hanged / i pray you gyue me hyr that i may make me a stomingere of hyr skin / the cat lept still and the wyfe euer sayd she is dede inoghe / when the cat stirred no mor the wyfe knowyng that a cat was a beste that [...] [Page] not shortlly dye / axed the cat ones agayn / and bare the warriner in hand that she was thorowly dede / Was it not lyke but that thys wyfe hoped that she shuld haue hyrcat alyue agayne if the warriner had dō no more to the cat after that she had axed hyr? euen so ye say that the fox is al redy dryuen away / that noman shuld go any more aboute to dryue hym out in dede / for ye know that if the romishe fox be no more kylled in Englond then he is kylled yit / that he may well aryse up agayn and do as he had wont to do in Englonde in tymes paste / Seynge ye say that he is dryuen out all redy at what tyme was he dryuen out / or he was not dryuen out at all / as far as i can gather in yowr booke ye mean that then was he dryuen out or ellis neuer / when he was first no more suffered to be called supreme hede of the chirche in Englonde / But after that tyme i will proue yow / that he was in Englonde / ther fore is he not dryuen out at all / There was certayn yong foxes found in Englond certayne in in your howse / and certayn in other bisshoppes howses / whom / we call papistes / of whiche sum ran away / and sum was taken and wold not deny theyr father till they dyede / In that hole where as yong foxes ar found whelped and brought up must ther nedis a fox be or lately haue bene / but in your hows and in other of your felowes howses sence the popis supremeci was taken from hym / was found certayn yong foxes whelped and brought vp / [Page] it foloweth therefore that sence the tyme that the popes supremecie was taken from hym that the pope was in Englonde and gat childer in your felowes howses / If ye answere that the foxes whelpes wer gotten in Englond before that tyme / how happeneth that ye haue suche a [...]ely nose to smel out an heretike if he be a great way from yow / and yit cannot smel out a papist whiche is in company with yow more then seueu yeares? ye stop be lyke the one syde of your nose / becaus ye will smell non / or because the sauour of a papist is so naturall and plesant unto yow that it greuethe yow not / and therfore complayn not to any man of that smel / as men only use to complayn of suche smelles as pleas them not / How happeneth it that if thes whelpes were gotten so long a go that they were all found in thos bisshoppes howses whiche ar▪ manteyners of ceremonies and mannis traditiones and not in the bisshoppes howses whiche set no store by your fathers ceremonies and ar called fouorers of the new learnyng? It is easy to know the cawse for as byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together / so the papistes will euer be to gether / that on may euer help another / not only with numbre as sterlynges do when they ar aferde of the hauk / but also to consult & take counsel together how theyr sect myght be best promoted manteyned & set forward / I dowt not but theyr ar sum noble men in Englond [Page] whiche wil reson thus with yow one day / in thys bisshopis hows whiche is a manteyner of mannis traditiones / was found one nest of papistes & in that bisshopis howse whiche is a manteyner of man̄is rraditiones was found an other nest of papistes and so withe the thyrde bisthop & sic de sin gulis, and so withe all the teste of them that ar man teyners of ceremonies / ergo all the bisshopes how ses of Englond whiche ar manteyners with gardiner of mannis traditiones ar nestes of papistes and theyr swarmes of ceremonies / ar the fox holes and couers where in the yong foxes brede and the old hyde them in tyla better tyme cum If that ye answer master gardiner / that ye bewrayed your seruanres as soun as ye knew that they were papistes / i reken that for that caus ye bewrayed them that a beuer biteth of hys stones as sum write / or ellis for the same cause that on tom story steelgate bewrayed hys sonnes at the sessioues in neuwcastel / Tom story was a strong thefe and had iiij tall felowes to hys sonnes whiche was as well learned in theuery as he was / tome heard tell that he was complayned / of & therfore hasted out of the town / but as he was goynge furth he met sodenly with the sherif & therfore he fearyng that he shuld be taken hym self sayd vnto the sherif master sherif / if ye wold fayn take theues lay hādes on sum of my son̄es for by my sawl they ar fals theues & i can̄ot do with all / the hang mannes will not be rueled by me / Euē so ye whiche teache your seruātes all the tym [Page] that they ar with yow so diligently ceremonies and mannis traditiones whiche ar the uery sedes of popistris and make then withe your example hate all them that hate papistrye / when ye ar complaynid of & accused of papistri your selues then for the sauegard of your selues offer up your seruantes / and when ye ar blamed for holdyng suche in your howses and that ye haue not taght them better / ye say ye cannot do with all / But i meruel thogh men wink and ouerse your doynges if god ponish yow not on day for bryngyng up your seruantes so vngodly and popishely / as he ponisshed ely the preste for the slak lokyng to the amendment of hys sonis maners / I reken uerely that if that excellent yong mā germane gardiner had ben broght up in the bisshop of cantorberries house as he was in youris / that he shuld neuer haue bene a papist / and comne to that dethe that he cam to / Ther fore let all men take hede how they put theyr chylder to scool to yow / leste they learn of yow the lesson in your house that germane did / & make the same ende that he made / yow say that the for is all redy dryuen out & i say that he is in Englond still / let us nuw se how well ye can proue that he is dryuen out all redy / hys deuelysh doctryne remanyng still and by yow and youres so manfully manteyned.
But thus strangely the deuel setteth furthe hys malice / and hunteth sumtyme roryng lyke [Page] alyon to deuoure the good / somtyme sleyghtly lyke the fox / whome he pretendeth to chace away / And seing it hathe pleased the kyngis maiesti / thys hunter may be examined / & for want of the presence of theman / to consydre the chefe poyntes & matters of the booke / i trust so in differently to handle the examination / as what so euer name the man hathe he may appere to yow / of suche sorte as hys book wel examined / dothe playnly declare / the man calleth hym self wraghton / & pretendyng in the begynnyng of hys booke to write suche matter as he wold haue cum to the kyngis maiesties knowledge / he can not be content to attributto that stile to hys maiesti where withe the hole realme hathe trewly agreede hys hygnes shuld be honored / to be supreme hede of the chirche of Englond & irelande / Thys can haue no pretence of ignorance and simplicite / but it is a playn declaration of pryde and arroganci. In hys preface to the kyngis maiesti / he confessethe hys ignorance [Page] of huntyng whereby he beleuethe to haue the more learnyng whiche of what sorte it is shal after apere.
Where as ye call me proud & arrogant / because i call not the kyng our master the supreme hede of the chirche of Englōd and irlande whiche i owght to haue don because the hole realm hathe gyuen it ūto hym / ye declare your self more to be a blood sekyng & aflatteryng canoniste thē a learned diuyne / for a learned diuine wold haue reproued my fact if it had bene vnlawfull / by & by withe a text or ij of the scripture & / not haue cited the multitude for autorite / as old wyues do for lak of scripture / whē they wold mā teyn any old superstition which hathe bene long used of many / If the kyng be therfor lawfully hede of the chirche of Englonde & ire lande / because the hole realme hathe agreed ther to / thē when all the hole realm cōsented that the pope shuld be called the hede of the chirche of Englonde he was lawfully called the hede of the chirche of englōde / If it be a good argumēt to say the hole realme do the it ergo it must nedis be true. A litle before ye haue bylded the kyngis supremeci vpon the popis traditiones / & here ye bylde it vpon a multitud of mē / haue ye no better fundaciō for it / thē so [...]itrow it will ones break out that ye hold in so closly / But to the pur pose agayne / when as supreme gouernoure in earthe under god / betokeneth as myche as supreme hede dothe / and is as honorable a [Page] terme for the maiesti of a kyng as the other is / what nede ye make so myche besynes a bout a worde when as i haue gyuē the kynge in the title that i gaue hym so myche honor as is lawful to gyue unto any erthly man by the worde of god / Where as i named hym supreme gouernour under god / i excluded bothe emperour & pope & all other that myght seme to haue any hy autorite / or myght derogate any thyng from the kyngis supremite. And be cause supreme gouernour semed unto me a more honorable title and more becomly for a kyng then to be called hede of the chirche as antichrist callethe hym self / and certayn wanton persones where as i haue bene therfore call the kyngis hyghenes pope of Englond becaws ye gyue hym the title that the pope hade / i changed that terme in to a better / and haue taken the occasion of mokkyng of our prince a way / But lest ye or any other / shuld thynk that i shuld deny that the kyng is supreme hede of the chirche of Englond and irelonde / i hold as well as ye do that he is supreme hede of the chirche of Englond and ireland / if ye under stande by thys worde chirche an outwarde gatheryng to gether of men and wymen / in a polytike ordre / But if ye take thys worde chirche in the signification that it is taken in the xvj. of Matthew / and to the Ephesianes the first and fift / and to the Colossianes the first chapter / i deny that the kyng or any erthly man / may be called hede of the chirche saue only Christe for the chirche that is spoken of in the xvj. of Matthew [Page] of that nature that the gates of hell can not preuale agaynst it then he that must be the hede of that chirche / must be suche on as the gates of hell cannot preuale / for the body and the hede must be of one nature / but we ar suere of no mo suche but of Christe alone / therfore / ar we only suer that Christe is the hede of that chirche / The kyng our master hathe suche autorite gyuen hym of god as all other kynges haue and haue had and nether more nor less but nether the Emperour nor kyng herode in Christes tyme was ghostly or mystical hed of the chirch but only polytike hedes of the chirche therfore / our master is only politike hede of the chirche of Englonde and not misticall and ghostly hede of it / An euel prince and a uitious lyuer hathe as mych autorite gyuen hym of god as a good and a uertuous / and all a lyke / but euery uitious kyng is a membre of the deuel / and no membre of the deuel can be hede of Christes mysticall body whiche is the chirche / then can no prynce be a mysticall or sprituall hed of the chirche whiche is Chrystis mysticall body / But leste we shuld reson without a suer grounde / heare what the scripture sayethe of the hede of the chirche / Paul unto the Ephesianes in the first chapter writetht thus of Christe god hath subdued all thynges vnder hys fete and hathe gyuen hym to be an head aboue all thynges / to hys chirche whiche is hys body / So far Paul / then is the chirche Christis body / was kyng herode the virgine Maries mysticall hede / and spirituall hede [Page] of the Apostelles and of the rest of Christis chirche? or was the Emperour the spirituall hede of Christes chirche in thos dayes? if ye say nay / no more is any man in earth now hede of Christis mysticall body whiche is the chirche Paul also to the Ephesianes in the v. chapter sayethe / the husband is hede ouer hys wyfe as Christe is hede of the chirche but a good husband will haue no mo hedes of hys wyfe / but hymself alone / so nomore will Christe haue any mo hedes of hys mystical body and hys spouse the chirche but hym self nether is it nedeful to haue any spirituall / vnder hede of thys hys mystical body for lak of hys presence for he hath promysed us that he will be with us unto the ende of the world / And as cōcernyng spirituall maters Christe gaue unto peter as myche autorite as he gaue unto any kyng or Emperour that ether is or was or shall be / when he gaue hym the keyes of the kyngdom of heuen but he made not peter nether any other of the Apostelles nether Chefe hede of the chirche / nether vnder hede of it / therfore ar nether Emperoures nor kynges popes nor bisshopes nether vnder nor ouer spiritual hedes of the chirche whiche is Christes mystical body / To conclud i hold that the kyng our master is the suprem polytike hede vnder god both of all the spiritualti / and also of the temperalty of England and irelande and that there is nether spirituall nor politike hede in earthe aboue hym / nether bisshop kyng nor emperour / If thys be not enoghe that i gyue unto the kyngis hyghnes tell [Page] me what more is to be gyuen by the scripture and i shal be glad to gyue hym it.
The man pretendeth to hunt the romishe fox / and assigneth ij places specially one vnder the aultare / & another under the chalice where by he declarethe where at he shoteth Albeit he wold gladly dissemble it / yit he cannot utterly hyde it he is angrie withe the aultare / & withe the chalice / and fareth as miners do that intend to throw down ther neyborres hows pretēdyng to fynde an othar / ye may sown se wherfore he seketh that fyndeth fault in the altare and chalice but let us heare the man speake / & examin hys resones whether ther be any reson in thē. Thus he begynneth hys huntyng ye lordly bisshoppes etc.
Where ye say that i hunt the fox vnder the chalice / and therby mean that i hunt agaynst the Sacrament / your lordship lyethe as ye had wont to do / for i say not that the fox is vnder the chalice / but i say that i trust that if the kyng fynde the fox vnder the chalice / that he will no more suffer [Page] hym to haue sauctuarj there / then Salomon suffered ioab to haue any sanctuarij of the aultare / When i say thoghe steuen gardiner had brought up of hys costes / all the lordes children of Englond / yit i trust for all that / if he can be proued a papist / that the kyng will ponish hym as he hathe deserued / dothe it now folow that i haue sayd that ye haue brought up all the lordis childer in Englond? at your costes? i reken nay / So it foloweth not that i hunt the fox under the chalice because i desyre the kyng to let hym haue no refuge there. Howbe it if the fox schuld crepe ether in to / or under the chalice as he crept in to the canon of the mess / from whence the kyng fet hym out / & i shuld hunt hym out of the chalice or from in under the chalice it foloweth not that i were angry withe the chalice or intended any hurt to the Sacrament therfore / ye do not say the truthe wher ye say that i hunt the fox under the chalice and your meanyng is as false where ye priuely meane that intend to write agaynst the Sacrament / I sought the fox among yow bisshoppes & prestes / & was he not of late found in your secretari whereas he hathe bene so long secretely hyd? ye dissemble that i sought hym among yow / and yit the title of my book testifieth that i ment that he was among yow / i sought the fox also in the chirche and a bout the altare where as i thought that he was / and there i am suere he is and hathe taken sanctuari and will theyr so long abyde tyll Solomon take hym by uiolence away from [Page] the altare and ponish hym acordyng to hys deseruynges.
He askethe whether the kyngis maiesti bannisshed the popes name hys purseand hys doctrine.
Thys bisshop is no more ashamed to lye then a beste is ashamede to go barefot / for i sayd thes wordes only that folow / hoo ye lordly bisshoppes & ye clene fingred gentlemen of the clergy / is not the fox of rome otherwise called papa among yow? What was the pope that the kyng commāded yow to dryue out of Englonde? When as thes wer my wordes / ar ye not ashamede to say that i ax the kyngis maiesti whether he hath bannysshed the popis purse / name / and doctrine? Ar ye lordelly bisshoppes and the cleene fingerede gentle men of the clergye the kyngis maiesti? it apperethe playnly that ye meane so / or ellis ye wold not iudge that to besayde unto the kyngis maiesti / what soeuer is sayd unto yow and to the reste of the clergye / let men that haue leysure here of gather more of your meanyng. Moreouer i axed not whether the kyngis maiesti bannisshed / nether whether ye proud prelates bannisshed the popis name / purse and doctrine / (for i knew well that the popis doctrine was still vnbannisshed among yow) but i axed of yow foxes whelpes / what was the pope that the kyng commanded yow to bannysh away / and wher as i say / commande to bannyshe / ye make bannyshe [Page] alone / as to cōmand to bannishe / & to bānishe folowed by & by from the master to the seruant / If that your bannishe had bene all one with the kyngis cōmand to bānishe / & the on had folowed cōse quētly of / the other / we had had no nede at thys tyme to babble so mych of that bestis bamisshemēt.
And by thys distribution the mā makyng hym self an swere to eche membre & parte deuyseth hym self matter there upon to triumphe / But if an other shuld answer hym / he wold say that the kyngis maiesti bannisshed not the bisshop of rome / ether for hys name alone / for hys purse alone or for hys doctrine alone / but for all to gether.
Here ye answer nothyng to the purpos for the questione was not whether the kyng had bannisshed the pope for hys name purse or doctrine / but it was whether the pope whiche the kyng commanded yow to dryue out of Englonde / was the popis name or hys doctrine or hys purse / and ye make no answer to that questione / but to the great dishonor of the kyng and of the hole realm answer / that the kyng hathe bannisshed the pope for hys purse / Is not thys a swete hearyng to heare on of the kyngis counsel to say that the kyng hathe bannisshed the pope for hys purse? And then ye say that he hath bannisshed [Page] the pope not for hys purse alone but for hys purse name and doctrine all together.
And not for all to gether so as all to gether were nought but for all to gether so far as he misusethe thē. And as touchyng hys name so far as it shuld signifi a superiorite / aboue all princes and chalenge a dominion in thys realme / so far is the name of pope bannisshed / But els the god man pope of trumpyngton may in Englond lyue quietly / for the name was neuer abhorred but as it brought a wrong persuasione of the bisshop of rome / by that name / where as els the bisshop of rome / men call hym still withe out danger / And as concernyng hys purse as it was worthely expelled / so was it not because any mony myght be taken of the spiritualti by theyr iust superioures / but because it myght not be iustly taken of hym that was nether superior / nether yit did any thyng for it.
Se as the fox runnethe [Page] out and in as it were in a sophistri mase / sum tyme bakward and sum tyme forwarde / that my houndes shuld not fynde hym / How beit i gather thys of hys sayng that the popis purse and hys doctrine abyde still in Englonde only so myche of them taken away as the pope hathe abused and that the rest of the popis doctrine and hys purse whiche gardiner & hys felowes can occupy well / may lawfully tary still in Englonde /
And as concernyng such doctrine as was under hym taught it was neuer under stand of any good man that all that whiche was taught ether by the bisshop of rome / or vnder hys autorite / was hys own doctrine / & to be cast away / but only that whiche was worthely to manteyn hys auctorite to be reiect with hym.
The fox thoghe he be uery wyly in kepyng of hys own consel / yit hathe he once vttered hys meanyng / and holdethe that only thos doctrines of the bysshop of rome ought to be put away where withe he manteyneth hys supremecie / for he sayethe only / whiche worde excepteth all other / and therby hemeaneth that all other doctrines teache they neuer so myche idolatri / superflition and deuelishnes / ought to continu in Englōd still. Is not thys to cut of the foxes [Page] eares and to let hym worrishe pe'still at hys liberti? yis i thynk so.
And it whiche was good to be reteyned and kept / not because it was hys / but because it is good / Shall not we confess Christe the son of god because the deuel sayd the same?
To answer shorthy to all thys superfluous bablyng of thys bisshop in my huntyng i dyd not say that all thes doctrines that were taught under the bisshop of rome were nought / but thys was my argument. The popis doctrine / is the pope / and ye hold still the popis doctrine ergo ye hold still the pope. If that the pope or any of hys taught the worde of god / that was not hys doctrine / but the doctrine of god / whiche is eiher conteyned in the new Testament or in the olde / and agaynst suche doctrine haue i not spoken / nether wold i suche to be castaway / thoghi he and hys had taught it / but such doctrine wold i only to be driuen a way withe the pope as the pope hathe ordened only and not Christe / and is ether playn manifest contrary to the writen worde of god or ellis uayn / idle superfluous and hynderance to the prechyng of goddis undouted worde / Now bable on as long as ye leste.
Finally the bisshop of rome was expelled nether fox hys [Page] name only hys purs only / ne hys doctrine only but for all to gether / so far as eche of them exceded from the treuthe whiche is only mynded / all noughty doctrine is expelled withe the bisshop of rome / and not because it was hys but because it was nought / It were pity that euel men shuld haue suche a stroke in thynges of the world / and moche less of god / that what good thynge one medled withe / shuld be called by and by nought / Kyng richarde the thyrde / au usurper in thys realme / brak the trust committed unto hym / by hys brother / concernyng the preseruation of hys childer / And yit caused an act of the parlement after to be made in hys tyme / that feoffes of trust shuld do acordyng to theyr trust / The autor we iustly hate / & yit we make myche of the law whiche is good & resonable / Wherfore the fundacion of thys mannis resonyng to reproue or reiect any ordinance becaus our enemy ether made it or used it / is uery slender and folishe. God [Page] can be the auctor but of goodnes / Amongest men that is nought is nought who soeuer hathe used it / and that / that is good is good who soeuer hathe abused it. And therfore there cannot be a more fond maner of prouyng then to say thys is nought / and whi so? for such a man medled with it / suche aman used it suche a man commanded it / to be obserued.
Becaus ye cannot conconfut my argumentes / whiche i haue made agaynst the pope & hys traditiones / that ye myght seme to your frendes to say sumthyng ye fayn an argument your self as thoghe it were myne and reason stoutly with histories & examples agaynst it but all in vayn / & to no purpose / your argument whiche ye haue made in my name is thys / the pope hathe made the ceremonies of the chirche / ergo they ar to be cast a way withe hyme / whiche argument thoghe it be not myne yit for as miche / as it is fathered on me / a litle added to it / i will make it myne and proue that if foloweth well enoghe. Neuer the less that all men may se how unshamfaced a lyer ye be i wil reherse the argument that i made to proue that the pope was still in englōd / The popis doctrine is the pope / but ye hold still the popes' doctrine whils ye holde still [Page] the ceremonies that he made / ergo ye hold still the pope / and when as i cum to the tryall of the popis ceremonies i do not as ye falsly lyk one of the vnsham faced hore of babylones sonnes / reporte of me / only say the traditiones ar to bē cast away becaus the pope made them / but i proue bothe by testimonies of scripture and by naturall reson that they ar nonght haue i brought no other argument agaynst / coniuryng of hally water and salt / crepyng to the cross / agaynst the forbiddyng of prestis mariages / agaynst / the robri of Christis cope agaynst the stewes / agaynst the seruice / in latin / agaynst the prestes receynyng of the Gacrament to win ther by to other men remission of sinnes / but that the pope made them? I report me unto all them that haue red my booke whether i haue brought scriptur and reson or no / i haue brought such resones as me thynke ye can not yit wype away withe all the sophistri logike & law that ye haue / & as for the other ceremonies that i resoned not agaynst / i dyd not say that they wer therfore nought because the pope made them as ye lie / but i wold they whiche were uery trifles in compary son of thos traditiones that i wrote agaynst / shuld be estemed bi the other whiche semed miche more gorgiōs thē they were / not cōfutyng them becawse bothe my book shuld haue bene to long and also they neded no confutation when theyr ibetters as they appered / wer proued to be nought / Now what will the story of kyng Richard help yow? seyng your fundacion is fals. [Page] But i pray yow what an argument is thys / kyng richard beyng an euel man / made a good polytike law / ergo the pope thoghe he be an euel man may make a good doctrine that god neuer made / whiche is godly & necessari for Christis chirche / Aristotel and Plato were infideles and made good polytike lawes for the comon welthe ergo they culd also make good and godly and necessari doctrines for Christis chirche / Your argument foloweth not where ye argue an euel man may make good politike lawes for the body / ergo he may also make good and holsum doctrine for the soul / Thys maner of resonyng from the less to the more affirmatiuely / is alowed in no logike nor learnyng that euer i haue sene / But leste ye shuld make your excuse and say / that your argument is from lyke to kyke / and as it were thus made / kyng richarde an euel man made a good polytike lawe ergo the pope may make a good polytike law / i will proue that ye take not thes ceremonies and traditiones for polytik lawes / which ar profitable for the gouernance of a coman welthe but for lawes for the soule / Ecclesiasticall lawes / and for bothe promotors of goddis honor and for goddis seruice also / ye and more ouer i can proue that ye take thes ceremonies for the commandementes of god and make the breakers of them the breakers of goddis commandementes / whiche if i do / then procedethe your argument thus an euel man may make / good polytike lawes / ergo he can also make good lawes for mannis saule and so [Page] holsum doctrines for the chirche of Christe that if they were takē away all semelynes / & godlynes shuld be takē away withe them as ye say here after expressedly of takyng away of the popis cererionies / In yowr Catechisme lately set out in the kyngis name writyng vpon the fourth cōmandment ye say thus of the popis ceremonies agaynst the whiche i haue writen / partely in my huntyng of the fox.) Lykewyse do they all breake thys commādment / whiche do not obserue but despise suche laudable ceremonies of the chirche as set forthe goddis honor / & appertayn vnto good order to be vsed in the chirche / And ther fore concernyng such ceremonies of the chirche as haue bene instituted by oure fore fathers / and be alowed by the princes or kynges of the dominiones as hallowyng of the font / of the chalice / of the corporace of the altare / & other lyke exorcismes and benedictiones / sprynklyng of holy water / gyuyng of holy brede / bearyng of cādelles / & palmes crepyng to the cross / and other lyke laudable customes rites & ceremonies / ar not to be despised / but to be obserued.) Then can ye not say that ye meane by the popis traditiones polytske lawes / for god gaue no cōmandment of polytyke lawes in the ten cōmandmentes / but left that in the liberti of Princes to make as many or as few as they thynk necessari for theyr subiectes / but ye weue thes ceremonies vnder the cōmandment of god / & to your great shame ye make thē commādmentes of god / for if the transgression of ceremonies be the breakyng [Page] of goddis cōmandment / then must the kepyng of them be the kepyng of goddis cōmādment / & they must also be goddis cōmandmentes. If that a mā cum not to the chirche to krepe to the cros / to bear candelles to heare mes in atong that he vnder stā deth not / say not ye vnto hym whi wilt thow not cum to goddis seruice? Is goddis seruice a polytike law? thē it is playn that althoghe ve once sayd so / ye meane not by the popes traditiones polytike lawes. Now let vsse whether thys argumēt foloweth or no. The pope only being / a man & that an euel / man brought in to Christrs chirche & commāded to be kept / thes ceremonies & traditiones whiche ar not founde in any place of goddis worde ergo they ought to be cast out of the chirche agayne / That the pop is amāye will grant me / but that he is only a mā your canō law wil deny / for it sayeth that the pope may do that amā may not do that is to serperate whome god had copled to gether / that the pope is an euel mā & a fals Prophet i dout whether ye will grant me thys / both with hart and mouthe or no i must therfore proue it as well as i can / He is the kyngis enemy & an usurper of autorite vnto hym self that god gaue hym neuer / ergo he is an euel mā / but i will if i cā bryng a reason or two sumthyng strōger to proue that he is Antichrist and a false Prophete & ther for that he is an euel man / He is Antichriste whiche teacheth fals and cōtrary doctrine ūto Christis doctrine / & taketh it vpō hym which belongethe ōly vnto Christe / the pope dothe so for he teacheth that [Page] Peter was hede of the hole catholike chirche ouer all kynges and Emperoures and aboue all the rest of the Apostelles and that he is aboue all Emperoures and kynges and that they ar bound to obey hym and not he them / and that he beyng but a bisshop hathe bothe the swordes / of the word / and of temporall correction / with many suche other false doctrines which becaus they ar well knowen i nede not greatly to reherse / That he is a false Prophete i proue it thus by the autorite of the Prophet Ezechiel whiche paynteth your father and yow so playnly as thoughe he had sene yow bothe together / In the thyrtent chatpter he sayethe thus / Son of man Propheci agaynst the Prophetes of Israel / whiche prophecie / and say unto them that prophesi out of theyr oun hart heare the worde of the lord / Thus sayeth the lord god / Wo be unto the foolish Prophetes which go after theyr own spret when as they haue sene nothyng / Thy Prophetes (o Israel) ar made lyke foxes in the wildernes ye haue not gone up to the burstynges / nether haue ye made an hedge for the house of Israel to stand in battale in the day of the lord. They haue sene uanite / and a fals propheci sayng / the lorde hath sayde / when as the lorde hathe nor sent them / & they trust that theyr worde shal ones be alowed / Haue ye not sene a vayn vision / and spoken a lying prophesi? And ye haue sayde / the lorde hathe sayd when as i haue not sayd it / Ther fore sayethe the lorde god / for as myche as ye haue spoken uanite / and haue sene a [Page] lye / therfore sayeth the lorde be holde here am i agaynst yow / and my hand shall be agaynst the Prophetes whiche se vanites and prophecie lyes / they shal not be in the secret priuite of my peple / and they shal not be writen in the nombre of the house of Israel / nether shal they cum unto the land of Israel. And ye shal know that i am the lorde / Now because they haue deceyued my peple sayng peace when there is no peace / and he byldeth a wall / and they playster it ouer with an vnprofitable cruste / Say vnto them that make an vnprofitable plasteryng of it that it shall fall / and ther shall be a showre flowyng in / and ye shall fall with the stones of the hale / and the wynde of the tempest shall brust yow / And behold when the wall fallethe / shall it not be sayd vnto yow / where is the couer that ye layde ouer / I shall pul down the wall whiche ye haue couered with an vnprofitable crust / and i will dashe it down to the grounde / and the fundacion of it shal be openly knowen and vncouered / and it shall fall / and ye shall be kylled in the myddes of it / and ye shall be taught to know that i am the lorde / And in the ende of the chapter he sayethe thus / Becaus ye haue made sad the ryghtuous mannis hart withe a lye / when as i dyd not make hym sory / and streyngthen the handes of the wikked that he return not from hys euel way / that he may be kept quik. Ther fore ye shal se no more vanite / and ye shall gess no more / but i will delyuer my peple out of your hande. Thus far Ezechiel / of whos wordes i gather [Page] that they ar fals Prophetes whiche speake vnto the peple thos wordes and doctrines whiche they haue not receyued of god and yit make the peple beleue that theyre doctrine and wordes be of god and wounde good mennis consciences where no sin is committed / and confort euel men when as yit the wrathe of god is ouer them / but thes properties agre bothe to your father of rome & yow / ergo ye ar bothe fals Prophetes / ye and your father say that a preste may not mary by the law of god / that noman may be a preacher of goddis worde except hebe first benet / collat / subbecō ano decon or a sacrificyng preste / that it is dedly syn to eat fleshe in lent and on the dayes that ye haue for bidden to eat flesh on / except a man by apardon or a licence for monie / withe yow also is sin / and yit can ye not proue that god hathe forbidden that ye forbid / ye haue nether scripture nor worde of god for yow but thes lyes haue ye spoken out of your own hartes and wounde and strike the consciences of good men with dedely feare for leuyng of such thynges as god our law maker neuer commāded / ye say it is good to take Christis cup from the laymen / to coniure hally water / to beare wilowes / and wex candelles / to crepe to the cross / to hallow chirches vestmētes and chalices / to heare Mess Matines and euensong in a strange tong that the hearers vnderstande not / to hallow the font and the pascal and litle candelles / and fyre / to desyre sayntes merites to bryng vs to heuen / that one man may deserue remission of sinnes by [Page] the receyuyng of the sacrament for an other / thes doctrines do ye teache and say / that all thes ar good werkes / and god is pleased withe thes workes when they ar don and offended when they ar left of and vndon / and thus do ye bothe comfor teuel men with your trifles / and wonde good men withe dedly feare where none shulde be / & ye speake thes wordes and doctrines out of your oun hertes / and ye can not proue that god bad yow teache thes doctrines that ye teache / ther for bothe the pope and yow which be the pergetter of the popes wall ar fals Prophetes / Be that is a tru Prophet is sent of god / he is sent of god that speakethe the worde of god / and hathe the worde of god to shew for hym / then seing that your father the wall maker of the popish chirche / and yow the pergetter of the same / haue not the worde of god to shew for your doctrines / & yit say they ar good and necessary for the chirche / ar bothe false Prophetes then shall it not be a good argumēt to say / thys is the doctrine taught of a false Prophete whiche he neuer receyued of god / ergo it must be cast away? Because now in thys tyme we haue myche to do with mannis traditiones / and cererimonies / whiche god nether cōmanded / nor ordened / and ye say that they ar to be holdē in the chirche / and i cōtend that they ar to be dryuē out of the chirche let vs se whether i can bryng better resones for the bannishement of mannis doctrines or ye for the mantenance of them / Euery doctrine that the heuenly father hathe not ordened / must [Page] be pulled up by the rootes and cast a way / but the ceremonies and traditiones that ye defende / did the henenly father neuer orden / there fore the ceremonies and traditiones that ye defende / must be pulled up by the rootes and cast away. If he dyd orden them tell us what boke and chapter they ar writen in / I haue once proued that they ar of the popis makyng proue yow now and ye can / that they ar of goddis makyng / and till that tyme that ye haue proued that / they must be pulled up by the rootes and cast away. Euery strange doctrine is to be shoned of Christen men and to be cast out of the chirche / but euery doctrine is strange whiche is not conteyned in the holy scripture / ergo all doctrines that ar not conteyned in the scripture ar to be shoned of Christen men / and to be cast out of the chirche / But none of thes traditiones ar conteyned in the holy scripture / there fore they ar to be shoned of all Christen men and to be casten out of the chirche / acordyng vnto the learnyng / of saynt Paule whiche sayethe / hebrewes the xiii. let us not be caried about withe diuers and strange doctrines. All thos preceptes ar to be bannisshed out of the chirche / where to we ar forbidden to gyue hede / but vnto the preceptes of men whiche refuse the truthe ar we forbidden to gyue hede / therfore / all preceptes of men whiche refuse the truthe ar to be bannisshede out of the chirche / But the pope and hys papistes ar fals pro phetes and refuse the truthe / ergo all theyr preceptes ceremonies & doctrines ar to be bannisshed [Page] out of the chirche. But the ceremonies and traditiones that ye defende ar the popis commandmentes / therfore euen because they ar hys / beyng a fals Prophete and not goddis commandementes / ar to be cast out of the chirche acordyng to the learnyng of saynt Poul vnto titus in the first chapter which sayeth / rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faythe not gyvyng hede vnto iewish fables and commandemētes of men whiche refuse the truthe. If that we be forbidden in the scripture to kepe the commandemente bothe of our fathers by nature / and also by gouernance if they command any thyng concernyng religion that god hathe not commanded / moche more ar we forbidden to kepe the commandmentes of them that belong nothyng vnto us / if they commande it concernyng religion that god hathe not commanded / But we ar forbidden to kepe our fathers commandementes concernyng religion if they command vs any thyng that god hathe not commanded / Ezechiel the xx. chapter in thes wordes. In the commandementes of your fathers walk ye not and kepe ye not theyr iudgmentes / walk in my preceptes ande kepe my iudgementes / ergo myche more ar we forbidden to kepe the commandementes of them that belong nothyng to vs when they command vs to kepe that god hathe not commanded / But the pope hathe nothyng to do with vs / ther for we ar forbidden to kep hys commandementes / when he commandethe vs that god hathe not commanded be [Page] fore / but the ceremonies that ye defende ar the commandementes of the pope / therfore we ar forbidden of all myghty god to kep them. All the doctrines of thos men whiche for theyr false doctrine ar iustly exomunicated ar tobe dryuen away withe the men excomunicatede / But the pope for hys false doctrine is first iustly excommunicated of Paule / afterwarde of the germanes and laste of our moste noble Prince kyng Henry the eyght / ergo hys doctrine which is his / must be dryuen a way withe hym and not holdē still as ye say / If ye say that Paule hathe not excommunicated hym heare what Paul sayeth in the first chapter of the epistel to the Galathianes / if any man preache vn to yow any other thyng thē ye receyued / the same / be acursed / but the pope preacheth other doctrine then the Galathianes learned of Poul / for they learned nothyng of Poul but that he had learned of god / be fore / for the pope teacheth hys owen doctrine and ceremonies which nether Paul nor he receydied of god / ther for the pope is acursed and yit shall we hold still hys learnyng? All the doctrines ar perilus for mannes soule and ar to be Casten away / which when they ar taught / make the techers ther of to worship god in vayn / but all doctrines whiche ar the cōmandementes of men if they be taught make the teachers ther of to worship god in vayn / ergo all the doctrines whiche ar the cōmandementes of mē ar parillous for mannis soul and ar to be casten away / but all the doctrines of the pope that i write agaynst / and ye defend [Page] / ar the doctrines and commandmentes of men and only of men and that euel mē / ergo they ar perillous for mannis soule and ar to be casten away / Now let in different men iuge whether ye haue mo resones of autorite and weyght / takē out of the scripture to proue that an euel mannis doctrine shuld be holden in the chirche of Christe / or i haue to proue that all mānis doctrine thoghe they were as holy as Poule was or wer angelles of heuen if they haue not receyned it of god ought to be dryuen out of Christis chirche. And becaus ye harp miche on that strynge that thoghe a man be euel and a fals Prophete that he may bryng furthe not with stādyng good fruytes and make holsome doctrines / we will examin that sayng a litle farther yit withe the learnyng of Christe whiche sayethe thes wordes cōcernyng the mater that is in strife betwene you and me. Beware sayeth Christe of false prophetes whiche cum vnto yow in shepis clothyng but with in ar rauenyng wolues / By theyr fruytes shall ye know them / So mē gather a grape of thornes / or of thistelles figges? Euery good tre makethe good fruite / but a rotten tre bringeth furthe euel fruit. A good tre cānot make euel fruites / nether can a rottē tre bryng furthe good fruites. whether is the pope a rottē tre or no [...] if he be a rottē tre / ād yit ye say that he may bryng furth good fruites and make holsū doctrines / ether must ye be a falslyer / or ellis Christes worde is not treue Christe sayethe also Matth. the xij Ether make the tre good ād hys fruite good / or make the tre [Page] and hys fruit euel / for the tre is knowen by the fruyte / ye generation of vepers how can ye speake good thynges when as ye be euel / for of the abundāce of the hart the mouthe speakethe. A good man bringeth furthe good' thynges out of the goood tresure of hys hart / and an euel man bringethe furth euel thynges out of the euel tresure of hys hart. Thus far hathe Christe spoken / Now i desyre yow that ar reders to be iudges in thys mater / whether Christe whiche sayethe that an euel man and a fals Prophet cannot bryng furthe good fruites and doctrines is more worthe to be beleued withe the naked truthe / or master gardiner which sayeth that the pope whiche is a fals Prophete and an euel man may bryng furthe good fruetes and make holsome doctrines and necessari ceremonies and profitable traditiones for the chirche of Christe / withe hys hystories and bys oft repeted good good / and withe hys natural resones.
As myche agreyng to the faciones amongest the florentines / whil they were in theyr comon welthe. When on demanded what he sayd to suche a matter beyng then in consultation / he loked about / and esspying out on of hys enemies sayd / what so euer suche a man wold say poyntyng to [Page] hys enemy / he was of the contrari opinion. The kyngis maiesti lyke a noble prince hathe proceded in thys mater not vpon faction / nor vpon displeasure / or enemite / but only truth & therfore hathe reiected the bisshop of rome / so far as he swarueth from the truthe And so far as the truthe will beare / hys maiesti agreeth with all the world / intendyng by the expulsion of the bisshop of rome not to confound the truthe / but to purge it from suche corruption as by the bisshop of romis mantenāce did insect it.
Your meanyng is that the pope is to be so far reiected and bannisshed away as he swarueth from the truthe and no farther / The bisshop of rome is an heretike for stubbornly holdyng of doctrines contrari to the scripture / and he hys a traytour for makyng of hym self hede of the chirche of Englonde / a boue the kyng. Other heretikes conuicted of heresi arburnt with all theyr bookes thoghe they conteyn and haue with in them all the truthes and doctrines that ar in the hole bible / and all men that rede them ar taken for heretikes / and theyr bookes ar ernestly forbidden / other traytoures conuicted once of treason / ar destroyed and put to deathe withe [Page] all theyr good qualites be they neuer so many [...] excellent. But the pope bothe an archeheretik of the sect of papistes / and a fountayn of treson / and an hede traytour whiche not only withe wordes deniethe the kyngis supremeci / but alfo beareth dedely hatered agaynst the kyngis maiesti / and wold depose hym if hys poure were lyke vnto hys will / by your procurement / hathe goten a speciall pardon that thoghe he be a traytour and heretike / he may abyde still in Englonde and that hys bookes whiche conteyn bothe hys treson and hys heresi may be red of all them that can rede them / and vnderstand thē withe out all suspition of heresi and treson / only so myche of hys traytourous doctrine and hereticall treson bannisshed away as ye hys childer iudge to swarue frome the truthe / whiche ar so blynded with the darnel of hys canon law that ye cā / not se it / How can ye be iudges in matters of truthe of Christen religion which haue not bene exercised and brought vp in the truthe / but in decrees / decretalles / extrauagantes / counselles / clemētines and suche other popishe learnyng where of ye haue goten suche a taste in the palates of your mouthes that what soeuer scripture cummethe in your mouthes it hathe a taste by your wrestyng of it / of the popis decrees and decretalles euen as he that hathe touched coloquintida or aloe / maketh all thyng that he touche the haue the taste of them. So myche of the popis doctrine must be driuen away as ye thynk contrari to the truthe / the fox must be so long han ged tyll ye say [Page] he is hanged enoghe / and them must he be lette [...] down agayn / but half hanged / because he is a clerke and can say hys nekverse / To speake in good ernest i thynk that euery man may se that is not wilfully blynde that the pope thoght he be a stranger and iustly cōuicted of ij great offences yit hathe more fauore shewed vnto hym then any heretike or traytour being an Englisman had shewed vnto hym in Englonde thes vij. yeares. Therfore he hath yu fauorers in Englond.
So as thys hunter chasethe far at large / when withe the only bisshop of romis name / he wold hunt out all / and destroy withe the bad the good also. And so he myght haue kept all hys ye hold still / with out ye can other wise disproue them / then because the bisshop of rome vsed them or willed them to be vsed / for they remayne not be cause he wylled or vsed them / but becaus they be good. The man pleaseth hym self moche that he proueth by dyuers examples that lyke as Aristotellis doctrine is called Aristotel and Terences comedies Terence / so the popes doctrine shuld be called the pope. But herken agayn if Terence [Page] spak that Plato had spoken / whē terence were bannisshed myght we not use the speche still of Plato / because it cam ones out of terences pen?
I ax of yow agayne whether thys terence was bannisshed for euel speakyng or for euel doynge? If he wer bānisshed fo: euel speakynge and learned the same of Plato / when terence were bannisshed it shuld not be lawful to vse still the speche of Plato / But if terence were bannisshed for euel doyng alone / & not for euel sayng when terence were bannisshed men myght folow Platoes speche where it is good thoghe it had ones cummed out of terences pen / and he had used it / But what is thys to the purpose? Can ye proue that the doctrine that cam thorow the popis pen was not hys own / but the doctrine of the father of heuen? If ye can proue that the pope can iustly say withe Christe / the worde whiche ye heare is not myne but my fathers whiche hathe sent me / i will also alow the popis doctrine as ye do / not because it is hys but becaus it cam from god / but foras miche as nether ye no: he can proue that hys doctrine cam from god i will take yow bothe for fals Prophetes as i haue don hyther to / Herken to me ones as i haue don to yow your sayng is that Platoes learnyng that terence had vsed / were not to be cast away when terence were bannisshed thoghe it had cum med thorow terences pen well so beit. Wilyam [Page] tyndale wrote many bookes where in ar many true and godly sentences / and saynges / whiche he had taken out of the holy scripture / and the hole new testament whiche is the vndouted word of god cam out of hys pen in to our englishe tōg willyam tyndale was bannisshed out of Englond and burnt as an heretike in brabant / whether is it welland wisely don or no / that hys bookes whiche conteyn so miche godly learnyng and the hole new testament whiche cam thorow hys pen / ar for bidden to be red and so bannisshed for an heresi or ij that ye say ar in in hys bookes / and for half a dosen fautes that ar in hys translation? If it be euel don whi do ye not amend your doyng and whi suffer ye not hys bookes to be red whi blot ye not out the fautes of hys translation / and condemne nomore Christis learnyng because it cam thorow W. Tyndalles pen? If it be well don that W. Tyndalles bookes and the new Testament of hys translation ar forbidden to be red and ar bannisshed away withe hym because they haue sum fautes or an heresi or ij in them and ar cummed out of hys pen / then all the hole doctrine that euer the pope taught / withe all hys traditions and bookes whiche ar so full of heresies and superstitiones / and haue so litle scripture in them / ought to be miche more bannisshed away with the pope and ought to be forbidden to be red then tindalles bookes and the Testament of hys translation ought now to be bannisshed and forbidden. Is there any holyer doctrine in the popis law and in [Page] hys ceremonies and traditiones then is in the new Testameut of tyndalles translation? ar there not as many hereses in the popis bookes as in tyndalles? What reson is it then that tyndallis bokes and the new Testament of hys translation shall be bannisshed away withe tyndal / and be forbidden to be red / and that the popis doctrine and ceremonies withe hys bookes shall not be bannisshed withe the pope but shall be kept still and red in the chirche as a new gospel in the mother tōg that all the hole chirche may under stande his doctrine / and learn it when as Christis doctrine must be sayd and song in such a tong as not one among an C. vnderstandethe because as it apperethe that few shuld learn it? Whether hathe tyndal now or the pope more fauor shewed vnto hym in Englond? tyndall which is bannisshed bothe bodely & withe all hys bokes & doctrine, both good ād bad or the pope / whos doctrine & bookes ar red & alowed / after that he is cōmanded of the hiest pour vnder god to be bannisshed out of Englond for his heresi & treson? If the pope haue not more fauor / then Christe hathe in Englonde / Why may the popis gospel be red of all mē in English / and Christis gospel is forbiddē to be red in ēglish / and only a few of gētle and rich mē may rede it?
Christe sayd / Doctrina non est mea sed eius qui misit me patris, And miche more what so euer is good spokē / or used by any mā is of god.
The comon heretike catcher is now becumned an open heretik hym self / and a minissher of Christis glori / & a preferrer of mē before god / for thus saiethe he / What so euer is good / spokē or vsed by any mā is myche more of god thē Christis doctrine is. He sayeth that the popis ceremonies ād traditiones whiche i write agaynst ar good / thē ar they / by hys sayng / miche more of god thē Christis gospel is. And therfore belike / he forbad that certayn men shall rede Christis gospel / & suffereth all that will to rede the popis traditiones / whiche he hath of late yeares set out at large interlaced here & there wit a pece and a pache of Christis learnyng to purches more autorite vnto thē / if that he had thought that Christis learnyng had bene as miche of god as he thought the popis traditiones decretalles decrees & clementines he wold as well haue fuffered all mē that wold haue red Christis gospel / as well to rede it as he hathe permitted all mē wymē & childer that list to rede the popis ceremonies tradiciones decrees dectetal les & clementines / Now is it cūmedout at leughthe for what caus was there such diligent inqueri made euery quarter for the transgressiō of the popis ceremonies / & suche paynes of dethe ordened therfore / & so small inquery & litle ponishmēt ordened for the breakyng of the cōmandemētes of Christe. Now had Christe nede of the testimoni of Iohā baptist / nathānel / andre / & peter to beare hym witnes that he is the son of god / whyche if the popis proctour beleued to be true / he wolde say that [Page] Christis good doctrine were as well and as myche of god as the good doctrine of any man / If that thys saynge of gardiner be vn examined and vncumpelled to be recanted as an abominable heresi that Christis doctrine is not so myche of god / as any good thyng vsed or spoken by any man is of god / then i say that he hathe gotten as they say in cambrydge agrace ab omnibus / and a licens to be a papist and an heretik and that no mannis accusation agaynst hym shalbe hearde.
And hym ought we to make author of all good nes were it balaames ass that vttered it / If Christ be preachede sayeth saynt Paule be it per contentionem or iudicium / let it haue place modo Christus predicetur / Looke vpon the trewthe & goodnes of the thyng settyng a parte the person that speakethe / precheth / vttereth executethe or commandethe the same Ne ther was here to fore any man so mad / as expellyng a tyrant / wold cast away withe hym both that whiche was good and that whiche was euel also.
As we ought to make god autor of all goodnes so we ought to be sure to asscribe and lay no thyng vn to hym but it that [Page] we know for a truthe is goodnes / or good / proue once that the popis ceremonies and traditiones ar good and then shall i say that they cam from god / but where is your profecye haue from the begynnyng of your book x. tymes sayd the ceremonies and ordinances that i haue writen agaynst / ar good good and good but other profe haue ye brought none / thynke ye that it whiche is a falslye of it self / shal by oft repetyng of it wax true? Is it possible to make of an euel thyng a good thyng by callynge if many tymes good? Is the oft and manyfold rehersyng of any thynge a sufficient profe of the same? other profe brynge ye non / allearned diuine shuld haue brought places of scripture to haue proued that the traditiones whiche ye so oft call good had bene good / as i haue brought argumentes and textes of the scripture to proue that they ar nought and contrary to the scripture / But here i must pardon yow / for in dede the matters that ye defende ar so folishe triflyng and so cōtrari to the scripture that it is no meruel if ye can bryng no place of scripture / for them to defende them with / And where as ye say that there hathe bene noman so mad / as expellynge a tyran / wold cast away with hym bothe that which was good and the bad also / whether ye meane of good profitable / or good pleasant / or by creation / ye swarue far from the truthe / for allmyghty god the well of all wisdome / commāded the childer of Israel when they shuld dryue out the he then kynges withe theyr folk of the land of promis / to [Page] dryue and put away with thē / all theyr lawes ceremonies and traditiones euen thē that were laufull / were they neuer so profitable or pleasant for the comon welth / It is tobe thought that in so many citees & kyngdomes that there was sum good politike lawes / and sum profitable and pleasant for a comon welthe / But for all that were they neuer so good so politike and profitable / god gaue the thys commandement vnto the childer of Israel concernyng them / sayng Leuitice the xviij. chapter After the custom of the land of egypt where in y [...] haue dwelt shal ye not do / and after the maner of the land of chanaan wher in to i shal bryng yow shall ye not do / nether shal ye walk in theyr laufulles / ye shall do my iudgementes and kepe my preceptes and walk in them. And in the xx. chapter. Walk not (sayethe allmyghty god) in the laufulles of the nationes which i shall dryue out before yow. Moses goddis true seruant sayethe also deuteronom ij the xij. chapter when thow art entred in / after theyr destruction / require not theyr ceremonies / sayng as thys folk hath worshippet theyr goddes / so wil i worship also. Thow shalt not do lykewise vnto thy lorde god / That whiche i commande the / do thow only vnto the lorde / put nothyng to it nether take any thyng from it / If the pope your father and yow had dwelt in the citie of Hierico or hay or any other suche lyke whiche moses Iosuc or Dauid destroyed / and had there / all your holy traditiones / laudable ceremonies / good and polytike lawes / promoters / and setters furthe [Page] of goddis honore / with your decrees decretalles / councelles and clementines / shuld Moses Iosue and Dauid haue ben mad men to haue destroyed all your good and polytike lawes & all your laudable ceremonies? Make me an answer vnto thys question? If they shuld haue bene mad / then men ar mad for doyng of goddis cōmandment. If they shuld not haue bene mad if they had destroyed all your fathers ceremonies and traditiones / whiche were not expressed in Moses law / ād had cōmanded the peple to kepe and vse only suche ceremonies and preceptes as were cōteyned in the writen worde of god / a prince whiche wold dryue out of hys realme at thys howre / the pope whiche is agreuous tyran / and an enemi vnto goddis worde / if he droue out withe hym all hys ceremonies lawes and traditiones / sauyng only them that ar expressed in the worde of god / he shuld be no more mad / thē Moses Iosue and Dauid was / whiche in theyr tyme dyd suche lyke / The xv. chapt. of the first booke of the kynges is playn agaynst yow / where as god cōmandethe Saul to kyll man womā nuris ād childe / ox shepe camel and as / if that all thyng be good that god hathe created / the oxen shepe the camelles the asses ād yong childer was good ād yit god cōmanded thē not ōly to be expelled withe the tyran agag / but also to be destroyed and kylled withe hyme / thē mē may se how wysely ye haue spokē whē ye sayde that noman was so mad as eypellyng a tyrā wold dryue a way withe hym bothe it that was good and also the bad / The [Page] dede of kyng Saul in the forsayd chapter / Was miche agreable to your dede / in puttyng doun the pope and hys popistri / As god commanded Saul to destroy agag and with hym to destroy all hys / both man woman and child / ox / as camel and shepe / & yit he lyke a polytike felow / kylled not agag but kept hym quike and saued the best of the shepe and other cattal / and the best clothes & all thyng that was fayer and goodly to loke to / so when ye were commanded of the kyng our master to dryue away the pope withe all hys popistri / ye put down / a very small sorte of smal abusis / but the pope hymself with the great abuses ye hold still and say that they set furthe goddis honor / as Saul sayd that he kept the best of the shepe and cattale to make sacrifices of to allmygcy god / But as allmyghty god perceyuing that Saul for couettousnes saued contrari vnto hys commandment agag and the best of the shepe and other bestis / thoghe he cloked hys fact with the cloke of goddis seruice / deposed Saule and for euer kest hym out of hys fauor / so shuld our moste noble Prince kyng Henry / folow god and do very well to depose yow and make yow a bisshop quondam for breakyng of hys commādment / in holdyng still the pope and the greatest abominaciones that euer he ordened.
Wherefore seynge in all hys / ye hold still / he bringethe no other disprofe but only from the personage [Page] that hathe vsed thē / i pas them ouer as of no force / and cum to hys cokkyng vpon the clergie / when he sayethe / What saye ye gentle men of the clergie / concernynge the lawes of the chirche / I say here your mastership playeth bothe the partes / and as he sayd at gamyng / ye wold win the game if ye played alone / And yit haue ye spent a great meny wordes in vayn / ye put no difference betwene dedes lawes and ordinances / and because it were in dede a great foly / for any man by proclamation to cause an other mannis dedes to be called hys / as ye put your example ryght lewedly in sardanapalus / so by yow it shall be lyke foly, to call and make an other mannis lawes and ordinances hys by proclamation / Vhere in how miche your foly is / ye euydently declare / that ether do not / or will not speake the difference / but abuse the simplicite of the reder / as thoughe dedes and lawes were all one / Where as in the one / it were madnes by proclamation to make an other [Page] mannis dedes hys and the other of all wyse men used and obserued / for in lawes and ordinances the Romanes sendyng to the Grekes for them / made them by approbation thers / And there is no comon welthe / but it hath taken in sum poynt example of an other / concernyng the lawes whiche be worthely theyrs / where they haue receyued thē / And amongest the Athenienses / lawes made of solon / were not solones lawes / but the lawes of the city / as the text of the law sayeth / whiche sufficethe to reproue and confounde thys gentle mannis resonynge / where in he wold seme to excell / But the man concludethe that he wolde haue no law but the gospel in the chirche / whiche is so far out of reson / that i will not reson withe hym in it. And he semethe hym self to be ashamed of it / and / therfore takethe vpon hym to proue sum parte of suche cerimonies as we obserue in the chirche to be repugnant to the scripture.
As a fox dar not aduenture [Page] to run in the playn way / for fear of the howndes / leste they shuld catche hym / but rumneth in to holes and ledethe them out of the playne way in to busshes brambles and thyk thornes / so do ye the romish foxis protector / for ye leap away from my argumentes and answer nothyng to them / but ye call me craftely away out of my argumentes to bable with yow whether dedes ordinances and lawes be all one or no / wherefore ye lordely reproue me / But i ax of yow whether a man saynge that the ordenyng of hally water to take venial synnes away / was pope Alexanders dede / speakethe good and true Englishe or no / Is not an act and a dede all one? And call ye not the lawes and ordinances made in the parlament howse the actes of the parlament? Why may not i then call the popis lawes hys actes ād dedes / Sothe he nothyng that makethe a law? If he do sumthyng it that he dothe / is a dede / then if he orden a law hys law ordened is hys dede / then will not thys shift serue yow / to trifle about a worde / and let the argument alone vnsoluted / If thys worde dede do offende yow so sore i wil vse a terme more pleasant vnto yow / and make my argument thus / The popis ordinances and the pope ar all one then to whome soeuer ye gyue and attribute the popis ordinances hym as myche as lye the in yow ye make pope / but ye gyue and attribute vnto the kynge the popis ordinances ergo as myche as lye the in yow ye make the kyng pope / Now what aduantage haue ye goten [Page] by refusyng the worde dedes? As concernyng your examples fet out of the ciuile law they do not solute my argument / for my argument was thus / As if the kyng of Denmark shuld make a proclamation that all the ceremonies of Moses law shuld be no more called Moses ceremonies but hys ceremonies / yit for all that Moses ceremonies shuld abyde and contynue still Moses ceremonies / for all hys proclamation / so the ceremonies that the pope hathe ones made / continue and abyde still the popis ceremonies for all that they ar commanded by proclamation no more to be called the popis ceremonies but the kynges ceremonies / ye say that the Romanes send to the Grekes for theyr lawes and by approbation▪ made them theyrs / i pray yow remanded not the Grekes lawes still theyrs / for all that the Romanes vsed the same lawes? Was not the Romanes and Grekes partners in lawes togyther when they vsed to gether the self same lawes? then it folowethe for all your examples and by your examples that the popis ceremonies ar yit still hys and ar occupeed in Englonde and that (by your sayng) the kyngis hyghnes and the pope ar partners to gyther concernyng ceremonies / for the after partnership dispossesseth not the fierst hole awner of hys former possession / but he only gyuethe parte of hys ryght vnto hym that is made afterward partner with hym. Haue ye any other thyng to conclude with your examples? If ye haue / make your argument and i shal shape a solution [Page] for it as wel as i can / I trow ye wil not be so mad as to argu thus on cite may receyne ciuile lawes of an other ergo the chirche may receyue lawes of the pope / Whiche is a false Prophete and a feruent Pharise / when as Christe sayethe in the gospel be ware of false Prophetes / beware of the Leuin of the Pharises / Where as ye say that i speake so far out of reson (where i say that i wold haue no other law in the chirche but the law of the gospel alone) that ye will not reson with me / ye play as your brother fox did whiche when he cam thorow a wynyarde and saw that the grapes we re hyer then he could reche to / sayd he wolde eat no grapes / so when as my sayng is strongely defended withe goddis worde that ye can make no reson agaynst it / ye wilnot reson / with me / scilicet / becausye can not. Thys conclusion do ye hold that the law of the gospel in not sufficient for Christes chirche to ordre and ruel it / except the popis traditiones be annexed ther to / and that he speakethe far out of reson that wold haue only the law of the gospel in the chirche / Agaynst thys deuelish doctrine of yours i will make thes resones / The law of the gospel is miche more perfit / then the law of Moses / But the law of Moses was sufficient by it self for all them that was vnder it / and neded no mannis ordinance to be added vnto it / to order the iewes that were vnder the old Testament / then is the law of the gospel miche more sufficient by it self for all them that ar vnder it / and miche less nedethe any mannis ordinances [Page] to be added vnto it to ordre them that ar vnder the new Testament / Paule calleth the law of Moses a child leder vnto Christe / a shadow of good thynges for to cum / ād sayeth that the lawe bringethe nothyng to perfection / If thys law neded nothyng to be added to it or mingled with it the law of the gospel whiche Paul preferreth before the old law ij Corinth. in the third chapter hathe now no nede of the bisshop of romis traditiones to be added to it or mingled with it / Is not the lau of the gospel perfit? Is not that the moste perfit law that the moste perfit lawmaker makethe? made not Christe the perfitest law maker the law of the gospel? To that law whiche is perfit in all poyntes nothyng nedethe to be added ūto it / Thē the law of the gospel nedethe not the popis law to be added vnto it ād so is the law of the gospel sufficient for Christes chirche and Christes chirch nedeth no other law but it that Christe ordened hys self for hys chirche. Further more when as the end of a perfit law of the chirche whiche alone is sufficiend bi it self to order the chirche / is to command all thyng that is necessari to saluation to forbid all thyng that is hynderāce to saluation / to teache / to reproue / to correct / to instruct / to make aman perfit / and redy to euery good work and to be saluation vnto all thē that beleve / and the law of the gospell cādo all thes thynges / what shall we nede to haue any other law in the chirche seinge that thys law conteneth all thyng in it that is necessari for the chirche of Christe / and hathe all the poyntes / [Page] that be long vnto a perfit law whiche ne dethe no other law to be added vnto it? Almyghty god told hys son Christe all lawes that was necessari for Christis chirche / and Christe taught hys Apostelles all that he heard of hys father / ād all that the Appostelles learned of Christe necessari for Christis chirche / they and the Euāgelistes haue writen it in the new testamēt whiche is the law of the gospel / But the Euāgelistes ād Apostelles haue made no mētion of the popis ceremonies lawes and traditiones / therfore they ar not necessari for Christis chirche / but the law of the gospel is necessari alone / Paul speaketh of thys law of the chirche thes wordes / I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the pour of god to saluation to all that beleue. Do i yit still speak far out of reson whē i wold that ōly the law of the gospell shuld be in the chirche? Christis religiō cam in to the world bithe worde of god ād not by mānis traditiones ād Christis religione hathe frō the beginning bē vp holdē withe the worde of god and not with mannis traditiones / and the Christē religiō is not groūded vpō mannis ordinances / thē the religiō of Christe shuld continue and prosper well enoghe as it hathe don frō the beginnyng to thys day if all the popis ceremonies and traditiones were in the depest pit of hell from whēce they cam / The ceremonies and traditiones of men haue euer bene hinderance to the true religion / whiche thynges caused Christe to say to your brother pharisees manteners of mannis doctrine as ye be / Whi break ye the commandement of god for your tradition? They worship me in vayn [Page] techyng the doctrines which ar the preceptes of man / then how far speake yow out of reson to say that the popis traditiones ar necessare for Christis chirche / and to meane that Christe had nede of the popis traditiones and lawes to ruel hys chirche with all and to promote hys honor / and to purches autorite vnto hys Sacramentes / Where as ye reson that i seme to alow all thos ceremonies that i write not agaynst / and only disalow them that i write agaynst / i reson with yow agayn / if i seme to alow althe ceremonies whiche i write not agaynst / then if foloweth that ye seme to alow all the popistri ad superstitiones that your conpapist eccius hathe taught / with all other Papistes / for ye haue not writen agaynst them / ye seme to alow that i lay vnto your charge / that ye say mes for to hele the frenche pox for mad dogges and meselled swyne / that the hallowyng of the font is all ful of blasphemie / that no preste nether any man aboue xxj. may make an vnlawful vow that ye hold still the stewes that the deuel may haue a place in Englond to be worshipped in / that it is agreater offence for a preste to mary / them to defyle all the wyues in hys parish euery one after other / that ye intend to be aduouterers and horemongers / that ye reken it the deuellis seruice to rede Christes worde in Englishe when the prestes rede Omelias Gregorij pape in latin / that ye wold forbid Christe to preache / if he were in Englond thys day / as he was in ie wry / if he wold preache in Englishe thos sermones of hys that [Page] the Euangelistes wrote in Greke / All thes do i lay to your charge in my huntyng of the fox but ye nether answere to them / nor examin them nor cō fute them / as ye go about to examin answer to and confute other matters that i lay to your charge / wherefore by your maner of arguyng which ye ground vpon thys text / Qui tacet consentire uidetur, ye alow and aproue all thes articles whiche i haue aboue rehersed.
And first he beginnethe with the crepyng to the cros which ceremonie he can in no wyse digest / therin he laborethe stoutly from the beginnyng of Gramner / to the end of Logik.
When as the crepyng to the cross is open idolatri / and dedly sin / it is to hard meat for my maw to digest / if that ye with your companiones whiche haue dronken of the hote wine of fornication of the hore of Babylon / wil nedes eat it and with that wine can digest it / ye schal digest it alone for me / And whether my argumētes whiche i fetch not alone out of Grammer and Logik but also out of the holy scripture ar stronger then ye can confute be made to no purpos orno / let other mē iudge / which knowethe the scripture / and we shall try the mater here after.
For by hys resonyng [Page] to declare thys worde worship (whiche he doth right worshipfully) it were idolatri / for the seruant to make curtesi to hys master / where in he shuld bow hys kne / or the good man to kiss hys wyfe / but to knele and to kiss hys superiors hand / were by hym foul and filthy abominatione / for that were bothe to gether.
If that the master and the wyfe / had handes and could not fele / fete and could not go / mouthes and could not speake / eares and could not heare / noses and could not smell eyes and could not se / and were as braynles and soulles as your cross is / and so were idoles / and therfore forbidden to be worshipped of allmyghty god / then if the seruant made curtesi to [...] idole / or the husbande kissed such a wyfe / they shuld worship theyr master and wyfe vnalwfully and so commit idolatri / But when as a master is a lyuyng creature of god and seruantes ar commanded to honor theyr masters and to obey them / and god will be knowen to be in ruelers / and that all masters and ruelers haue theyr mastership and autorite of hym / the outwarde kissing and knelyng of seruantes whiche ar but tokens of theyr hartes and inwarde obedience to theyr superiors / is not forbidden of almyghty god but alowed / for the inwarde obedience is greater [Page] then the outwarde Curtesi / and if he alow the greater he aloweth the less / And god commanded men to loue theyr wyues / then when as kissyng is the signe or token of loue / where the thyng is alowed / the token of the same is not forbidden / Therfore it is no idolatri for the seruant to make curtesie to hys master / nether is it idolatri for the man to kis hys wife / for nether of thos ij factes or forbidden / but seing that we ow no loue nor obediance vnto images / and the outward worship is in expressed wordes forbidden to be gyuen vnto images in the second commandment / in thes wordes thow shal not humble or bow they selfe vnto them / nor serue them / it is open idolatri / to make curtesi to images and to kiss them / Where for it foloweth not / we may gyue outward reuerence and worship vnto masters and to kynges ergo we may gyue outward worship vnto images / for if thys be your argument / ye meane that a blynde and lyfeles pece of syluer or gold made after the lyknes of a mortal man / by a mortal man / is as good honorable and as worthy to be honored as a master & a kynge whiche is the hyest and moste honorable [...] of goddis makyng in all thys wyde wo [...] / and that images ar as well / to be loued as men loue theyr w [...]s / and that god is as well to be honored [...] [...]ages as in kynges / and workethe and ruelethe as well by them as by kynges. Whiche meanyng whether it be agreinge ūto the scripture or no / let them whiche haue autorite in [Page] Englond to examin suche maters / iudge and gyue sentence.
What an argument wold▪ thys man fet out of a worde in Greke or Latin being general / to make thereby a speciall conclusion to hys purpose Scripture vsethe the worde adoro / as the worde worship is vsed in Englishe to signifi godly honor / & Ioseph fuffered hym self to be worshipped of hys brethern / withe reuerent behauour / and there is on worde adoro in bothe.
Ether ye write uery darkly for the nons / or ellis your scribe hath left out sum thyng for your reson hangethe very euel togyther / Howbeit i reken that thys is your meanyng. The angel forbad Iohan to worship hym and Ioseph suffered hys brethet to worship hym / and in [...]the the places is adoro / therfore adore signif [...] Both inwarde worship dew vnto god and also outward worship / But what ye meane more / i cannot tell except thys be your meanyng / on kynde of worshippynge that is out [...]rde reuerence / may be gyuen vnto me [...] / ergo [...]ay also begyuen vnto images / If ye meane thus your meanyng is playn fals / for allmyghty god by who me all kynges reygne and all ruelers haue theyr [Page] pour / willyng that it shuld be knowen / that all that haue any gouernance ruel for au [...]orite ouer other / haue the same of hym alon and not of them selues / will be honored in hys ministers whiche ar the gouernors and ruelers of hys peple / with outwarde reuerence and bodely honor / reseruyng euer vnto hym self the worship which standethe in puttyng trust of saluation / and loue aboue all other / and yit / he will that the subiectes shall not only worship theyr superioures withe out warde worship / but that they shall loue them withe theyr hartes / and obey thē faythfully also / Then when as Iosephis brether fell down and worshipped hym for as miche as they knew he was a prince ordened of god / they offended not god therby only signifiyng the inwarde obedience and subiection of theyr myndes / and Ioseph being goddis minister offended nothyng in takyng that outwarde worship vnto hym / whiche was a token of the inward submission of hys brethers myndes toward hym / But shall a Christen man / to whome by Chryste / all the creatures of the world the byrdes of the ayer / the fisshes of the water / and the beastes of the erthe ar in subiection / and subdued / by outward gesture or reuerent behauoure / testifi and witnes that he is in subiection and subdued vnto a mannis handeworke / to a pece of molten syluer or gold? Shal the lorde of all the noble creatures of god whiche ar in erthe / bow and knele to a vile pece of syluer or golde made after the lyknes of a man / beinge but the creature of aman? Fie [Page] for shame that a man know eth not hys owne dignite. Shall aman by outward reuerence testifi that god is in that image or workethe by that image whiche hekisseth and worshippethe? Shall Christen men that profes the scripture testifi by knelyng before images that god will ether be worshipped in images / or by images / with out scripture and contrari vnto the scripture? Set then asyde thys reson we may gyue outwarde reuerence vnto gouernoures ergo we may do so to images / And if ye mean that Ioan in the Apocalyps wold haue gyuē godly inward honor vnto the angel / i will dissent frō yow till that i se yow bring better resones then ye haue brought yit. Thynk ye that Iohan that holy mā to whome god had shewed so miche of hys secretes / was so mad as to go about to gyue vnto an angel the godly inwarde worship dew vnto god alone? I iudge no / and i thynk that Iohan by hys outward worshippyng whyche he wold haue gyuen vnto the angel wold haue shewed that he tooke the angel for hys better / and superior / and that the angel knowyng hys intent / and that god had not subdued man vnder angelles wold not that Iohan shuld restifi any subiection vnto hym by any suche reuerent behauoure / and therfore sayde Deum adora, worship god / that is / testifi by thy fallyng downe and outwarde behauour that thow art vnder god and that he is thy better and superiour / as for me i am not thy superior but thy felow seruant / And as touchyng the nature of thys worde adoro / grammarianes [Page] whiche can iudge best of the natures of wordes / hold contrary vnto yow / that adoro is only taken for outwarde worship and outwarde gesture / for thus writeth the abbreuiato▪ of Valla.
Adorare est gestu corporis honorem / etiam sine ore et uoce impendere. And Valla hys self sayeth thus Adorare sine ore hoc est sine uoce fit / non sine plicatione genuum et gestu corporis / Elephas et Phenix et alia quedam irrationabilia solem adorare dicuntur. Saynt Ierom vpon the third chapter of Daniel writeth thes wordes / Et notanda proprietas Deos coli / imaginem adorari dicunt / Quod utrunque seruis Dei non conuenit / The scripture after the translation of Ierom most comonly vseth adoro to gyue outward worship and colo to gyue godly inward worship / as aman may se both in many other places / and especially in the xx. of Exodus and in the v. chapter of the Deuteronomy / then is not thys word Adoro so general bothe to godly inwarde worship and to outward worship as ye vnlearnedly without autorite haue pronunced. But put the case that odoro betokeneth bothe the kyndes of worshippyng / he that putteth a negation before adoro in suche a mode as men forbid / forbiddethe nothe bothe the kyndes of worshippyng? He that sayeth thow shalt not worship an image when worship is bothe taken for reuerent behauour / and for godly inwarde worship / forbiddethe he not to worship an image with reuerent behauour? But god putteth a negation before Adoro / wherfor euen [Page] by your sayng it is forbidden to giue any reuerent behauour vnto an image / If that i dyd reson then from a general term to a particular my argument negatiuely after good Logik shuld be as good as ye made any thes seuen yeares / for wher the generalis denied or forbidden all the specialles conteyned vnder the generall ar also denied and forbidden / then if adoro as ye say be generall bothe to kis and to shew a reuerent behauour / and to gyue godly inwarde worship / when images ar forbidden adorari / to be worshipped / then is both the outward worschip which standeth in knelyng kissyng and in suche other outwarde gesture / and the inward worship of the hart / is also forbidden to be gyuen vnto imagines / How beit i made no suche argument before thys tyme for i resoned thus a sufficienti diuisione / There ar no mo kyndes of worshippyng but ij. inwarde and outward / but nether of them is to be gyuen vnto images ergo no worship is to be gyuen vnto images the probation of thys argument i fet out of the xx. chapter of Exodus where allmyghty god sayethe touchyng images / non adorabis ea ne (que) coles, thow shal nether bow to them nor serue them. Thys is the sum of my argument thoghe i reherse not the same wordes / whiche whether it be yit soluted or no let learned men iudge.
I may not worship the cros in the chirche with godly honor for it is agaynst goddis commandement [Page] but i may vse before it reuerent behauour of whiche expressedly spak saynt Ierom when he sayd / Adhererem trunco crucis nec prius dimitterem quàm ueniam obtinuissem.
Ye play with allmyghty god whiche forbiddeth yow to bow and knele to images / as a certayn crafty boy did play with hys Scolmaster in a grammer scoole / whiche cō manded thys boy & all other that learned grammer to speak Latin one to an other at all tymes / and no Englishe / Thys boy as oft as he was disposed to clatter Englishe / he took vnto hym ād a. b. c. boy and sayde vnto hym / Robin i will speak to the / and with thys Preface he spak English all the longday by thys boy to hys felowes / and so mokked the spie / an brak hys masters commandement / But the master cam ones in at the last and spied hys craft / and took hym and ponisshed hym for a speaker of Englishe to hys felowes for all that he sayd that he spak vnto the a b. c. boy. So ye perceyuyng that sum wold chek yow if that ye held alwayes that a man myght worship the cross it self / most comonly ye say that a man may vse reuerent behouour before the cross but not to the cross / and that ye worship not the cross it self / but Christe / whiche is signified by the cross / when as ye worship the cros it self and not Christe / and sum tyme hold in playn wordes that a man may [Page] worship the cros it self / with reuerent behauour / so that the hart be away / as i shal here after god willyng / sufficiently proue it. Ye say that ye may not worship the cros in the chirch with godly honor for that is agaynst goddis commandment / If that ye will make any answer to apore man / tell me what is thys godly honor that is forbidden / to be gyuen vnto images / and where and in what wordes it is forbidden? Ye meane by godly honor / as far as i can gather by your book / the inward worshippyng of god alon / whiche standeth in trust of saluation and in loue aboue all creatures / for ye say here after in your booke that true worship is only in sprete / & that kyssyng and knelyng is not godly honor. wher of it foloweth that your iugement is that a man may worship an image withe outward woship that is with kyssyng of it withe knelyng and crepyng to it / Where as ye hold that outward reuerent behauour as knelyng ād kissyng is no parte of goddis worship ye speake agaynst Christe whiche sayethe Matthe iiij. chapter / thow shalt humble thy self or bow thy self down vnto thy lorde god / ād only serue hym / whereas humlyng or fallyng down is outward worship / and / seruing is to put confidence of saluation / and the inner worship of god / here ye may se that god requirethe also that the outward worship / and will not suffer it to be gyuen to other thē to hym self and to suche as he will be knowen to ruel in. Whē the deuel sayde vnto Christe / Luc the iiij. i will gyue the al thes if thow wil fal doun & [Page] worship before me / what if that he had stande by / and sayd to the deuel gyue me al that / thow promised Christe / and i wil do that thow requirest of hym / if he promisede & ye fell doune and worshipped be fore the deuel / whether had ye gyuen any worship dew vnto god / to the deuel or no? If that ye say that ye had gyuen no worship dew to god / vnto the deuel / then is it nosin in your bookes to knele before the deuel and to kis hym so that your hart be away / & that a mā may worship the deuel with hys body so that he worship hym not with hys mynde / If that ye say that in fallyng down and worshippyng before the deuel ye gaue to the deuel worship that was dew vnto god / thē is worshippyng befor the deuel worshippyng of the deuel / and fallyng down & such other outward worship is dew vnto god & on kynde of goddis worship / thē is not alonly the godly honor whiche is in the hart / but also the outwarde gesture as bowyng & knelyng worship dew vnto god which nether cā be dō to the deuel nor to any image with out dedly sin / ād yit ye say that we maynot worship the cros with godly honor / but that we may vse reuerēt behauour before it / that is to kis it / to how to it ād to crepe to it / whiche is no other thing thē to giue at the least ūto it outward worship whiche is cōtrari to the secōd cōmandement of god / If that ye wold flie to thys shift & say i worship & vse renerēt behauoure before the cros but i worship not it i wil proue yow by the scripture that to worship before god is to worship god to worship before a man is to [Page] worship a man and and to worship before an image is to worship the image / before which it is down / Genesis iiij. Pharao made Iosephe cum vp to hys charet / an the crier to crie that all men shuld bow theyr knees before Ioseph / and know that he was made rueler ouer all Egypt. Mark here that to bow knees is to worship / and to worship before Ioseph is to worship Ioseph / and that the cause why that Pharao wold haue Ioseph worshipped / was that he wold let all hys peple know that hys pour and autorite was in Ioseph / Leuitici the x. chapter. Nadab and abiu offered before the lorde / In the first of the kynges / xxv. chapter Abigael lyghted of hyr as and fell on hyr face before Dauid / and worshipped on the ground and fel down to hys fete / ij of the kynges in the xiiij. chapter. The woman fell vpon the grounde before Dauid and worshipped hym / Psalm. lxxxv. All the peple whiche thow hast made / shall cum / and worship before / the / lorde. Esaie. lxvi. All slesh shall cum to worship be fore mi face (sayethe the lorde) Apocalypsis. v. The xxiiij. elders fel before the lam. Where Luke sayde thes shall i gyue the if thow wil fal doun and worship before me / Matthew sayethe i will gyue the all thys if thow will worship me / iij. of the kynges xix. chapter. I will leue me 7000. whos knees haue not bene bowed before baal / By thes places it is playn that to worship before god / man or image / is to worship god man or the image that the worship is don before / But ye knele bow and crepe before [Page] the cros it self ergo ye worship the cros it self / to kis with religions behauour is to gyue outward worship but ye with religious behauour kis the cros it self ergo ye worship the cross it self / But what nede i any other witnes to proue that ye worship the cros then your oun wordes whiche ye syng on good firday whiche ar thes crucem tuam Domine adoramus, lorde we worship thy cross / Neuer the les ye wold haue as long as ye could make the kyngis highnes and all hys subyectes beleue that ye wold worship before the Cros only and not the cros it selfe / But when as ye ar bet with argumentes ye leaue of your dissemblyng and fall ernestly to defend that the cros may be worshipped with reuerent behauour that is with kissyng it knelyng and crepyng to it / for ye say that in knelyng and kissyng alone vnderstādyng of the cros / is no idolatri / And that no vnlearned man in Englond shuld alledge any scripture agaynst yow / or shuld percyue that the worshippyng of the cros with crepyng and bowyng to it / is contrari to the scripture ye haue theuishly / roberously / wikkedly & deutlyshly stollē that pece of the secunde commandment away whiche forbiddethe to bow or gyue any outword worship vnto images. For thus write yow in your new Catechisme whiche ye call lyke a masker as ye be the kyngis booke / Thow shalt not haue any grauen image nor any lyknes of any thyng that is in heauen aboue / or in earthe benethe / or in the water vnder the earthe to the intent to do any godly honour and worship [Page] vnto them / Thys is your translation / and in thys book where in ye examin me / ye take away from godly honor bowyngdown / fallyng down / knelyng an kessyng / and suche other outward gestures / and say that thes ar not forbidden to be gyuen vnto images / but only the inward godly honour / is forbidden / And that ye myght the more easely bryng the lay peple vnto your opinion ye steal away as i haue sayde a pece of the second commandment / for where as ye say only / thow shalt gyue no godly honor and worship vnto images / meanyng therby the inwarde trust and godly loue and obediēce / and that outwarde bowyng knelyng and kissyng ar not forbidden to begyuen vnto images / The truthe of the hebrue is openly agaynst yow / for thus hathe the Hebrew text both in the Deuteronomi and in Exodo Lo chisstachaue Lahem velo thaauedē the lxx. interpretoures made thys text thus in Greke [...] Saynt Ierom translated the hebrew thus yn to Latin / Non adorabis ea neque coles That is thow shalt not gyue outward reuerence to images / nether inwarde godly worship vnto thē / Leo iude foloweth saynt Ierome / and pagnine translatethe the Hebrew text thus / Non incuruabis te eis et non colestas / That is thow shalt not bow thy self vnto them / and thow shalt not worship them / And the Greke / word for word is thus / thow shalt not kis them nether serue them / wherforr seynge that ye haue stollen out of the Hebrew text lo thisstachaue [Page] / [...] out of the Greke text / Non adorabis out of saynt Ieromis translation / Non incuruabis te / out of pagnines translation / & thow shalt not bow thy self vnto them / out of the English bible it foloweth that ye ar a shamfup thiefeād haue committed shamful sacriledge or chirche robry and ar so myche more worthy hangyng thē any chirche robber that was hanged in Englond thes C. yeares / as the thyng that ye haue stollen is more precious then that the other chirche robbers haue taken out of the chirche / in tyme past I gather therfore by the autorites aboue rehersed / and by thes last translationes that to worship before an image is to worship an image / that to bow to an image ād to kis it is to gyue outward worship vnto it / ād that it is cōtrari to the second cōmandmēt to gyue ether inward or outwarde worship to an image / then whē as the cros is nothyng but an image / ad ye crepe to it kis it ād bow to it / ye gyue it outward worship / ād to gyue ether owtward or inward worship to an image is idolatri / it folowe the that in crepyng to the cros ād bowyng to it ye cōmit playn idolatri opēly forbidden in the second cōmandment / Hold ye stil now no popish doctrine cōtrari to the worde of god? Now let us cum vnto the sayng of saynt Ierom whiche ye bryng agaydst / me / It wold haue becumed a learned Bishop to haue brought in a mater of religion the holy scripture / ād not a patche of a mannis doctrine / ye say that saynte Ierom sayethe that he wold cleuero and not let go the post of the cros til that [Page] he purdressed forgiuenes / Where sayethe Ierome thys? It is lyke that ye neuer red thys in saynt Ierom / but ether in the canon law or ellis in sum of your brother papistys workes / for ij causes i reken that thes wordes ar ether non of saynt Ieromes or ellis that ye haue mangled them / first because ye mangle the scripture ye wil not be aferde to mangle a Doctor / and becaus ye shew no place where as Ierom writeth thes wordes / the second is becaws i know that Ierom in an other place is of a cleane contrari iudgment / And because ye leaue the wepens of the worde of god / and feght agaynst me withe the wepens of Doctors / i will answer with the sayng of a doctor. Saynt Ierom wrytyng vpon the third chapter of Daniel sayethe thes wordes folowyng concernyng the worship of images / Siue statuam ut Simmachus siue imaginem auream, ut caeteri transtulerunt, uoluerimus legere, cultores Dei eam adorare non debent, Ergo iudices & principes seculi, qui imperatorum statuas adorant & imagines, hoc se facere intelligant, quod tres pueri facere nolentes placuerunt Deo. Et notanda proprietas deos coli, imaginem adorari dicunt, quod utrun (que) seruis Dei non conuenit. Whether we wil rede a standyng image / as symmachus / or a golden image as the other haue translated / the true worshippers of god ought not to / hūble theyr selues vnto it / Therfore let the iudges and Princes of the world / vnderstand whiche gyue outward worship to the standyng images and liknesses of Emperoures / that they do the same that the iij. childer wold not do / and therin pleased god / And the properti is to be [Page] marked / they say that god is worshipped with inwarde worship and images with outward gesture. Thus far speaketh Ierom / whos wordes whether they make for the outwarde bowyng knelyng and crepyng to images ar no / let them iudge whiche ether haue learnyng in the scripture or any good natural wit.
Thus they delude the simplicite of the peple with the ambiguite of the wordes / and as uery enemies of the cros of Christe they labor to extinct all wayes & meanes whiche myght set out the glori of the cros / miche agreable to the turkes procedynges who forbiddeth open shewes or preching of Christis Religion / thes men speak mich of prechyng / but note well thys / they wold we shuld se nothyng in remembrance of Christ and therfore can they not abyde images / They wold we shuld smel nothyng in memori of Christe / and therfor speak they agaynst anoyntyng & hallywather. They wold we shuld taste nothyng in memory of Christe / and therfore they cannot away with salt and holy brede / A supper they [Page] speak of wich they wold handle lyke a dryngkyng. Finally they wold haue all in talkyng they speak so myche of prechynge / so as all the gates of our sences and wayes to mannis vnder standynge shuld be shit vp sauyng the eare alone / as by talkyng the deuel were so far onward of hys purpos to extinct Christe / which with the subuersion of the orders of the world / semeth to be the mark where at thys sect shoteth.
I delude not the simplicite of the peple with ambiguite of wordes / as ye falsly belye me / for i alledge the second commandement of god agaynst the crepyng to the cros and the kyssyng of it / where as bothe the outward worship and the inward is forbidden / Be that sayeth eat of no dog nether of the land nor the water / vse the no ambiguite of wordes / which shuld haue vsed ambiguite / as it appereth if he had sayd alone / eat no dog. Therfore whether worship be taken generally or by excellencie for godly worship i wse no ambiguite for i declare openly that bothe the kyndes of worship is forbidden to be gyuen vnto images / both it that standeth in inwarde faythe and loue / and it that consisteth in outward gesture as knelyng and kyssyng and such lyke / Now be cause ye cannot reson agaynst [Page] me nether with scripture nor naturall reson / ye begyn ta rail agaynst me and say that i am therfore an enemi of Christis cros becaus i wil not suffer the cros nether to be worshipped with outward worship nor inward. If that i be therfore an enemy to Christe / then is almighty god an enemy to Christis cross for he doth the same that i do / and it that i do i learned it of god / Se now as ye fall in to the vice that ye accuse me of / sum tyme vsyng the cros for a pece of syluer and other whiles for the Passion of Christe / wher vnto if he be not an enemy / that maketh hallowed salt equal in pour / gyuyng vnto it Saluation of both body and soule / let learned men iudge / Is there any better meane in the hole world to set out the glori of the cross then the worde of god? And thys meane do we so exercise and defende that ye moke vs and cal vs talkers / Then / lyke vnto a son of the shameles hore of Babylo ye lye where ye say that i wold extinct all the meanes that shuld set out the glori of the cross / Where as ye compare me vnto the Turc whiche forbiddethe open shewes and preachyng of Christe / i meruel withe what face ye call me Turkish in that behaff when as ye your self forbad the players of london (as it was toldme) to play any mo playes of Christe / but of robin hode and litle Iohan / and of the Parlament of byrdes and suche other trifles. Now syr bisshop which of vs ij is more lyke the Turk? The Turkes law is partely drawen out of Moses law / partly out of Christis gospel / partly out of mahumettis [Page] fantases and your law that ye bisshoppes of Englond now vse in the chirche is partely taken out of Moses law / partely out the gospel and partly out of the popes decrees and traditiones / for with Moses ye vse outward sacrifices to take sin away / hallow temples and vestimentes and purifi wymen / withe Christe ye baptise and rede the gospel / with the pope ye crepe to the cros forbid prestes to mari and occupi infinite swarmes of ceremonies / And we receyue no manis doctrin but the word of god alone. Therfore your doynges ar more lyte the Turkes procedynges then ouris ar where as ye accuse vse with the Turke for forbiddyng of preachyng / ye declare your spret to be inconstant and contrari to it self and therfore to be of the deuel for ye accuse vs a litle here after for preachyng to miche. Ye blame vse fasly wher ye say that we wold haue yow se nothyng in the remembrance of Christe / for we wold that all the peple that can rede shuld loke and se in the iiij. Euangelistes Christis dedis and sermones and therby call Christ to theyr remembrāces / we wold that the hole chirche of Christe / no man nor woman except shuld bothe se and receyue the sacrament of Christe most precious bloude / And ye lot vp the word of god for al the hole year from the comon peple and command all images to be couered as long as lent lasteth / and suffere no lay man to receyue with the prestes the sacrament of Christis bloud in the remembrane of the bloud of Christe which was shed for vs / therfore ye ar the [Page] blotters out of Christes memori and not we. We wold haue Christes meane / that he ordened to hold hys remembrance with in the chirche hole / that is the hole Sacramentes and the hole worde of god / to dwel richely in Christis hole chirche / & ye mangle and geld the Sacramentes / and lyke made men / as it doth apere vndestandyng Paulis word richely / among rich men / wil suffer non but gentle men and riche men rede the scripture which myght an hunderd thowsand tymes better and with les ieperdy put vs in remembrance of Christ then your forbidden and horish images do / And so ye do acordyng to the prouerbe stele agous and for hyr stik down a fether / when ye take Christis worde away & one dele of hys Sacramē tes and in stede ther of / set vp blynd blokes and dum ceremonies. Will we not let yow smel nothyng in memori of Christe / becaus we speake agaynst anoyntyng of dede carcases / and witched water? Who ordened that such stynkyng oyle as youres is shuld be a remembrance of Christe by smellyng of it? & that salted water whiche hath no smell at all / the first day / and with in six dayes that it is salted yit stynketh shal by the smellyng of it put vs in remembrance of Christe? Will we not let yow taste nothyng in memory of Christe becaus we speak agaynst the coniuryng of salt / What shuld we do with your salt when as it is al vn sauery and / hath no taste of the worde of god? Christe sayeth that salt when it is vnsauery is good for nothyng but to be cast out of dores to be [Page] treden with mennis fete. We vse to gyue the Sacrament to all that wil receyue it / euery moneth and in sum places euery sonday in the remembrance of our sauiour Christe and ye gyue a bit of comon brede in the remembrance of the Sacrament / who holdeth Christis memori better? What ie wishe and dull Pharisees ar thes that ether wil not / or can not be cantent withe the holy worde of Christe and hys Sacramentes to bryng Christe to theyr memories that they may thynk on hym except they smel sum thyng to remembr▪ hym and taste sum thyng also to remembre hym thereby / I neuer red of more fleshy Pharisees in my lyfe then thes be. Thes be the moste forgitful felowes that i haue heard of. To that where ye say that we speake of a supper and wold handle it lyke a drynkyng / i answer that we do not only drynke but also eat at Christis supper / and so handle it / as Christ taught vs in hys worde / with out any players garmentes or popish knakkes and folishe iuglyng toyes whiche after the ordinance of the pope ye put to it / ye handle it not lyk Christis supper but lyke a doggis dinner / and both do it and say it a mis / In sayng that we wold haue all thyng in talkyng and wold shit vp all your sences sauyng hearyng / ye do nothyng ellis but mok Christe / whiche ordened no other meanes to in gendre fayth in vs and to call vs to remembrance of hym / sauyng only hys word and hys Sacramentes / Becaus ye thynk that Chyristis worde and Sacrament [Page] ar not sufficient for the purposes aboue rehersed / and reken your selues wyser then Christe / ye haue for a great parte put a way Christes ordinances and set other as ye thynk better in theyrstede / to put vs in remembrance of Christe / and to stir vs vp vnto godlynes / It is lyke that yf ye had ben lyuyng in Christis tyme with your felow Pharises and had heard Christe sayng vnto hys Disciples go in to all the world and preache the gospel to euery creature / ye wold haue layde what meaneth thys man so ernestly to gyue commandment of preachyng and teachyng / belyke thys man wil haue all thynges don with talkyng / and not with such laudable and semely ceremonies as Moses and our for fathers haue deuised / Where ye say the Mark that we shote at / is to extinct Christe and the orders of the world / i answer▪ that we go not about to extinct Christe but to set hym vp whome ye with your wordly orders haue long holden down as mich as lay in yow. Christe is not bilded vpon your polytike orders of the world as ye suppose / nether at the fallyng of them shuld he fall which is bylded vpon a stronger fundacion / for we haue put down viij. of your orders of the world / iiij. orders of freres / ij. of monkes & ij of chanones / & yit is not ther with Christe extinct but rather brought more to lyght / There remayne yit ij orders of the world in Englōd vn put down / that is the order of pōpose & Popishe Bisshoppes / & Greue freres / whiche if they were put doū as well as the other ar put doun before / i rekē [Page] that there shuld be no kyngdō in the world where in Christe shuld more reygne then in Englond.
But to the purpos of the wordes worship in English and Adoro in Latin may be the phrase in scripture / admitt both the significationes of godly seruice and reuerent behauour / shall i say that wher godly honor is forbidden reuerent behauour is also forbidden / and by alterynge the signification iuggle and mok with the peple / of whiche sort be manny of theyr argumentes made / afterward as i shal sho in theyr places. Scripture sumtyme, by the outer gesture express in speche the godly honor as in kissyng and knelyng / And not because kissyng and knelyng is the godly honor / but because it was the expressyng of the inwarde affection / with whiche when kissyng and knelyng is ioyned directly to the thyng kissed or kneled vnto it / is in dede idolatri / But if kissyng & knelyng be seperat from that opinion / then is it not idolatri / for as trew worship is only in sprete and procedeth [Page] from rhe hart / so doth idolatri procede from the hart also. So that in only kissyng or knelyng can not be idolatri / as thys gentle man wold go about to persuade by such Logical collation as he wolde seme clerkly to make vpon the significatioo of the worde.
Althyng is to be vnderstand acordyng vnto the mater that is in handes / ye wote that i intreated thys question / whither the cros myght be worshipped with knelyng crepyng and kissyng of it or no then answer i that to what soeuer image or lyknes the godly honor is forbidden to be gyuen / reuerent behauour is forbidden to be gyuen vnto the same / for allmyghty god in hes wordes forbiddeth bothe godly honor and reuerent behauour to begyuen to images. Non incuruabis te eis ne (que) coles eas, Thow shalt nether bow thy self vnto them nether gyue godly worship vnto them / your question is therfore lyke your self vnlearned and ful ether of ignorance inscripture or of wil ful malice agaynst the truthe. As concernyng iugglyng withe the signification of wordes / whiche ye lay falsly vnto my charge / he that knoweth your maners and myne bothe / wold thynk that yow ar the ryght iugler and not i / ye iugled ouce at poulis cros in an open audience / deorsum in to retrorsum, and in your institution of a Christen man ye iugled quite away from the second [Page] commandment non incuruabis te, and out of the properties that belong to a Bisshop ye iugled away unius uxoris maritum esse, on palme sonday ye iuggle wylow bowes in to date trees / who is nou the iuggler? If that kyssyng and knelyng be no godly honor but only the expressyng of the inwarde affection / when as goddis honor is goddis seruice / then it foloweth that knelyng and kyssyng for as miche as they ar not goddis honor they ar not goddis seruice / then they that knele to the cross on good friday and kiss it serue not god / there with / why call yow then thys crepyng and knelyng goddis seruice? Whi compel ye theu all men to the crepyng to the cross as to goddis seruice whē as here in thys booke ye grant that it is non of goddis seruice? Where as ye say that when kyssyng and knelyng is directly ioyned with the inward affection to the thyng kissed or kneled vnto / it is idolatri but if knelyng and kissyng be seperated from that opinion it is no idolatri / I ax yow if that ye shuld kys the kyngis hand & kneled to hym with your inward affection ioyned direct vnto the kyngis hyghenes / shuld ye commit idolatri in dede? If ye dyd the same vnto Christe shuld ye also commit idolatri in dede? If that ye answer that ye meane of kissyng of images and knelyng to them / then haue ye declared playnly at length that it is no idolatri to kis an image it selfe and to knele to it self / if the inward affection be away from the kissyng and knelyng / but i haue proued before that knelyng [Page] and kyssyng of images is worshippyng of images / therfore ye hold that it is no idolatri to worship images with outward reuerence / so that the hart be separat from the worshippyng. A litle before lyke a crasty for ye sayd thes wordes i may vse reuerent behauour before the image of the cross / as thoghe ye wold not that certayn wyse men shuld know that yow held that the cros it self shuld be worshipped / & now ye say that when kissyng and kneling is seperate from the opinion / scilicet of the cross / then is it no idolatri / that is to wit to kiss the cross it self and to bow to it / your mynde is knowen for all your dissemblyng and your crafty maskyng / All thoghe i haue fufficiently before confuted thys your opinion that aman may worship images with outwarde worship whiche ye call reuerent behauour / withe the autorite of the second cōmandment of god which forbiddeth both the worship of the hart and of the body to begyuen vnto images yit i will bryng an example out the holy scripture to streyngthen and make more clere my former confutation. Nebuchadnezar as it is writen in the third chapter of Daniel / made agolden image lx. cubites hie / and six cubites brode / and commanded all men that were with in hys dominion in payne of dothe to worship thys image with outwarde worship infallyng down before it / and makyng such gestures as worshippers of images vse to make / But Sadrach / Mesach / and Abednego wold not worship it / the kyng sayde vnto them. [Page] Is it trew that ye do no godly seruice vnto my god / nether wil worship the golden image whiche i haue set up? If that ye wil yit fal down & worship the image which i haue made (ye shal haue pardon) but if ye wil not worship it / the same houre shall ye be casten in to aburnyng fornace of fyre / to whome they answered / o kyng we wold that thow shuld know / that we do no godly honor to thy goddes / nether / will we worship with outward worship the image that thow haste set vp. And then the kyng caused them all iij. to be casten in to the burnyng furnace / but god delyuered thē wonderously out of the fyre safe and sound / Now do i ax yow whether thes iij. men myght haue gyuen reuerent hebauour as bowyng kissyng & knelyng to thys image / with out dedly sin / & myght haue directed they: hartes vnto god / that the kyng knew not of / and so haue escaped the burnyng fornace / or no? If ye answer that they myght haue gyuen reuerent behauour vnto the kyngis image with out dedly sin ād myght haue directed the inward worship of theyr hartes vnto the lyuyng god / that the kyng knew not of / and so with out ieperdy myght haue escaped the fornace / then was thes iij. euel men / and dyd break goddis commandment / which sayeth thow shalt not tempt thy lorde god / that is thow shal not put thy self in ieperdy where no nede requirethe / and thow shal require no miraculous help of god where as theyr ar naturall meanes enow. But if ye answer that all thoghe they had directed theyr hartes vnto [Page] god that neuer the less they could not with out dedly sin haue kissed that image and kneled bowed and gyuen out ward worship vnto it / and that they were alowed of god because they wold in no wyse worship that golden image / then ye do noughtely and displease god in doing it to an image that good men and alowed of god had leuer be burned in a fornace of fyre then to do to an image / They wold not worship a mannis image with outwarde reuerence / and ye both do outward reuerence vnto images and in payn of death compell other men as Nebuchadnezar did / to worship a mannis image. If the iij. iewe [...] that chused rather to be burnt then to worship a mannis image / were of god / then ye that both worship your selues / and compell other / in payne of burnyng to worship a mannis image / with outward reuerence / ar of the deuel / If ye excuse and say that it is not alone a mannis image but bothe goddis image and mannis / i say that the image of god in the seconde commandement is as myche forbidden to be made and worshipped with any kynde of worship as mannis is / for thes ar the wordes of the second commandment / thow shalt make the no grauen image nether any lyknes of of any thyng in heuen aboue nether in earth be nethe nether of any thyng that is in the waters vnder the earthe thow shalt nether humble thy self vnto them nether shalt thow do any godly seruice vnto them god is in heuen therfore hys image is as wel forbidden to be made (if it were possible [Page] to make an image of hym) ād to be worshipped with outward reuerence as amannis images which is in earth is forbidden to be made & worshipped. Haue ye not now seduced the hole realme teachyng all men there in that they may worship the cros with outward reuerent behauour as with knelyng and kissyng when as it is proued open idolatri? Where ye say as trew worship is only in sprete / and procedeth from the hart so doth idolatri procede from the hart also / it foloweth that all your sensyng / knelyng crowchyng / crossyng / syngyng of messes dirges mattens and euensonges which ar don in and by the body ar no tru goddis seruice but fals seruice. And agaynst your comparison i set thys cōparison that foloweth here / As the chefe confessyng of Chyiste is in the hart and with good warkes & not withstandyng if a man wil not confes Christe, to be the son of god with hys mouthe when the confession of the mouth is required / but deni Christ with hys mouth / or confesseth an other to be Christe then Iesus / Christ shal deni hym before hys father in heuen / so althoghe the worshippyng of an image with the hart be the wors idolatri / yit for all that / the outward worshippyng of an image with the body with outward gesture must nedis be idolatri / for what soeuer is contrari to the second commandment must nedis be idolatri / but to bow and knele vnto an image is contrari to the second cōmandment / therfore it is idolatri where soeuer ye fayn your hart to be / Answer me if it [Page] pleas yow to thys question / Denied peter Christe with hys hart / or with hys mouth alon? If he denied hym with hys mouth alone and yit that denying was dedly sin / then if a man shuld worship an image with hys body alone and not with hys hart he shuld committ dedly sin for as Christe will haue both the confession of the hart & also of the mouth / so dothe he forbid both to worship an image with your hart and also with your body. Where ye say that in only kissyng and knelyng cannot be idolatri i grant it is true as long as they ar applyed to nothyng / but when kissyng & knelyng ar applied to images wherto god forbad thē to be applied / in only kissyng of images & knelyng to thē / may idololatri be cōmitted. But teach vs now great master doctor how can a man break goddis cō mandement / and yit loue god with hys hart and haue hys hart with god? When as Christe sayeth he that loueth me will kepe my worde / Then how can a man break thys cōmandment / bow not thy self vnto images and yit loue god with hys hart whos commandment he breake [...]h with hys body? Let therfore learned men iudge how wisely yow haue made your distinctiō inseparatyng the breakyng of godpis commandment from the hatred of god / Is a mānis hart theyr where he hateth? Nay A manys hart can not be with hym whome he hateth / But a worshipper of images with bowyng & knelyng hatethe god wihls he breaketh hys cō mandmēt / therfore / the hart of hym that boweth and kneleth vnto images can not be with god.
And yit to streyngthen hys argumēt he bringeth in the deuellis sayng as he doth in other places to set furth hys madnes / but what shuld i resone with thys man of cre pyng to the cross / that goeth about to proue ryght wisly / that we may haue no images at all which if he cold do / it shuld serue wel for hys purpos to proue that we ought not to worship the cross / if he could proue that antecedēt, hys consequent were insoluble.
They that in Englond had leuer eat accornes then good wheat brede & wil not change theyr olde mumpsimus with the new sumpsimus thynk that ye ar the greatest clerk in Englond / but euery man that is not blynde may se that ye ar shamfully vnlearned in diuinite / and not able to answer any thyng apparently wel to an argument / and therfore trifle lyke a wanton boy and / answere neuer a worde to my argument / And becaus all men may se your hye learnyng i wil reherce my argument / that they may compare it with your answer. If it be not lawful to make an image and to haue an image it is not lawful to worship an image had and made. But the scripture forbiddeth to make and haue images / then myche more it forbiddeth to worship them / [Page] Thys was my argument / and thus did i proue by sufficient autorite of the holy scripture that it was not lawful to make and to haue images. It is writen xx. chapter of Exodus / Thow shalt make the no grauen image nether any lyknes of any thyng that is in heuen a boue nether in earthe benethe nether of them that ar in the waters vnder the earthe / thow shalt nether bow thy self vnto them nor do any seruice or godly honor vnto them. The same wordes ar writen in the fift chapter of the Deuteronomi And Leuitici the xxvj. it is writen make yow no idoles nether any grauen image / nether set vp any standyng image for yow / nether shal ye set any figured stone in your land that ye may worship it / Allmyghty god sayeth also Deuteronomij the iiij. chapter thes wordes by hys seruante Moses. Ye cam and stood vnder the hil / but the hil burned in afyre to the middes of heauen / where was darknes cloudes and mist / and the lorde spak vnto yow out from the middes of the fyre / and ye heard in dede the voyce of the wordes but saw no image sauyng the voyce alone / Therfore euen as ye loue your own soul so diligently take ye hede (for ye haue sene no image at all on that day that god spak with yow in the hill / out of the middes of the fyre) lest by chance ye shuld do amis in makyng yow a grauen image what soeuer lyknes it beareth of aman or a womā / or the lyknes of any beste that is on the earth / or the lyknes of any fethered fowel in the ayer or the form of any thyng that crepeth vpon the erthe [Page] or the lyknes of any fish that is in the waters vnder the earthe / And leste thow shuld lift vp thy eyes in to heuen and se the son and the moune & the sterres with the hole company of heuen and fall down / and shew reuerent behauour or do any godly seruice vnto them / which the lord thy god hath gyuen vnto all peple that ar vnder the hole heuen. And in the xxvii. Acursed be the man who so euer he be that maketh ether a grauen or a casten image / the abomination of the lorde / the werk of the artificer / & setteth it in a pryuy place. The wyse man in the xiij. chapter of hys book curseth also bothe the image and the image maker. Thus dyd i reson with yow with thes places of holy scripture / Whiche places if ye wold haue ansuered to i shuld haue obteyned it that i desyred that is / that thes places at the leste proued substancially that it is not lawful to make any image and to gyue any worship at al to it / nether knelyng nor bowyng nether any inwarde worship of the hart / for euen so ernestly as the images ar forbidden to be made so er nestly ar they forbidden to be worshipped with outwarde gesture and with inward honor / If that ye had answered that images had ben forbidden to be made ether to be worshipped with outward worship or with inwarde / i wold haue cōcluded that when the image of the cros is an image that ye do wrong to make it / and to gyue any worship at all vnto it / ether inwarde or outwarde / But ye knowyng aforehād of thys conclusion / & wantyng wepens to auoyd [Page] it / answer nothyng to my argument / but say that if i could proue my antecedent that we myght haue no images that then it folowed that we myght not worship the cross / as ye wold haue sayd / so long shall it be lawful to worship the cross as ye cannot proue that ye shuld haue no image / but that shal be euer vnproued / therfore for euer shal it be lawful to worship the cross. Then seing that i perceyue that ye will not leue the worshyppyng of images so long as ye haue them / to dryue away the worshyppyng of images i am cōpelled to labor to proue that we that ar Christē mē shuld haue no images at all in the place of worshyppyng / & prayer / namely theyr where as images haue ben worshipped may be worshipped / & in such places where as the worshippyng of images with outward gesture is ernestly defended / ye say that if i could proue my antecedent that my consequēt were insoluble / Is ther any more sufficient probation thē the holy worde of god is? I haue brought vj. places out of the worde of god wher in all mē ar forbiddē to make images / then haue i sufficiētly proued that it is not lawful to make images. If ye require the sum of altogether in an argumēt thus do i make my argumēt / What soeuer allmyghty god forbiddeth is vnlawful / but almyghty god forbiddeth to make images / therfore it is vnlauful to make images / cā ye haue any playner forbiddyng thē thys is / non facies tibi sculptile, how shalt make the no grauē image? Is not my antecedēt yit proued? Now let vs se what places of scripture ye can bryng to [Page] proue that Christen men may haue images. In your institution wrytyng vpon the seconde commandment ye say thes wordes / Thow shalt not haue any grauen image to the intent to do any godly honor vnto it. By thes wordes we ar not forbidden to make or to haue similitudes or images / but only we be forbidden to make or to haue them to the intent to do godly honor vnto them / as it appareth in the xxvj. chapiter of Leuiticus. Thes ar your wordes All that ar learned men may se how shamfully ye play the thief here and how vnlearnedly ye handle the scriptures for thes wordes of the xxvj. chapter of Leuiticus / non facietis ut adoretis, ar no other wise to be expounded then thes wordes of the iiij. chapter of the Deuteronomi / non uidist is imaginem ne forte decepti faciatis, ne adoretis & colatis. Therfore wher allmyghty god sayeth thow shalt make the no image that thow may worship it / is as miche to say as thow shalt make the no image leste at any tyme / thow may chance to worship it / Exposition of scripture bi it self hathe hither to allwayes bene alowed of wyse and learned men / and is and will be alowed / then if ye be learned and wise ye will alow thys my exposition / But i pray yow where learned ye thys new Logik of a negatiue antecedent to bryng in an affirmatiue consequent? for thus ye gather i may not make an image to worship it ergo i may make an image / scilicet to be a laymannis boke / There is a father which hath a childe which hathe wounded hym self oft tymes with a sharp [Page] poynted knyfe / he forbiddeth hys sone to weare any more a sharp poynted knyfe / leste he shuld hurt hym self ther with / the child with the next money that he gitteth byeth hym self a sharp poynted knyfe / & weareth it / the father blameth the childe for breakyng of hys commandment the child alledgyng that he weareth hys knyfe to defend hym self from dogges / sayeth that he breaketh not hys fathers commandment / and that he weareth the knyfe not to hurt hym self with all / but to defend hym from dogges ther with. Whether breaketh thys child hys fathers cōmandment or no? Whether shuld thys argumente of the childe folow wel or no? I am forbidden to wear a sharp poynted knyfe leste i shuld hurt my self with all / ergo i may wear a sharp poynted knyfe to defend my self with all. Ther is an other father whiche hathe many sonnes / and he sayeth vnto hys sonnes i cō mande yow all in the name of god that none of yowly with any of my seruantes leste ye catche the pox of them / Iudas lyethe with dromo whiche hathe the frenche pox as all the other seruantes haue / when the father blamed Iudas for ly inge with dromo / were thys excuse of the childes to be alowed or no? father ye forbad me to ly with any of your seruantes to the intent that i shuld catche the frenche pox / but ye forbad me not to ly with the seruantes to learne of them / all be it dromo haue the pokkes and many haue taken the pox of hym / i am not such a fool as to take thē of hym i can kepe my self wel enoghe / Moreouer Dromo [Page] is wel learned and can teache me many good lessones and your steward both counseled me and commanded me to ly with hym that i myght / as i lay with hym / learn to speake latine / Wold not a wise father say thow foolish boy / why haste thow broken my commandment? Art thow wiser then i am? how canst thow lye with hym that hathe the french pokkes runnyng vpon hym and not be infected ther with? How canst thow auoyde the pox and ly with hym / the whiche thyng all other that lay with hym hyther to could not auoid? What promis or priuilege hast thow mor then other / granted the of god / that thow may ly with hym with out ieperdy when all other take the pox of hym? When thow haste no promis nor priuilege of god / and hast put thy selfe in ieperdy of takyng the pox with out any nede / thow haste both broken goddis commandment in temptyng of god and also myn which for bad the to ly with any of my seruantes / As for the stewardes counsel & commandment it is not to be kept when my commandment is contrari. As touchyng the learnyng that thow sayest thow may learn of hym / what madnes is it to learne it of an vnlearned pokky driuel withe in auoidable ieperdi of the frenche pox / that thow mayst with out ieperdy learn of they elder brother / whome i haue apoynted to be thy Scoolmaster who is an hunderd sold better learned then dromo is / Thynk ye then that thys vse of images in the chirche which hathe bene the occasion of mich abominable idolatri as the images [Page] lately burned and broken in Englond do testifi / will be alowed of god the father in the day of iudgement? i thynk no. Was not images in the chirche a certayn season before they were worshipped? And fell not the peple by hauynge of them to the worshippyng of them? then can they not be h [...]d with out ieperdy as the images lately broken in Englond bear witnes / If they were no peril of idolatri in hauyng of images what neded Iohan to haue sayd in hys first Epistel beware of images / The wise man sayethe that images ar made to the iniuri of god to be stumblyng blokkes or mous trappes for mennis soules / and to snare the fete of the simple in / and that / Initiuns scortandi excogitatio simulacrorumest, & corundem inuentio uitae corruptela, Ne (que) erant ab initio nec in aeternum manebunt. The fyndyng out of images is the begynnyng of fornication / and the inuention of the same is the destruction of lyfe / Nether haue they bene from the beginnyng nether shal they continue for euer. Then the chirch can not haue images with out ieperdy. And that we nede no images in Christes chirche it is casy to proue for the scripture teacheth the chirche all thyng that is necessari for it / What thyng can a blynde bloke or stone do withe ieperdy but a preacher of goddis worde can do the same? Can an image teache any example of faythe of hope charite / humilite / liberalite patience or of any other vertu but a Christen preacher both can do the same & dothe the same manyfoldes myche better & with out any peril of spiritual fornicatiō / [Page] How can an image teache faythe with hyr example whiche hathe non at all / & when as true faythe cummeth of hearyng of goddis worde how can the dum image teache fayth whiche cannot speak one worde of god? How shal the image teach' charite that loueth no mā? How shal the image teach humilite that boweth to no man / or liberalite that gyueth nothyng? or patience whiche suffereth nothyng? Then if ye wolde let the scripture go abrode in to euery mannis hande / and make your prestes as diligēt in preachyng as they ar bysy in vn profitable playes & shewes of ceremonies / or if ye wold admitt none to be prestes but suche that were as able to teache / as blynd images ar / we shuld nede no images at all in the chirche / no more then / ther was in the primatiue chirche. Then when as images cannot be in the chirche without ieperdi of idolatri as ye bear witnes your self which wil so long gyue outward worship vnto images whiche is idolatri / as ye haue images in the chirche / and we nede them not / and may want them well / and to put one self in ieperdy where no nede is / is to tempt god / & that is sin / it foloweth that it is not lawful to haue images in the chirche / namely where theyr worship is defended and where men haue vsed and vse still to abuse them / and gyue to them outwarde worship as ye do. Thes few reasones haue i brought be caus i wold not be long / i could haue brought out examples out of histories & alowed writers and out of the ciuile lawes of Emperoures [Page] to haue proued that images haue bene forbidden to be in the chirche / but i differ them vntil an other tyme / If i se not the abuses of images taken away intendyng to bryng them with all the reasones that i can make. Brynge ye now as many resones for the hauyng and outward worship of images as i haue brought agaynst them or ellis chyde out your parte / or procure that my book may be forbidden to be red that ye ned to take no suche importable payne vpon yow or ellis grant that ye haue bene deceyued and defended vnlawful doctrine.
And so is not hys last concludyng argument / whiche he calleth hym self not easy to assoyle / whiche is thys we myght not worship the angel Peter and Poul being the better / ergo not the cross beinge of less estimation then Peter or Paul / I to assoyl the matter easely say the man vseth sophistri in the worde worship / for if he take worship to signifi reuerent behauour then i say that the antecedent is fals / and if he will it signifi godly honor it is trewly sayd / but nothyng to the purpose / .
If that to say that a [...] [Page] man vse the sophistri in a worde not able to proue it / were a sufficient solution of an argument indede it were an easy thyng to solute an argument / but it is not so easy to solute my argument as ye thynke ye know that i disputed withe yow before of outward worship / of the cros / & that ye wold haue it gyuen to the cross and that i held that it shuld not be gyuen to the cros your distinction is therfore vayn and interlaced with a lye / And as for my antecedent i proue it thus / No trew seruant of god forbiddeth any thyng that is lawful / but Peter Paul and the angel forbad men to fal down before them ond to do suche outward worship vnto them as ye do to the cros / and they were trew seruantes of god / therfore it was not lauful for men to fall down before them and to do suche outward worship vnto them as ye do vnto the cross / Moreouer / ether must ye say that Cornelius & Iohan were damnable idolaters / or ellis that they gaue only outward worship vnto thē whom they took not for god but for / theyr superioures set in hyer dignite autorite then they were / for to fall down before a man or angel and to gyue to the man or the angel godly honor is playn idolatri / whiche honor if Cornelius or Iohan haue gyuen vnto Peter and to the angel / it can not be denied but they were idolaters.
For nether Paule nether the cros can be worshipped with godly honor.
If that a calf made of gold may be worshipped with godly honor / and an other man may be worshipped with godly honor / the cros and Paul may be worshipped withe godly honor but the golden calf that aaron made was worshipped withe godly honor exodi the xxxij when as the peple sayde vnto it Behold o Israel here ar thy goddes whiche haue brought the out of Aegypt. That images haue bene worshipped with godly honor / also it is playn by the first chapter of the Epistel to the Romanes. Where as it is writē / Whē they beleued that they were wise / they were made / fooles & haue changed the glori of the in corruptible god / by the lyknes of an image of a corruptible man. In the xij. chapter of the actes the peple whiche spak thus of Herodis voice / It is the voice of god & not of man / gaue vnto hym godly worship / & becaus he gaue not the glori vnto god he was eaten to deathe with wormes. Then may the image of the cross and Paule be worshipped withe godly honor / furthermore what shuld allmyghty god nede to forbid men to gyue godly honor vnto men and images if men & images cold not be worshipped (as ye say) with godly honor? Let thē that haue autorite to inquere of heresies loke whether thys mānis sayng is heresi or no / If it be holdē stifly it must nedis be heresi for it is cōtrari to the opē text of the scripture.
In speakyng agaynst holly water / whiche he entendeth [Page] to impugne / the mannis malice putrefieth for lak of salt / whiche he cannot abyde to be sanctified by the inuocation of the name of god.
In my former book / i haue sufficiently confuted the deuellish coniuryng of hally water / and vncouered the crafty iugglyng of the papistes / whiche on while / sayd that they held it stil in the chirche in the remembrance of Christes blood / and an other while / to dryue deuelles away / to put venial synnes away / and to heal all syknesses. The caus whye that thys proctor of the pope manteyneth thys hally water so er nestly is / because hys holy father alexander ordened it and commanded all popishe prestes as gardiner is to make it not to be a remēbrance of Christes bloode and of our baptim but to purge men from sin as hys wordes that ordened it do testifi in the boke of the popis decrees / Aquam sale conspersam▪ populis benedicimus &c. We bliss water sprinkled withe salt for the peple / that they sprinkled with it / may be hallowed and clenged. The whiche thyng we commande all sacrificers or prestes lykewyse to do / for if the asshes of a calfe sprynkled with blode hallowed and clenged the peple / myche more water sprynkled with salt and sanctified with godly prayers / holloweth & clengeth the peple. Thes wordes speaketh pope Alexander with many mo all e lyke vayne & superstitious / whiche euery mā that hath any know ledg [Page] dy in the scripture can easely confute / Now becaus i cannot abyde thys popishe ordinance that your father made after your iudgement i putrefi for lak of salt. If that ye wold drink the water as ye do wine / and eat the salt at your table / i could be wel content that when ye say grace that ye sanctified them with the inuocation of goddis name with other meates and drinkes whiche ye eat and drink / But when ye coniure water and salt and abuse goddis creatures to other purposes then god ordened them / i nether will nor can abyde your shamful abusion.
With out learnyng he calleth it coniuryng / and with out withe despiceth the good wordes.
Iuglers and coniurers be cause theyr names ar haynous and hated and theyr occupations ar vnlawful / will be called prety conueyers and exorcistes / So master gardiner be cause ye ar a coniurer and your occupation is shameful and forbidden in the scripture / leste ye shuld be knowen / of the hole realme to be a coniurer / ye will be called an exorcist / and ye will haue your work called an exorcisme / and all that in Greke that Englishe peple shuld not know what ye be / Therfore he that calleth yow a coniurer and your work coniuryng / must be vnlearned / ye wrytyng vpon the first commandment disalow coniuryng / and he that made your book in Latin / turned coniuryng in to Exorcismum, was he vnlearned [Page] therefore? Ye ar so wonderfully learned that ye will teach the scolares of cambridge to pronunce Greke / and ye will teache me to speake Grekish Englishe. But if your lordship wold put of your miter / and be as wel cōtent to be taught that that ye can not as year arrogātly besy to teache it that ye haue not learned / ye myght learne / that if [...] in Greke / be a coniurer in English as ye cannot denye but it is / [...] is to conture / & [...] is coniurynge / Rede the xix. chapter of the actes in Greke & ther shal ye fynde that thys lesson that i haue taught yow is true. Then when as ye ar not ashamed to occupi cōiuryng of the deuel out of water and salt / and say in Greke the worde of your occupation Exorcizo, [...]e that is i coniure the or charge the / whiar ye ashamed to be called a cō iurer? If the name be euel the dede is wors / Then if ye will be no more called a coniurer / haue of your coniuryng and i shal lay away the name of a coniurer / or ellis the dede and the name must go together. As for your good wordes that ye say that i vnwisely despise / i haue proued before to be wordes all ful of deuelishnes and idolatri where fore i meruel that ye can for shame call thē good / and can nether answer to my reson nor yit proue them good with any scripture.
If thys man had bene by Christe / when he anoynted the blynde mannis eyes with clay / he wold haue asked hym / whihe made clay an other [Page] god besyde hym self / And when the woman was heled of hyr diseas / by touchyng of hys garmēt / why he made hys garmēt an other god / & whē Christe answered to diuers theyr faythe made thē hole / he made euery mānis faythe a special sauiour after thys noble clerkis doctrine / whiche is so blynded with malice / to desproue al that he redeth that he fyndeth not in scripture. Many & many tymes that instrumental or occasionatiue concurrent or ministeriall cause hath attribute vnto it in speche the hole effect / with out preiudice or blasphemi of many goddes or many sauioures as thys beste pretendynge to be learned / wold seme to be able to persuade. I shall only vse thys one place of scripture. Dothe saynt Paule (answer to thys and ye wil) go a bout to make many sauioures when he writeth to Timothe / Do thys and then thow shalt sane thy self and other / all that is good to man is wrought by god in Christe for Christe and by Christe / where he in all creatures [Page] may do suche ministeriall seruice / as it shall please god / and that all may serue man to the helth of both hody and soul / Good men by the grace purchased by Christe dare boldly pray god / and haue don from the begynnyng with prayer and callyng for the help of god and expulsion of the deuel in all thynge / the deuel cannot abyde hally water.
Becaus ye ar a coniurer and can rays the deuel at your pleasure and compell hym with your Exorcismes (lo now i speak gardners Grekish English) both to tel yow what thyng shall be don and what thyng wold haue bene don / ye can by the help of the deuel that ye Exorcis (playne men of the cuntre call it coniure) tel what i wolde haue don if i had bene by Christe. But if ye were no coniurer / and no better aquaynted withe the deuel then i am / how could ye tell / what i wolde haue sayde so long ago vnto Christe? Doth it folow that if i had bene by Christe when he healed the blynd mannis eyes with clay / ād healed many both in body and soule withe / fayth that i wold haue axed hym why he made mo goddes besyde hym self / because i say that ye make a god of salted water whils ye truste to obteyn by it saluation of both body and soul? As who say lykewise as Christe vsed clay as a [Page] meane to heale the syknes of the body / and faythe as a meane to heale bothe body and soul / so may ye vse salted water / to be a mean to obteyn / the healthe of bothe body and soule / By what autorite make ye salted water to be meanes of the saluation of body and soul? What good man hathe found out thys short way to heuen / that salted water shal heale bothe body and soule? If that ye say / lykewyse as Christe vsed the clay whiche had no suche naturall properti gyuen it / to heal the blyndmannis eyes w [...]he / so may we now vse salted water / to heal all diseases theyr with bothe hote and colde / althoghe we know that god hath gyuen no suche naturall properti vnto it / and that whiche it wanteth of nature we will obteyn by prayer / To thys i say first that Christe whiche could haue healed the blynd man with out any outward mean / vsed clay as a mean that the miracle myght be more euident and better remembred / and in the healyng of thys blynde man he shewed ij. miracles at one tyme / first in healyng the blynde mā which fact was a boue nature / & in healyng hym by clay beinge a meane that had no naturall pour to heal such a diseas with all / for a miracle is a strange and a rare work aboue nature / Christe had good cause to worke such miracles and wonders / for the iewes wold not haue receyued hys doctrine and beleued that he had bene of god / if he had not wroght such wonders / Therfore Christe to purches credence vnto hys doctrine which was thought vnto the iewes a new learnyng [Page] and not of god / was dryuen to work miracles / But what nede haue ye now to work miracles? dothe not all men and wymen in Englond beleue that Christe is of god and that hys doctrine is true? ye worke a great miracle if that ye heal all diseases with salt / and yit a greater miracle when ye can make the soul receyue salted water and saue it therby / for it is not only aboue nature that ye go about but also contrari to nature. Then when ye nede now no miracles / and neuer the less go about to worke miracles whils by oue litle receyt ye take in hand to heal all the diseases of bothe body and soule / your prayers ar folishe and wikked where in ye desyre god to helpt yow to work your miracles / and therfore labor in vayne / and bring neuer to pass that ye go about / your prayers ar wikked for they ar to the disshonor of Christ for they require that salted water shuld do as mych as Christe can do / Also when as of lyke thynges is one iudgement / and lyke prayers vnto youres / ar wikked it folowethe that youres ar also wikked / By the same autorite that ye haue brought water and salt in to the chirche and desyre god that they may dryue deuelles away / take away veniall sinnes / and be saluation of both body and soule / to all them that receyue them / may ye bring in to the chirche a calf and a sow and / say allmyghty god / we beseche the grant vs that thys calf & thys sow may chace away deuelles & take away venial sinnes / and may be saluation of bothe body & soul / to al them that eate of them / By the same [Page] autorite may ye bring in to the chirche euery sonday a dishe ful of milk and make thys prayer o all mygty & euerlastyng god we hymbly beseche the / grant vs that thow wil wit safe so to hallow and sanctifi▪ thys milk thy creature / that who soeuer suppeth of it by the inuocatiō of thy name may haue poure to draw owt of what soeuer tether he liste / so miche milk as he will desyre / for as far as it is contrari vnto the nature of a sow and a calfe to chace deuelles away to purge venial sinnes / and to be saluation to a mannis soul / and as far as it is contrari to the nature of a tether to gyue milk / so miche is it contrari to the nature of salt to heal hote burnyng agues and to the nature water to hele dropses and palses and to them both mixt together to be helth of both body and soule / your prayer is therfor wikked / then is it no meruel that ye neuer, obteyn that ye ax. How can thos prayers be other then wikked / where in the name of god is called vpon in vayn? Christ did not hele the soul of the blynde man with clay / but only he delyuered hym from hys blyndenes with it / therfore it foloweth not becaus / he vsed clay agaynst blyndenes that ye may vse salted water to heal both the body and the soule / Where as it is sayd that many were saued by the fayth of Iesu Christe that is no other thyng to say then that many were saued by Christe whom they took hold vpon / by faythe / then is not fayth an other sauiour besyde god / but it ledeth vs vnto god / And when as god is our sauiour and he draweth vs [Page] vnto hym by the mean of faythe / when i say that fayth iustifieth i mean that god iustifieth vs by faythe / Therfore when as faythe is a mean ordened of god when i say fayth saueth i exclude not god / admitting hys instrument / nether make i any other sauiour but hym that worketh by hys appoynted instrument. But when as salted water is no instrument of our god wher with he worketh our saluation / and yit ye gyue saluation vnto it / it foloweth that after your iugement it is ether a god it self or sum instrument of sum other god whiche worketh saluation by it. And where ye ax whether Paule maketh many sauioures where as he sayeth that Timothe redyng exortyng and techyng of the worde of god shal saue hym self / i answere that Paule maketh no mo sauioures but god alone / for he attributeth saluation vnto the instrumentes whereby god worketh saluation. When as Dauid killed golias with a slinge / he that sayeth that Dauidis sling killed golias / sayeth not / theyr was [...] sleers of golias / be syde Dauid / for the slyng was the proper wepen that Dauid killed golias withe / & so is Timothe goddis instrument / wherby he wrought the saluation of Timothe / and of them that beleued hys prechyng / But if a man say that a lance killed golias the same man maketh an other killer of golias besyde Dauid / for the lance was none of the wepens that Dauid killed golias with / So he that gyueth saluation instrumentally to any instrumentes whiche god hathe only appoynted and vsed to [Page] work saluation by / makethe no mo sauioures but god alone / but he that gyuethe saluation vnto other instrumentes then ar peculiare and proper vnto god which nether god apoynted / nether at any tyme hath vsed / nether will alow for hys instrumentes maketh an other sauiour besyde god / Now haue i made yow an answer to your question that / saynt Paul maketh not many sauioures / Now what will ye gather of thys answer? Will ye gather that salted water may as wel be an instrument of saluation / as Timothe was? If thys be your gatheryng i gathere thus of yow agayn that ye holde / that the pope hath as myche autorite to ordeyn salted water to be an instrument of saluation / as allmyghty god had / to make Tymothe an instrument of saluation by the redyng and prechyng of hys worde / whiche if ye do it is more tree that ye ar a Papiste / then the deuel hateth your falsly called holy water / which at hys motion was by pope Alexander brough in to the chirche to the mokkage and great iniury of Christes bloode / Mark reder whither thes defenders of ceremonies as i haue sayd oft do any thyng agaynst abuses but dissemble / til they may fynde a better tyme / v. yeare ago master gardiner durst not for hys eares / haue defended holy water any other wyse but as a putter of vs in remembrance of Christes blode and of our baptim / nether durst he say that images myght be worshipped with outward reuerence / but shuld be only laymens bookes / but now when he hathe spied hys tyme / [Page] holdeth openly that hally water may be vsed in the chirche for the same endes and purposes that hys father pope hathe ordened it for / and brought it in to the Church / that is to dryue deuelles away / to heal all syknesses / and to be saluation of bothe body and soule / and that images may be worshipped with bowyng of the body with kissyng & crepyng to. What will thys bold defendyng of Popish superstition bring shortly / if it be vnloked to? suerly euen it that is in an old prouerbe / the Pope home agayn vnto our own dores / and that with out a viser where as yit he is partly couered.
From gestyng agaynst holy water ye descend to scolde with the hole realme / and go about to proue all thos to commit theft and sacriledge that suffer not lay men communicate in ij tyndes / for your reformation there in ther wanteth but on vlisses with hys mace to knok yow betwene the shulders / as he did thersites for raylyng vnsemely agaynst the gouernoures.
I haue argued ernestly agaynst your coniured and abused water / and not gested agaynst any holy water / nether haue i scolded with the hole realm / but i haue resoned against a sorte of fals Prophetes and bewrayed a nest [Page] of fals theues / which haue stollen a better thyng thē a golden dyalice from the kyng and all the hole laite of Englond / And where ye want Vlisses to knok me betwene the shulders ye may as well commande the deuel to fet hym to yow out of hys graue / as ye may commande hym by your coniuryng to cum out of water & salt for no nede / & all elyke / Ar theyr not officers enow in Englond to ponishe me if i offend except ye haue sum valiant man of the old world? Now speake ye lyke a man of war when ye wold haue me ponished with a valiant warriers wepē. It appareth that ye wrote thys at after nown when as ye be a knyght of the garter / manfully myndede / to shed blood ouernyght / that ye may drynk in the mornynge when ye ar a blood suppyng sacrificer.
By whose auctorite / acording to goddis treweth the lay men ar there in ordered / as hathe bene from the beginnyng how soeuer it lyketh yow to talk in a mask vnknowē. If ye take it (as it semeth ye donot) that in on kynde of brede only ishole Christis body & blode / thē hathe the lay men nothyng taken from them / but reuerently absteyn frō ether kynde / the fruyt where of / they receyue in form of brede.
All the autorite [Page] that Princes haue / they haue / it of god / but god gyuethe them no autorite to break hys commandment. but god cōmanded that āl men shuld drynk of hys holy cup / then the blissed cup is not taken away from the laite by the autorite of the Prince / but by the violent tyranni of the clergy whiche becaus they wold seime more holy then the laymen / haue taken it from them. And in sayng that the laite hathe bene so ordered frō the beginnyng / ye suarue far from the truthe / for from Christes tyme to saynt Cyprianes tyme / the cup was not taken from the laymen / the laymen had also in saynte Ieromes tyme and in saynt austenes tyme / the hole Sacrament vnder both the formes / and was neuer generally forbidden till the generall consel ar constance forbad it to be gyuen in bothe the formes vnto lay men / which was in the yeare of our lorde. 1415. But that your impudent lye may the better be sene / i will bring in witnes agaynst yow / Cyprianus ad Cornelium papam in the ij. Epistel / How teache we them or exhorte them to shed theyr blode in the confession of Christis name / if we denye them that shal go a war fare / Christis bloode / oder how make we them mere for the cup of mariyrdom / if we suffer them not by the right of communion to drynk in the chirche of the cup of the lorde? Also Cyprian in the fift sermon of them that had fallen / telleth how that a decon poured the Sacrament in the forme of wine in to a yong madens mouth / which wolde not haue taken it. Austen as it is alledged / libro sentētiarum, [Page] de consecratione, distinct. ij. can dum frangitur, When the hoste is broken when the bloud is poured in to the mouthes of the faythful / what other thyng is ther by betokened / thē the offeryng vp of Christis body in the cross / and the sheddyng of hys bloud out of hys syde? Ierom vpon the thyrd chapter of sophonias / the prestes which serue the Sacrament / and diuide the lordis blode to hys peple / do wikkidly agaynst the law of Christe thyngkyng that the wordes of the prayer / make the Sacrament and not the lyfe / and that the solemne prayer is only necessari and not the merites of the preste / Ambrose sayd to the Emperour as it is writen in the ix. book of the threparted stori. With what rashnes dare thow receyue with thy mouthe the cup of the precions bloude / when as there is so mich vniustly shed blode in the furi of the wordes? Certayn popes also did not alow thys kynde of theft as gelasius whiche sayeth / We haue perceyued that sum take but a portion of the body and absteyn from the chalice of the holy blode which doutles (can not tel what superstition they ar taught to be bounde in) shall ether receyue the hole Sacrament or be holden a way from the hole for the diuision of one Sacrament can not be made with out great sacriledge. Iulius also sayeth de consecratione dist. ij. cano. cum omne. They haue not receyued that witnes spoken in the gospel / where they / for the fulfillyng of the communion gyue the Sacrament dipped (in to wine) to the peple where as Ch [...]ste gaue hys body [Page] & bloode to hys Apostelles / the desyueryng of the brede is recorded by it self & of the gyuyng of the cup by it self alone Moreouer that thys halfyng and partyng of the Sacrament was not in the primatiue chirche / & that thys doctrine of youres was but stablisshed of late the wordes of the Consel of constance which ar thes do testifi Allthoghe Christe after supper ordened thys worshipful Sacrament / and gaue it vnder bothe the formes / of brede and wyne / to hys discip [...]es / yit that notwithstandyng / the autorite of the holy canones / and the laudable and approued custome of the chirche / hath ordened that the lay mē shuld require it only vnder the one forme / And all thoghe in the primatiue chirche / thys Sacrament were receyued of the faythful in both the formes yit the custom reasonablely brought in / which is to be taken as a law / hath ordened that it shall be [...]ecey / ued of the lay peple vnder the one forme alone / So far the wordes of the Consel. Then ar yow a shamful lyer / whiche say that the lay peple haue had but the on forme of the Sacrament from the beginnyng / But now let vs examine your reson / Whiche your Popish brother Latomus the lawyer and ye fet out of the forsayde Counsel / your reason is thys Christis body is a lyuyng body / and a lyuyng body is not with out blode / but vnder the form of brede is Christes body ergo ther is also hys bloude / then the lay men recyuyng the Sacrament vnder the forme of brede receyuethe bothe the body & b [...]de / therfore the prestes takyng [Page] the cup from the laymen ar not chirche robbers as ye say / If that it were lauful to reson after Philosophi in a mystery of our faythe then myght a turk reson agaynst vs thus / and proue that the bloud that ye haue in the chalice is non of Christis blood / all the blood that is in a lyuyng body is warme / but it that ye haue in the chalice is cold / therfore it is in no lyuyng body / but all Christes bloode is in a lyuyng body / therfore it is none of hys blode / that ye haue in the chalice / ye may se now what inconuenience myght cum if a man myght reason after Philosophi of the Sacrament as ye do / Therfore let your Philosophi ly a syde til ye haue nede of it / & resone after the worde of god / where vpon thys Sacrament is bilded and not vpon Philosophi ye say that in the kynde of brede only / is hole Christis body and bloude / thē haue the lay men nothyng taken from them / to whiche sayng i answer thus / Whatsoeuer of the Sacrament the prestas haue that the lay mē haue not / the prestes haue stollen from thē / but the prestes haue the blissed and hallowed cup of Christes bloud / that the lay men haue not / ergo the prestes haue stollē it frō the lay men / Euery sacrament hathe hys element & with out it it can not be a Sacramēt / but ye haue that / & the lay peple haue it not / ergo also that haue ye stollē frō them / If ye vnderstand not thes argumētes i wil declare thē withe ij. similitudes. A certayn father sent to hys son studying at oxforde ij. purses one white with a croun in it and v. shillynges of white money / the other rede with as [Page] myche in it / he sendeth with thes ij. a letter wherin be biddeth hys son remembre hym when he loketh on the white purse and pray for hym because that is hys gyft / and when he loketh on the rede purse that he shuld remembri hys mother who sent hym that / the carier lykyng the rede purse well putteth all the money that was in it / into the white purse / and delyuereth all the money to the scolare in the white purse / but he kepeth vnto hym self the rede purse / the scolare after hys letters ar red / requireth also a rede purse / the carier answereth hym frowerdly and sayeth haste thow not all the mony that thow shuld haue? what maketh mater whether thow haue thy mony in one purse or ij. so thow haue it all / and so the child can not git hys rede purs / which is worth xiiij. d. whether is thys carier a thyefe or no / whether hath he don any iniury to the childes mother or no? If that he be a thief and haue don iniury to the childes mother / for taken a way the remembrance wherby she shuld haue ben remembred an prayed for / then ar ye theues and fals cariers / in puttyng hole Christe in to the forme of brede and takyng quite a way from the lay peple / the forme of wyne / whiche ought as wel to call to theyr remembrance by seyng and drynkyng of it the sheddyng of Christes bloud for theyr soules / as by breakyng eatyng and seing of the forme of brede they ar bounde to remembre that Christes body was broken & offered for the redemption of theyr bodyes / as ambrose writeth acordyng to the vayn [Page] of scripture / vpon the xj. chapter of the first Epistel of Paul to the Corinthianes after thys wise / Because we ar delyuered by the death of the lorde / we remembryng thys thyng / betoken it with earyng hys flesh and drynkyng hys blode whiche wer offered vp for vs. The fleshe of our sauiour was offered for the helth of our body / and hys blode was shed for the soule / as it was a fore hand figured of Moses / for so sayeth he the flesh is offered for your body / but the bloud for your soule / ther fore ye may not eat the bloode. Thus far ambrose. Nether is the supper of the lorde ordened as ye seme to vnderstand it only / to purches for gynenes of synnes / but it is ordened to be a remembrance of Christes death / and a thankyng of allmyghty god for the benefittes whiche we haue receyued / of hym / then all they that haue receyued lyke benefit ought to be lyke thankful and mynde ful / then lay men ought as wel as the preste to se taste and drynke the forme of wyne / as the preste / that by the seyng tastyng and drynkyng ther of they may cal as well to remembrance the sheddyng of our sauioures Christis bloud / for theyr soules / as the preste dothe / Thē is your glos al in vayn wher ye say that / when as hole Christe is vnder the form of brede / that the lay man receyuyng it / receyueth the fruit of the hole Sacrament. What if ye commanded your steward to gyue euery one of your seruantes to hys diner brede and flesh to eat / and wine to drynk to quence hys thurst with / and he knede all the brede with wine and, gaue [Page] them no other wine then it that is dronken vp in the flour / and they when they had eaten vp theyr fleshe & brede / wer fayn for lak of wyne to drynk water / and compleyned vnto yow / wold ye alow your steward in thys hys doyng or no? Doth the wine dronken vp in the brede and so taken as wel quench amānis thurst as it doth when it is taken alone / if ye say nay then / so doth not the forme of brede receyued alone so wel put vs in remembrā ce of Christis blodsheddyng and deth as when the form of brede is taken firstand the forme of wyne is immediatly taken after it / after the ordināce of Cyriste / More ouer how can he haue lyke sruyt / that kepeth but half the commandmēt / with hym that kepeth the hole commandmēt? He that receyueth only vnder on forme / kepeth but half of the cōmandment / which is accipite & commedite & leueth our the other half of the cōmandment / bibite ex hoc omnes hoc facite &c. Drynk ye all of thys, & do thys as oft as ye shal drynk do it in the remēbrance of me / it foloweth agayn that your sayng is fals wheras ye say that vnder the form of brede alone the lay man receyueth the fruite of both the kyndes.
If ye vnderstand not the mysteri of Christis supper as we do / then it is no great sclander for trew men to be called theues of an heretike al thoghe the example were not to be vnponisshed.
A man may vnderstand the mysteri of Christis super other wise then ye do / and yit be no heretike / specially when ye make merchandice of it / and appli it to heale swine / and shepe / and abuse it to bryng ether dede men to lyfe agayn / or ellis to redeme damned soules out of hel. I called yow no theues till that i shewed your theft / and conuict yow of it / so shuld ye not haue called me heretik till that ye had shewed my heresi and conuicted me of it.
We deny that the supper hath any halfe at all / then is not all your resonyng worth an half penny.
Euery diuisible thyng / and hole thyng hathe partes where of it is made but the supper is a diuisible and an hole thyng therfore it hathe partes / the supper hath in it bread and wyne outwardly and mystically the body and blode of Christe / bred is not wyne nether brede is Christis body nether is wine Christis blode / nether is Christis blode Christes body and thes ar conteyned in Christes supper theyrfore it hath partes. The one parte of an hole thyng is on half and the other part is the other half the supper hath such partes / then it hath halues.
Ye make your self wrong Principles and ther vpon in [Page] gendre matter / To talk on whether the prestis receyuyng may profit other is out of the mater / whiche mater ye reson as thoghe ye wold denye communionem sanctorum and the mutual help in prayer and oblation of on membre for an other.
Euery vnlearned oldwyfe can say so as ye haue now sayde that i haue made my self wrong principles but a learned man shuld haue proued it and not haue sayd it as lone / let the wise reder cōpare thes your wordes with my argumentes whiche i made to proue that the prestis receyuyng could not help other / and let hym iudge whether they do clerkly assoyl my argumentes or no.
And when ye make argument that no mannis receyning can profit him self to remission of syn / for as ye say / ether he receyueth in sin to hys damnation / or out of sin / and then nedeth he no remission of sin whose synnes be forgyuen all redy / And here the man vseth Sophistri in the worde sinnes / only to delude & blynd the simple reder with which he desyreth to be of [Page] the vnlearned sorte that hys talk may be wondered at more then reproued.
Whether the rehersyng of a parre of an argument / and the sayng that theyr is Sophistri in it be a sufficient assoylyng of an argument ar no i reporte me vnto all them that can stil in Logik or haue any natural wit.
When he speaketh of lent which hath bene as origen testifieth in the Greke chirche euer from the beginnyng the man speaketh not playnly whether hemiflykethe the prohibition to eat fleshe / or the licens granted for money contrary to the prohibition / he sheweth no other fault here in but becaus the bishop of rome dothe the lyke. And if the man wold ad to thys that because the bisshop of rome in hys chirche wold not suffer men to fast on the sonday that therfore we to disagre with hym shuld eat fish vpon the sonday and fast also / he spak euen as wisely as he doth now / But he hath made thys for a degre of foly to a grater that folowethe.
As for lent and many other ordinances i dyd not go about to confute them / but only the chefe and moste gorgious ceremonies and traditiones that your father ordened / which i thought if i could confute / the triflyng ceremonies shuld easely gyue place as vnmanly & weak soudiers do when ther capitaynes ar all taken or slayne / And ye speakyng of lent whiche the Grecianes vsed / vse Sophistical speache there in for the Grecianes vsed lent diuersly. As Eusebius a Grecian by the autorite of Ireneus / in the fist book of hys Ecclesiastical histori testifieth sayng / Ther is strife not only about ester / but also about the maner of fastyng / for sum rekē that one day only is to be fasted / sum ij. dayes & other sum mo / sum forty dayes. Sum countyng both the houres of the day and the nyght so make dayes. Whiche diuersities of obseruyng the fast / began not now first nether in our dayes but befor vse. Socrates also a Greciane writeth in the xj. boke of the threparted story that sum fasted iij. wekes before ester / sum vj. sum seuen wekes / and that neuer the les they called theyr fast quadrage simam the xl. dayes faste / that is lent / and that sum absteyned frō / all thyng sauyng drie bred / and sum / eat byrdes and fishe / sum / eat of nothyng that had lyfe / and sum fasted to one tyme of day and sum to an other / And the caus / of thys diuersite he sheweth in thes wordes / And becaus no olde redyng / is found concernyng thys last / i reken that the Apostelles haue left it to [Page] the iudgment of euery man / that euery man shuld worke that whiche is god not of feare or compulsion. Now master gardener when as among the Grecianes as thes ancient historiographers do testifi which were Grecianes such diuersitie of lentes hath bene / do not ye vse Sophistri to say that lent hathe bene vsed sence the beginnyng in the Greke chirche when as sum of the Grecianes eat wildfouele in theyr lētes an other / only fishe? If that lent must be holden in Englond becaus it hathe bene holden sence the begynnyng in the Greke chirche / then / must the mariage of prestes / the supper vnder bothe the kyndes / be also holden in Englonde for thes ij. haue bene holden from the beginnyng in the Greke chirche.
Where for the hatred of the Bisshop of rome / he wold we shuld do away the vse of the Latin tong in the chirche / and alwayes he calleth the Latin tong the popis mother tong / denying that the Romanes spak Latine still / which whether they dyd or no / in the learned tong / sum haue bene that haue probablely douted. But what so euer the Romanes haue don / they do not so now / so litle cause hath he to call the Latin tong the popis [Page] mother tong when in sum popis it hath happened and in a great meany of cardinalles also that nether father nor mother / ne they them selues haue knowen any whit of it.
Rede ipray the good reder in my former booke the argumentes which i made agaynst the syngyng of the psalmes in the Latin tong where it is not vnderstande / & compare them with thys hye clerkis answer / & thow shalt espi that he cannot assoyl my argumentes & that the fox seketh holes / Whether the old popes of whome we haue thes traditiones and ceremonies spak Latin or no / whether the olde Romanes spak Latin or no / i reporte me vnto all them that ar learned and haue red Ciceroes orationes / or Aulus Gelius which writeth that aster the mynde of Cornelius nep [...]s / Cicero was xxiij. year old when he pleated the first caus in open iudgment / and defended sextum roscium accused of murder. He sayd hys orationes in Latine before all the hole multitude / if that the comon sorte vnderstode hym not / he spak in vayn that they shuld hear hym Erasmus is not of your mynde which sayeth. Cnm per uniuersum terrarum orbem Romane loquantur quicun (que) Romanum agnoscunt Pontificem, &c. And so is Virgil also agaynst yow which sayethe / Georgicorum iij. cui nomen asilo, Romannm est, Aestron graij uertere uocantes. If that the Latin tong were a distinct tong from the Romane tong then was not the title which Pilate [Page] wrote / writen in Latin as it was writen in Hebrew and Greke but in Romishe for Ioan sayeth that it was writen Hebraisti Ellenisti Romaisti / & then haue all the translatores bothe Erasmus Ierom / and all other deceyued vs which haue all trāslated romaisti Latine / I wote wherfor ye talk of thys mater / suerly that ye may seme to say sumthyng and to scape so from my argumentes / How beit all wise men can easely perceyue that such shiftes as ye make now / ar shameful and do not assoyl an argument.
The man speaketh wisely of the Grekes fallyng from the pope that neuer was with hym / and they syng in suche Greke as the mother can no skil of vnles she chanceth to be learned / nomore then the Bisshop of Romis mother can skil of Latin.
Thys Bisshop which wold be counted a true and a learned man lyeth here as he doth oft vnlearnedly / for besyde Histori writers / the counsel had at florence in the year of our lorde 1439 vnder Ioanne paleologo Emperour of Constantinople and eugenio Bisshop of Rome declareth playnely that the Grekes wer vnder the Bisshop of Rome / for thus it is writen in the letters of the concordance of the Romanes and Grekes / Diffinimus sanctam Apostolicam sedem & Romanum Pontificem in uniuersum orbem tenere primatum [Page] & ipsum romanum Pontificem successoremesse beati Petti principis Apostolorum & uerum esse Christi uicarium, totius (que) Ecclesiae caput. We determin that the holy Apostolik sete and the Bisshop of Rome to hold the primace ouer all the world & that the sayd Bisshop of Rome to be the successor of blessed Peter the prince of the Apostelles & the true vicare of Christe & the hede of the hole chirche. To thes wordes Ioan nes Paleologus the Emperour & bissariō Bisshop of nece with a wonders great nombre of other Grecianes subscribed and set theyr handes to / Where ye speak so boldly of the Grekes that they vnderstand no more theyr seruice then the romishe wy men vnderstand the Latin tong that is by your fals iugement nothyng at all ye speak as arrogantly as ye were in your iudgment sete / as boldly as ye were on hors bak at after nown whē ye ar a knyght of the garter / and as lying [...]y as ye had bene at Rome and therfore myght lye by autorite. Becaus ye haue bene a litle in italy & spoken with the pope / ye take in hand to tel what is done in grecia / but that lyke your self lyingly for i came once from venis with ij. Grekes born in peloponeso which wer merchant men and had not learned the learned Greke tong which vnderstod the Psalter so well that i could not cite no verse in Greke but they could expound the same in Italiane / And they vnderstode me speatyng Greke to them and i lyk wis vnderstood them when they spak treatablely / I set thys experience agaynst your gessyng.
After thys presumptuous ignorance there foloweth as shameful a lye when he sayeth in Germany suche as haue left the Bisshop of Rome haue also left syngyng in Latin in theyr chirches. The contrari where of i haue heard with in thes iij. yeares in the chirche of hala where / Brentius teacheth and is chefe preacher / where a seruant of myne in my hearyng played at the organes at magnificat / when the boys in the quere song magnificat in Latin / as loud as they could crye / eche one vtteryng his own breste / to the loudest with out regarde how he agreed with hys felowes / I dowt not but god vnderstood them / God vnderstandeth popingiayes / can they then pray with fruite? But of the nombre that song / i dare say a great meany vnderstode not what they song. And we could mych less mark theyr wordes / other then be gan the verse and ended it / so that thys noble [Page] Clerke shuld do wel to vse all hys resones of saynt Poule to them there & ask them / what edification the chirche can haue in the noyse of the organes / which if the player haue no other shift / may fortun be furnisshed with the descant of o lux in the stede of te Deum / Vnto whome they wold answer that at the begynnyng they wer of wraghtonis opinion / but sence they haue consydered that the learned parte of the chirche singeth in a learned tong to prayse god in all thyng / And vpon the same reason they vse also all semely wyses of instrumentes with laudate Deum in sono tubae, vnto omnis Spiritus laudet Dominū, Whiche solution at theyr handes i thynk wraghton / if hys name be wraghton / wold easely take / & i thynk he wold be ashamed of hys lye it is so manifest and so apparent / But euen as truth must perswade with truth so lyes be mete to persuade ther with lics.
Ye may se good reders what compasses thys fox fetcheth to make my [Page] houndes wery. All thys long narration is brought for no other purpose / but to seme to haue answered to my argumentes / when as yit indede he hath answered to neuer one. I sayd in my former booke the germannes whiche of late left the pope / left also the popis romane or Latin tong / and now syng al seruice in theyr oun duche tong / And it that i wrote / i wrote it of experience for in the chirches appoynted for preachyng at cure / surek / Basule / Strasburg and bon where as i haue bene i am suer that all seruice was song in the mother tong and none in Latin / What maketh the example of on chirche agaynst so many / How foloweth thys argument in hala they syng in Latin ergo they syng no duche in germani? But for all thys mannis sayng they syng there also in duche as i learned of them that haue bene theyr / If the learned sang to them selues in Latin / in Englond and the lay men had theyr songes in Englishe. I had no cause to write agaynst any abuse in that behalfe nether wold i haue writen one word of that mater / if the laite of Englond myght haue had theyr songes in a tong that they vnderstand / as the Clergi hath it in a [...]tong that they vnderstand / It is lyke that the Bisshop chanced vpon sum College of Scolares or vpon sum Popisshe chirche when he heard thys syngyng in Latin In germany for the auoydynge of insurrection in many places it is the maner to driue no man to Religion / therfore if theyr be a great sorte in a citi that will not part from theyr Popistri the ruelers [Page] letteth them haue a chirche as i haue sene it in cure & in bon & as i am informed it is at wormes and Sphire / I saw thys that i shal tell yow don at bon with in thes v. monethes / In the colledge where as the freres was where the worde of god was preached al Psalmes were song in the duche tong / & none in Latin / But in the great mynstre the Popish prestes which will not leue yit theyr mumpsimus syng all in Latin / how be it the Bisshop hath ordened that euery sonday there is a godly sermon made by one of hys prechers in that chirche / & after the sermon / all that can syng both men & childer sing Psalmes in theyr mother tong in duche and not in Latin / But a none after that song syng the priestes & queristers an other song all in Latine / secundum ordinationem Papae, What if thys Bisshop cam to bon and chanced vpon thys sorte of Papistes / shuld he worthely blame the gospellerres for the Papistes papistrie / Myght he honestly say to thē in Englond that wold haue all the seruice in Englishe / what will ye run be for the gospellers of Germani? i harde of late in Germany seruice song in the Latin tong. What if Brentius and oseander hold with yow (that i beleue not) that the sounde of the organes is goddis honor & seruice / and that a man may be edified by sayng or hearyng that he vnderstādeth not / what haue i to do with Brentius which am not sworne to Brentius nether to any man / or to any mānis doctrine / sauyng only to the doctrine of Christe. It is great honeste for yow to hold and theache such [Page] doctrine as when as it is writen agaynst ye can not defend it but ar fayn to sende to the gospellers of Germany to fet help to assoyl the argumentes made agaynst it. But to that particle where ye say that god vnderstandeth the childer syngyng in the Latin tong which they vnderstand not / and mean theyr by / that the prayers of them that pray not with hart as popiniayes speake / and wote not what they say / ar pleasant and acceptable vnto god / i answer that Christe alledgyng the sayng of Esai the Prophete / mislyketh such prayers in thes wordes / Thys peple draweth nere me and worshippeth me with theyr lippes but theyr hartes ar far from me / Paule also in the xiiij. chapter of the first Epistel to the Corinthianes in thes wordes testifieth that the prayer that is spoken in a strange tong whiche he that prayeth vnderstandeth not / is of no effect & nought worth / If that i pray in a tong / my breath prayeth / but my mynde hath no profit Erasmus Expoundeth thes wordes thus in hys Paraphrasis / If that i pray in a tong that the peple vnderstandeth not / for an example in the afrike tong among the Grekes / ye rather if that i shuld speake a langage whiche nether i nor other that ar by me vnderstand / (as certane do which vse to sounde / the song that they haue learned in a strange tong which they vnderstand not thē selues (my brethe & wynde bringeth furth the wordes that pray / but my soul or mynde hath no fruit there of. It is shame for a bishop to haue no other reson to defende hys harteles prayer thē the [Page] old dotyng wyues haue / when they ether cannot or will not learn theyr Pater noster in Englishe / for thus sayethe the old wife / ich hop that god vnderstandeth my prayer in Latin as weleas in Englishe / And all is good that is don for a good intent. Where as ve answer in the gospellers name more lyke a piper then a preacher that therfore now god is praysed & honored with the sound & pipyng of the organes becaus it is writen in the old Testament / Laudate Dominum in sono tubae omnis Spiritus laudet Dominum. Where is your memory master Bisshop / haue ye forgotten that ye sayde concernyng the worshippyng of the cros that all true honor of god is only in sprete & procedeth from the harte? The organes haue no hart nort sprete therfore theyr can cum no true honor or worship from them to god / therfore the sound of the organes is no true worship or honor of / god / Ha [...] ye not red that the outwarde Sacrifices of Moses law / & that maner of worshippyng of god with organes / shalmes offeryng vp of calues and gotes is abrogated and that the sabot day of the iewes with all theyr outward fasshiones of Sacrificing is taken away? Rede the iiij. chapter of Iohan and theyr shal ye fynde that god is a sprete and wil haue spiritual worship / rede Paul to the Hebrewes & there shall ye learne that / thes shaddoes of pypyng and lutyng ar taken away & that god requireth the thynges selues and not the shaddoes / prays god with all the poures of your harte / and let them be bent ernestly to the kepyng of [Page] goddis commandment thank hym with al the hole harte and then haue ye done that the instrumentes did signifi / Rede also the v. chapter of amos the Prophet whiche speaketh thus of the abrogation of thys kynde of worshippyng / Take away from me the noyse of your songes / and i wil not heare the songes of your harp / Playng on the organes is ether a moral Precept or a ceremonial / if it be a morall Precept it perteyneth vnto al mē at thys hour / and all men ar bound to play on the organes or to prayse god with theyr sound in payn of damnation / If it be but a ceremoniall Precept we ar no more bound to kepe it then to offer vp lambes / and calues / for he that sayd prayse god in organes and musical instrumentes sayd as wel bring vnto god the childer of Rammes / Take a calf out of the hyrde for sin / & a ram to be a burnt Sacrifice / both with out spot and offer them vp before the lorde. Then will i nether admit your witles & vnlearned solution / nether of your handes nor theyrs if they were so made to make any suche solution.
It appereth that the man is a frayed to be called heretike before he were answered / and he wolde haue sum delay to know whether he wold stik in it / who shal answer hym that thynketh noman hath wit but hym self / noman learned but hym self / as [Page] thys proud arrogāt / presumptuous foole doth in thys litle booke / Se what herbes grow in gardiners gardin / Pryde maketh hym forgit what he sayeth in the begynnyng the middes / and the endyng. When he hath condemned our ignorance / then he wolde go to scool with vs and abyde our answere / He may assoyle it thus / in thys part of hys book hys sprete speaketh mekely / in the other parte of hys book where he is so vehement the fleshe bresteth furthe / after which solution it shuld appere / the man hath a great dele of fleshe and litle sprete in goddis seruice / And in redyng of the bible the man is all fleshe / and still very angri with the Latin tong / where in i remit hym to hys brethern Brentius and oscander that named holy man / which ij. becaus in dedes they disagre from thys mannis opinion i thynk they can easely satisfice hym with wordes / where in i trust he will be content / And of them who hathe pleynty / borow so myche of the [Page] sprete as where with to tempre hys gross carnalite / to dissent there in both from vs and them.
I desyre the good reder to rede ouer the argumentes which i haue made in my former booke concernyng the hauyng of the seruice and bible in the Englishe tong and iudge whether thys bablyng of thys Bisshop about my flesh and my sprete / doth sufficiently assoyle my argumentes or no. Thankes be vnto the kyng of heuen which hath indued our kyng of Englonde with such lyght of true knowledge that he hath contrary to the myndes of all Pharises begone to set out the seruice in englishe / Allmyghty god increase hys knowledge euery day more and more and gyue hym grace to do ther after and grant hym victori ouer all hys enemies both bodely and ghostly.
The rest of thys famous work is specially agaynst me where in he calleth me the chefe setterfurth of the articles concluded in thys realm / agaynst the mariage of priestes / Where in he speaketh lyke hym self when the man sayeth further that Martin bucer asked me what scripture i had to proue that prestes myght [Page] not mary and thys reporteth he also lyke hym self / And because he wold seme to be pryuy vnto the disputation betwene Martin bucer and me sum what he toucheth that was in our disputation spoken of / but fasshoneth it lyke hym self at the leste / that i myght know the man lyeth euen thorowly / Thus he reporteth my reson made to bucer / The same autorite hath the kyng ouer all prestes of hys realme and hys other subiectes that a father hath ouer his childer / but a father may forbid the prestes of hys realme to mary then if they mary when he forbiddeth them to mary / they break the commandment of god who sayeth childer obey your father and mother / i trust no man wold thynk i shuld haue fasshoned the argument in thys wise / for it hath no sequence in it / And the father that hath but childer in the maior / i haue gyuen hym a Realm and hys childer prestes in the minor. And then in the conclusion / i haue forgoten the kyng that i spak of / and speke only [Page] of the father / Whos mater is mych what in lyke perplexite rehersed as an honest simple mannes example was of Johan that maried alice & robert that maryed an / in process of the mater called an Johannis wyfe / and ioyned to Robert which the audience heard merely and called it playn adulteri / And after thys sorte wraghton hathe wrāglyngly rehersed my argument / Then by your oun own confession it was your argument. And thē he gathered thes cōclusiones / first that a kyng may forbid all mariage / second that ones mariage of prestes was law [...] be for the thyng for bad it / Thyrdly that the Prince maketh sin that before was no syn with god / To which conclusiones i will answer when i haue trewly rehersed my cōmunication with bucer.
Ye accuse me with out & caus for the vnhandsum rehersal of your argument for i wrote your argument in thes wordes as my writen copie can yit be a witnes / The same autorite hathe the kyng ouer all the Priestes and other subiectys of hys Realme that a father hath ouer hys childer / But a father may forbid hys [Page] childer to mary / ergo the kyng may forbyd the prestes and other subiectes of hys Realm to mary / Where as it was other wayes prynted the composer and corrector was to blame and not i which was not present at that tyme.
With whome vpon the desyre he had to confer with me i told hym i was glad to speak. Who when he cam to me after the maner of Germany made along oration vnto me conteynyng only the zeale he had to the truthe for trying out where of / he sayd he was desyrous to talk with me / I told hym i was glad to hear hym speak so indifferently. But for as myche / al [...] [...] / Wher by to press one an other [...] clerely taken away by dissention / I told hym that scripture was out of autorite / to any one parte / becaus both partes wolde apply to theyr partye / theyr own interpretation and there in stand obstinatly.
Mark here the crafty subtilite of thys wyly fox. Be doth as a fox of the wod shuld do if he shuld byd a great lyon battal and say to hym / Brother lyon thow and i must [Page] fyght / but be fore we go together thow must pul out of thy month all thy long teth / and cut of thy tayle and thy long clawes / for where as we haue bene oft before thys tyme at stryfe yet could we neuer debate the mater and bringe it vnto a peaceable conclusion by the triall of [...]eth tale and clawes / but euer went away the mater beyng vndehated / I counsel therfore that we tri thys mater by the cares / Euē so thys fox gardiner perceyuyng hymself so far vnder Bucer in learnyng as a fox is vnder a lyon in streynghe / before he wold dispute with Bucer he wold make hym by craft set a syde hys wepens the worde of god which the fox gardiner can not abyde that he myght set vpon hym ones disharnessed and vnwepened / As for our party the Scripture is / not out of autorite / which [...]ll / that all doctrines shal be tried there [...] ▪ But as for your party / the Scripture is [...] autorite in dede / for ye leane more to traditiones of men / to the custom / and to Generall councelles then to the Scripture / where we alledge bibite ex hoc omnes for the hole supper / and qui se non continent contrahant matrimonium, ye will not hear the Scripture but as an aspis stop your eares leste ye shuld heare the Scripture.
The spretis diffamed by the Anabaptistes / miracles theyr be none wroght / eche parte be sinners / & the Doctores of the chirche [Page] when they made agaynst them / they called them men / & estemed them not / and therfore i sayde for want of autorite to proue / i wold vse Sacrates maner of disputyng with hym / & preshym / which he shuld hym self grant / he sayd he was content / Then i asked hym where in / and he sayd he cared not / but he thought / that the mariage of prestes was very cruelly handled / to forbid it sub poena mortis. I told he was a sore aduersari in thys becaus the mater touched hym self how be it the kyngis maiesti myght forbid it / of the payn i wold reson with hym afterwarde / and dowted not but the extremite of payne was in respect of the multitude mercifully to kepe them by feare / from danger / rather thē cruel as he calleth it. Why quod Bucer how can the kyng forbid it / i told hym then / ere i entred the mater with hym / de iure diuino: i wold ask hym thys question what he ment by thys precept / Honora patrem & matrem, whether the son brekyng hys fathers commandment [Page] in suche athyng as the father myght cō mand / brak the commandment of god or no. Bucer answered yis. I asked hym then / whether pater was vnderstande only of father in nature / or sather in gouerment / Also he sayd of the father in gouerment / also then quod i by yow / The Prince hathe the same autorite to command ouer hys subiectes that the father hath toward hys childer / He granted that also / Then vpon it that he had granted i fasshoned my argument / Then is it your argument / The Prince hathe the same poure of commandment & order of his subiectes that the father hath ouer hys childer / But by saynt Poule the father may order sum of hys childer not to mary / ergo the Prince may order sum of hys subiectes not to mary / Bucere by and by denyed the minor / We turned to the place of saynt Poul / we red the text which is playn that the father may so do / at the which text Bucer so stumbled and stayed / miche contrari to my expectation / as thoghe [Page] he had neuer red it before. And becaus alisius the scot was by and hyther to spak nothyng / Bucer took the book to alisius & bad hym speak hys mynde / wher vnto alisius went to the first parte of the chapter / out of owr purpose / which the sayd alisius vnderstood so folishly that there vpon rose a new communication / in whiche were interlaced / many maters which Bucer and i afterwardes intreated by writyng / where in thys argument of the father was not yit answered / and therein on my parte the mariage of prestes to be forbidden de iure diuino, so defended (how so euer it liketh master wraghton to haue me acompted vnlearned and so peruersly to set furth the argument) that nether he ne Bucer can yit assoyle. And i se no cause to yelde to Bucere there in.
Because thys long narration of your clerkly behauyng of your self with Martin Bucere perteynethe very litle to the answer that ye shuld make me / & is nothyng agaynst me / i wil reson nothyng of it / But where as ye [Page] say that nether Bucer nor i haue assoyled your argument / let them iudge whiche haue red my former book / But lest i shuld dissemble your argument / and pretend as i red it not as ye haue done to shāfully oft in thys book of youres / I will answer to your argument and if god will / assoyle it also. Therefor let vs reherse your argument where with ye wold haue proued that preftes by the law of god may not mary. The Prince hathe the same pour of commandment and order of hys subiectes that the father hathe ouer hys childern / But by saynt Paul the father may order sum of hys childer not to mary / ergo the Prince may order sum of hys subiectes not tomary / As for your maior that a Prince hathe the same poure of commandment / and order of hys subiectes that the father hath ouer hys childrens / I grant it is true if it be playnly and simply thus vnderstande / The Prince in all such maters as he long vnto hym / hathe the same pour of commandement and order of hys subiectes that a father hath ouer hys childer that is as the father in hys hous hath autorite to command hys childer in all thynges that ar godly & for the profit of hys childer / So hath the Prince autorite in hys Ream in all such maters as be long to a Prince to be orderers of / ouer hys subiectes to cōmande thē to theyr profit to the glori of god & to the welthe of hys Realm / But if ye make no exceptiō your maior is not alwayes true / for if the Prince hath the same pour of commandment ouer all hys subiectes that / a father hath to [Page] command hys childer / When the father and childer ar with in the Princes dominion the childer ar the Princes subiectes / Then when as the father (as ye say) hath autorite to command certayn of hys childer ether to mary or not mary at hys pleasure / if he commanded Thomas and Iohan to mary / and the Prince commanded the same not to mary / by your maior it were both sin for Thomas and Iohan to mary / and sin to not mary / for if they maried they brake the Princes commandment / and so sinned / if they maried not they brake theyr fathers commandment / therfore tell vs whether ye meane by the worde same lyke or the self same / and tell whether ye mak an exception or none / As for your minor / that by saynt Paul a father may order sum of hys childer not to mary / if ye vnderstand it so that he may forbyd certayn of hys childer that they shal neuer mary as lōg as they lyue / I deny your minor / & put yow vnto the profe of it / ye say that it is playn by saynt Paul / & the 7. chapter is quoted in the mergen / howbeit when as i red ouer the hole chapter i could find neuer one worde that gaue any such autorite of commandment / but very myche to the contrari parte / as here after i shal declare / Ye shuld therfore haue shewed vs the place and haue made an argument ther of / Why haue ye not shewed vs the text / that maketh so mich for your purpose? Belyke ye wold as gladly haue shewed it as ye did shew vs miche glorious and superfluous bostyng but that ye were afrayed that / if it [Page] were sene / men of learnyng and iudgement shuld deme it to make nothyng for your purpos / But for all the hydyng of it / i trust i shal find it out that ye mean of / A learned man of Germany writeth that ye alledged thys text of Poul for your purpose. Be that standeth stede fast in hys harte / hauyng no necessite / but pour of hys own wil / and hath determined that / in hys hart to kepe hys virgin doth wel / and so he that marieth hys virgin doth wel but he that marieth hyr not doth better. If thys be not the place that ye mean of / shew an other & we shall answer to it as well as we can / If thys be the place form an argument of the text for your purpose and it shall be answered / And in the mean season i shal proue by euident and clere places of scripture that a father hath no autorite to commande hys childer to lyue all theyr lyfe tyme withe out mariage / I shall also proue by ij. learned Doctores whiche turned Paul out of Greke in to Latin / whiche knew the phrase of Poul as wel as ye do / and vnderstode the text as wel also that thys text maketh nothyng for your purpos Ierom expoundyng the same text sayeth thes wordes / Ille firmus statuit cuius puellae consensus Patris firmauit uoluntatem, He purposeth stedfast whose madens consent hath confirmed the fathers will / Then by saynt Ierome the consent of the made is required with out whiche the father can orden nothyng. Erasmus in hys paraphrasi vpon the same place writeth thus / If any man perceyuyng that he hath liberti to be stow in mariage hys virgine or [Page] not to bestow hyr / and is not compelled by nede to ether of bothe / and hath determined and purposed in hys mynde to kepe hys virgine at home which desyreth no mariage / doth ryght / for as it is ieperdous to hold hyr from mariage that is desyrons of mariage / so it is vngodly to discorage madens myndes from the desyre and vow of chastite. Ambrose writyng vpon the same place sayeth. Hoc dicit ut qui uirginem habet cui animus ad nuptias non est, seruet illam nec illi ingerat fomitem nuptiarum quam uidet nubendi uoluntatem non habere, Thys doth he say that he that hath a virgin not mynded to mary shuld kepe hyr and not in tyse hyr to mariage whom he perceyuedh is not willyng to mary / ye haue heard the Doctors now let vs se what resones we can fet out of the Scripture / What so euer autorite of order or commandment Paule gyueth vnto fathers that same hathe he receyued of the lorde / But he sayethe in the vij. chapter of the former Epistel to the Corinthianes / that he hath no commandement at all of the lorde concernyng virgines / De Virginibus praeceptum Domini non habeo. Therfore haue fathers no autorite gyuen them of Paul to command theyr childer not to mary / for noman can receyue of Paule it that he hath not / but he hath no precept or commandment of virginite / Then can none haue that autorite of hym / then is it not playn by Paul that a father may command sum of hys childer not to mary. When Paule which hath as myche autorite as any other Apostel / [Page] and hath receyued of god as miche autorite for fathers to theyr childer as any other Apostel / yi [...] receyued no autorite of god to giue fathers where by they myght command they children to be virgines / ye may be sure that / ther is no other Apostel that granteth fathers autorite to command theyr children to be virgines and to lyue with out mariage. If that the Prince haue the same autorite ouer hys subiectes concernyng mariage that a father hathe ouer hys childer / I will reson with yow thus / Where ye say the father hath autorite to command certayn of hys childern that they shal neuer mary / i ax yow whether by thes certayn ye mean Richard / Robert / and Rolland / only or all that he list to forbid to mary what soeuer they be and of what soeuer name. If that ye grant that the father hath autorite to commande whom soeuer of hys childer he lift to absteyn from mariage / and he Prince hath the same autorite ouer hys subiectes that a father hath ouer hys childer / then may the Prince forbid all the laymen to mary as he hath forbidden the Prestes / Also it foloweth that whē the prince may so order all hys subiectes by the law of god as a father may order all hys childer by the law of god / and a father by the law of god may ordre all hys childer to mary / ergo thē may a Prince order all hys subiectes by the law of god to mary / but all the prestes of thys Realme ar the Princes subiectes ergo he may order them all by then law of god to mary. Where is now master bisshop your braggyng de iure diuino [Page] that a preste may not may? Doth it not now foow by your oun sayng that a prieste myght mary lby the law of god if the Prince wold so ordre prestes & bid them mary? Ye must ether bring furth sum other reson or scripture or ellis prestes may mary iure diuino by the law of god / If ye say that therfore the mariage of prestes is forbidden iure diuino by the law of god be caus the Prince forbid / deth prestes to mary then if the kyng of france forbad men to eat oystens on the friday and flesh on the sonday / it wer forbidden iure diuino to eat oysters on the frayday and flesh on the sonday and so myght it be lawful to day and to morow is dedly syn / That it is no sin for a preste to mary & that the forbiddyng of the mariage of prestes is no law of god i will proue it more at large that all the nobles and comones of Englond may se how shamfully ye mokked them / bearyng them in hand that it was sin / and forbidden by goddis law that a preste shuld mary / first that it is no sin by the law of god i proue it thus / All sin and all thyng that is vnlawful is forbidden by the law of god / Paul sayeth Roman. iij. by the law is sin knowen / and Rom. vij. I knew not sin but thorow the law / that is throw the law of god / But the mariage of prestes is not fotbydden by the law of god / for Aron and Zacharias testifi that it was not forbidden in the old Testament / Paul vnto Timothe and Titus witnesseth in thes worde a Bisshop must be the husband of one wyfe that mariage of prestes is not forbidden in the new Testament [Page] / and allthyng that is ether bidden or forbidden is forbidden ether in the new Testament or in the old / but ye se it is forbidden in nether / of both / therfore it is no sin by the law of god for a preste to mary. If that the law of forbiddyng of prestes mariages were the law of god / as ye say / then it shuld be generall to al cuntres & the transgression of that law shulde euery where be elyke syn / but in Grecia / and in Denmark / and in hic Germany it is no syn for a preste to mary / both be cause they make no vowes / and because the Princes forbid not there prestes to marye. Thē is not the forbiddyng of prestes mariages the law of god / but cōtrari to the law of god as i shall proue it thus / It is contrary to the law of god to forbid in payn of deth that god commanded in payne of damnation / but they that forbid many that cannot leue chaste with out mariage / to mary forbid that god commanded for he sayd by hys seruant Paul if they lyue not chaste let them mary / If ye will that i shal say if they can not lyne chast let them mary / then ar theyr sum that can not lyne chaste / If that al the prestes shuld be bound to mary that kepe not them selues chaste / few prestes shuld lyue syngle / Then is it agaynst goddis law to forbid al prestes to mary namely them that kepe not them selues chaste and haue not the gift of chastite. If that ye say all that will / may haue the gift of chastite / for the a [...]yng acordyng to that whiche is sayd what so euer ye ax the father in my name he will gyue yow it / i answer first / that [Page] thys text is to be vnderstand that what soeuer as man asketh of god which is necessari vnto saluation that he wil grant hym the same / But when as thos thynges ar asked that ar not necessari for saluation the askers thoghe they be good men git not at all tymes of god theyr askyng / as Paul whē he asked thrise of god that he wold take from hym the prik of the fleshe obtened not hys askyng not withstandyng that Christe sayde what soeuer ye ask the father in my name / that shal he gyue yow and whi? because that it that he axed was not necessari vnto hym for hys saluation. Then when as the gift of chastite to lyue honestly with out a companion / is not necessari vnto saluation / for many men haue bene saued with out that gift / god by the forsayd promis is not bound to grant euery one it that ax it of hym. And that euery mā is not ordened to receyue that gift / Christe our sauiour beareth wit nes / in the xix. chapter of Mathew in thes wordes speakyng of them that myght lyue honestly with out a wife / All men ar not able to receyue that worde / but they to whome it is gyuē / And Paule in the seuent chaprer of the .i. to the Corinthianes / sayeth i wold all mē were as i am / but euery man hath hys proper gift of god / one so and an other so / that is one man hath the gift of god to lyue chaste with out the vse of mariage and an other hath it not. That all prestes which ar commanded in payn of death to lyue with out wiues / haue not the gift of chastite / nether can haue it not only an .c. prestes in Englond will sweare [Page] it / but also the example of folowyng of galba / doth sufficiently testifi. They were ones in Rome about to make alaw that who se euer shuld be taken in aduoutery / that hys priuttes shuld be cut away frō hym with an hote burnyng yron / sed Galba negabat, sayd Borace / Galba wold none of that / because he ether intēded to be anduonterer or ellis thought that he cold nos chuse but be an ad [...]o [...]ter. Then wh [...] as theyr ar sum that the pope compelleth to to vow chastite which haue not that gift / forbiddeth that Christe commandeth and therfor is Antichriste / and ye Bisshoppes defendyng hys doctrine ar limmes of Antechriste / and as long as that Popishe doctrine of the pope abydeth in Englond so long is not the pope driuen out of Englond.
And now to master wragheonis conclusiones / Becaus i made thys argument / Then is it your argument / Shalhe say that i admit Princes may destroy mariage / as thought that which vpon consyderation may be good in sum / shal be absolutely allowed in all / They that commanded virginite moste / wold not haue all virgines ne saynt Paul that wissheth all to be as he hym self / intended not therby the destruction of mariage / althoghe him self were not maried / But suche frantike [Page] conclusiones thys unlearned arrogancie gathereth.
Whether my conclusiones folow of your minor or no / i reporte me vnto all then that haue learned Logik or haue any natural wit. I will forme my argument ones agayn that they that haue not my other booke / may se the argument here / ye say. The same autorite hath a Prince of order and commandment of hys subiectes that a father hathe ouer hys childer / But a father by saynt Paule may order certayne of hys childer not to mary / ergo the Prince may order certayne of hys subiectes not to mary. Tel me i pray yow whether god hath apoynted any childer by name / or any nombre of childer that a father may forbid to mary / or is it in the fathers libertie to forbid whom soeuer he wil to mary and so many as he will? What if he will forbid all hys childer to mary / may he not forbid all? shew what place of Scripture restrayneth hym that he may not as wel forbid all as one? The father hathe the same pour of order and commandment ouer all hys childer / that he hathe ouer one / but ye grant that he may commande or order on of hys childer not to mary / ergo / he may order or command them all not to mary / And the Prince hathe the same autorite ouer hys subiectes / that a father hath ouer hys childer / but a father may forbid all hys childer to mary / ergo a Prince / by your minor or may forbid all hys subiectes to mary / for he hath as myche autorite [Page] of commandment ouer all hys subiectes / as ouer a certayn / or ellis all were not so moche bounde to obey hym as / the certayn of whom he had the autorite of cōmandment ouer. Thē it foloweth thus. He that may forbid all the subiectes of hys Realm to mary / may destroy mariage in hys Realm / But by your argument the Prince may forbid all the subiectes of hys Realme to mary / therfore by your minor a Prince may destroy mariage in hys Realme. Where ye say that they that commanded virginite moste / wold not haue all virgines / i reken that is the trewest worde that ye spak in all thys booke / for your father the pope whiche was the gretest commander of virginite / of all other / Hath alowed stewes in Rome / and suffereth besyde wymen hores / the filthines of the other kynde also / And ye my lorde prior of the grene freris in the bank / the greatest commander of virginite in the hole Realm of Englond / therfore apoynte with in your dominion and lordship an hole strete fore open bandry / and kepe a comonstewes / that theyr shuld not be to many virgines but if there be any yong madens or yong men / that ar disposed to depose and gyue ouer theyr virginite / they may theyr offer it vp to priap [...]s. And so is it tru that they that commanded virginite moste wold not haue all virgines. Where as ye say that saynt Paule thoghe he were not maried / and yit wisshed that all were as he was not with standyng wold not destroy mariage / i say the contrari / for i say if Paul were a virgine & wisshed [Page] all men to be as he was / that is a virgine / then wisshed he that there shuld be no father nor mother / for fathers and mothers ar no virgines / and that no maried foll shuld be but all virgines. Then wold he with that wish that mariage were destroyed. But that wold not saint Poul therfore ye vnderstande not saynt Paul as ye shulde do / for Poule had a wyfe and wisshed that all the Corinthianes whiche anaunced them selues of virginite and widowhede could lyue chaste with out a woman as he dyd / which lest hys wyfe in an other place / then where he preached / and that all men were with out care as he was / whiche thyng comonly foloweth mariage. But where as ye knok me on the pate / and lay vnlearned arroganci to my charge / let vs now trie it whether yow or i am more worthy to be accused of vnlearned arrogance / Ye say that Paule wss not maried / and i hold that he was maried / how shal thys mater be best discussed? I know no better meanes then to call to witnes sum that were ether alyue in poules tyme or ellis were very nere hys tyme / I call for witnesses ignacius & Clement that Paule had a wyfe / Now hear the witnesses speake / Eusebius in the third booke of the Ecclesiastical story in the thyrd chapter reporteth Clementes wordes thus. Clement whos wordes / we haue here marked / writynge agaynst them which dispise mariage / sayethe thes wordes. Do they also disalow the Apostelles / for Peter and Philip had wyues and gaue theyr doughters to be maried vnto men / [Page] but also Paul the Apostel / is not ashamed to make mention in a certayn Epistel / of hys make or companion and to grete hyr / whom he sayeth he led not about with hym that he myght be more redy / and combreles to preache the gospel. Erasmus in hys annotationes vpon the iiij. chapter of the Epistel to the Philippianes reporteth the witnes of ignatius in thys wyse. The holy martyr ignatius in an Epistel / to the Philadelphianes doth playnly grant / that not only Peter / but also Paule and other of the Apostelles had wyues / & that he had them in noless reputation therfore / because / the Patriarches / & Prophetes was maried / not for theyr lustis sake but for childers sake / Chrysostom granteth that there were sum which rekened that Paule in thys place did speake vnto hys wyfe / but he dissenteth / shewyng no caus of hys dissention / But to whome is it more ryght that we shuld stik to Clement and ignatius / of the which the one was saynt Peters companion / and the other was saynt markes the Euangelistes disciple / or shal we beleue better Chrysostom / which was so longe a space after the Apostelles tyme? thus far Erasmus / Let indifferent men iudge now whether i that bryng autorite for me / or ye that pronounce boldly by gess with out all reson and autorite / ar more worthy to be accused of arrogant ignorance.
The Seconde conclusion is as wise / that i grant by [Page] thys argument that prestes myght haue maried / if the Prince had not forbidden it. If i proue that prestes may not mary / becaus of theyr vow do i therfore grāt that the vow falyng they myght mary? If i took vpon me to proue that one oweth me monie / for my labor / becaus he promised me / doth thys infer thys conclusione that if he had not promised me / he had ought me nothyng for my labor?
There is away from a village to the marcat towne ouer a bryge / ouer the whiche all men with out any toule had wont euer to go to the mercat / the lorde of the village vpon a mercat day set one of hys seruantes on the brydge to stop euery man to go ouer that brydge that wold not / for hys passage pay vj. d. in the yeare / the seruant letteth non pass but them that promis to pay vj. d. The pore men be caus they must nedes go to mercat / to sel theyr corne to git them alyuyng ther with / promis all to pay that he requireth / At the day apoynted for the receyuyng of thys money / he by hys seruant commandeth them to pay the vj. d. and requireth the mony also by thyer promis / whether is thys gentle man only the cause of payng thys mony / or he is bothe cause of promisyng and of payng of it also? [Page] If thys gentle man had not required of them nether to promis thys monye nor to pay it / the pore men myght haue gone as well toolfre / to the mercate as they had wont to do before theyr lordes new request and commandment. Euen so is it betwen the Prince and the prestes. For by whose autorite / do ye require of euery one that cummeth to yow for orders of subdecon decon and presihode / the vow of chastite? By the autorite of god or by the autorite of the Prince / ye can shew no autorite that ye haue of god to require of all that shal take thos orders / the vow of chastite. If that ye do it by the autorite of the kyng then it is the lyngis commandement that ye shall require of euery one that shall be subdecone decone and Preste to vow chastite. Then when it is the kyngis commandment that thys vow shallbe required / which wold not haue ben offered / if it had not bene required / and the kyng commandeth all them / of whome he commanded yow Bisshoppes that the vow shuld be required of / to kepe theyr vow that is to lyue single with out wiues all theyr lyues / the vow of chastite concernyng prestes is as well The kyngis commandment as the forbiddyng of mariage is. Then where as i reson / if therfor the mariage of prestes be vnlawful because the kyng forbidde thē it / th if the kyng wold not forbid it it shuld not be vnlawful / & ye say that it is vnlawful also becaus they haue vowed chastite / i say that if foloweth neuer the les of your sayng that if the Prince wold not command Bisshoppes to require [Page] of subdecones decones and prestes / the vow of chastite / and commanded not the prestes to lyue with out wyues that it were not contrari to the law of god for a preste to mary / Answer me / whē Bisshoppes require no vowes / and prestes make no vowes and the kyng forbiddeth no preste to mary / why may not a preste then / mary? How is it then de iure diuino? A man that will take hede may espie that your sprete is an vnconstant sprete / for in sum places when ye ar axed in Englond / whi that prestes may not mary / ye answer that they may not mary be cause they ar forbidden by the law of god / in Germany ye answer that they may not mary becaus the Prince forbiddeth them to mary / & in your Catechisine ye shew thys caus that prestes may not mary / Matrimoni is left at libertie to all men sauyng prestes & other / which of theyr fre liberti / by vow aduisedly made / haue chosen the state of continenci. Seme ye not here to say that only the vow hyndereth prestes and such other to mary? In thys place ye make no mention that they ar forbidden by goddis law / nether make ye any mētion that the forbidding of the Prince hyndereth them to mary. Bere do ye play as a fox doth when he is chaced out of on hole which rumneth in to an other / and when that serueth not flieth in to the thyrde. If that ye can bryng no other caus that prestes shuld not mary but becaus they haue made a wilful or a fre vow / I will proue that the vow is nether fre nor willful but constrayned by compulsion / if not [Page] in all the votaries and prestes that ar thys day in Englond / at leste in a great nombre namely in all them that wold not haue vowed if the vow had not bene required of them / whiche if i bring to pass ther shall no voluntari vow hynder prestes & such lyke to mary. Now to the purpose Nothyng is fre that is constreyned by a commandment to on way / but the vow of chastite is constreyned whils it is commanded by the Prince to be required of all subdecones decones and prestes / & that they shall lyue with out wyues / ergo the vowes of subdecones decones & prestes ar not fre / If that ye answer that subdecones decones and prestes may chus whether they will be votaries or no before they be decones subdecones or prestes / i say / it that / a a man anoydeth before he is subdecon / auoydeth not beynge onis made subdecon / then when there is no subdecon but he is a votari / and must ether not be subdecon or ellis be auorary / how can a subdecon auoyde the vow? and so with decones and prestes / If that ye say then when men know that the vow is indiuisible copled withe prestehode / all mē may chus whether they wil be prestes or no / and so is the vow fre / i answer that where so euer the gospel of Christe is / there must nedis be prechers there of / and ministers of the Sacramentes whom ye call prestes / It that must be / can not be auoyded / but there must be prestes in Englond / then ar ther sum that can not auoide but be prestes vpon whom soeuer the lote falleth / Christe commandeth in euery Christen Realme [Page] that hys gospel shal be preched / and hys Sa cramentes shal be ministred / & when as the ministeri is commanded to be / it is therbi commanded that ther shall be ministers of the same / then Christe commandyng that hys worde shal be prea ched / commandeth that theyr shall be certayn ministers of it / and of all the same that Christe commandeth to be hys ministers the Prince commandeth yow to require the vow of chastite / & ye will not suffer them that Christe sendeth to be hys ministers / to be admitted to theyr office / except they make vnto yow the vow of chastite / then it is fals that ye sayd that all men myght chuse whether they wold be votaries or no / & that all men myght chuse whether they wold be prestes or no / for whē as there must be prestes / and the vow of chastite must be required of the same / of them then that must be prestes / the vow can not be avoded / what fre election and liberti is thys? Apore scolare of cambrydge is brought vp of a child tyl he be xxiiij. year old in learnyng and canno still of any occupation sauyng only of learnyng / he is a felow of a colledge whos statutes require that at the depar tyng of one preste an other shall succede in hys roume / that a certayn nombre of prestes may be euer in the colledge / on [...]lder is beneficed / & thys scolar is eldest and must ether be preste and so becum a votari / or ellis he must lese hys lyuyng in the colledge / If he could chuse he wolde not forswear mariage and be a votari / but for fear of Iesyng hys lyuyng he taketh the vow that is offered [Page] hym / and so is auotari / is not thys man compelled to be a votari by lady ponerty? The men of monstrel after long besegement pretendyng to gyue vp the ceti / let in at theyr gates so many of our men as they thought they myght ouercum / and when they were in / let doū / the port culles & killed an c. of our mē / The capitane beinge ther with sore greued / incoragyng hys men setteth mor freshly on the citi then he dyd before / and he perceyuyng that he is able to win the citi by force / axeth them if they will gyue ouer the citi to hym and in that condition will let hym haue an c. men to order at hys pleasure to sle them or to do with them what he list / that all the rest of the citi mayescape or that they will stand to theyr aduenture / to be filled euery mothers son / They perceyuyng that they can hold the citi no longer grant the captayne hys requeste and gyue vp the citi vnto hym. He is fully purposed be fore the c. men be chosen out or apoynted / to make bond men of them all. And to make euery on of them swear vnto hym that they shal be hys true bond men. An c. men ar ether chosen out by lotes / or offer theym selues vp for the safegarde of the citi / to the capitane / he maketh them all swear to be hys true bond men as lōg as they lyue / They do sweare / May all thes if they will auoyd the oth of bondage? is theyr one among al thes that cā chuse but he must be a bondman? Non at all / so cā no more the prestes of Englond auoyd the vow of chastite / for as fully as thys capitane is purposed to require of all them [Page] that shal offer them selues or shal be offered vp vnto hym / the oth and promis of bondage / so fully ar ye mynded to require the vow of chastite of all them that god sendeth to yow to make prestes of / and all them that arsent of thē selues or of theyr frendes to yow to be ordered. Therfore the vow of chastite that all the subdecones decones and prestes make in Englonde / is seruile ful of bondage / constreyned and compulsed / in al them that wold not haue vowed chastite if no vow had bene required. Take now the sum of all our similitudes in thys argument. That which is all wayes copled / and inseparablely ioyned vnto a thyng / cannot be auoyded of hym that shall take that thyng / as he that wil take aloe and lay it on hys tong he can not auoid the bitternes of the same / but the vow of chastite is alwayes copled / and inseparably ioyned to the orders of subdecon decon and prestode ergo noman that will take the order of subdecon decon or prestehod can a woyde the vow of chastite / But nothyng is fre that cannot be auoyded / and the vow of chastite that the prestes decones and subdecones take cannot be auoyded / ergo the vou of chastite that subdecones decones & prestes make is not fre / Answer to the partes of my argumēte as i haue answered to the prates of youres / But if ye cannot answere / gyue ouer your holde or ellis / in the stede of an answer chide scold & brawl as ye vse comōly to do when ye haue no argumēt nor resonto help your self: with all.
The Thyrd conclusione [Page] is the self same with the seconde / in other termes that by me mariage of prestes was no sin before god til the kyngis maiesti / made it sin before god. Bucer was of an other mynde that if the prince myght commāde / it was before a sin a fore god to do the contrari / for he sayde Princes myght only cōman de that god had ordened / to be commā ded / where in he swarued from that he had first granted me / where vpō i resoned / i haue hys writyng to show / where in shall apere i had more Scripture to show for the purpos / i spak of then such as i communed with could well resolue when they were touched with them.
[...]o fresh men to the helm / for thys Bisshop can make me no answere / What is thys to the purpose to tell vs here of Martine buceris mynde / A learned man in Scripture wold haue tolde vs hys mynde / and not haue sayd Bucer was of that mynde / It will make wise men lawghe at your arrogance & bostyng ignorance to beare yow so gloriously to crak of the plenty of Scripture that ye had at the counsel and to se how bare ye be in writyng / hauyng in a maner no mo places of Scripture to dispute [Page] with in euery mater / thē thes ij. textes honor thy father & mother / & euery soule obey the hye powres. With which textes ye play as a certayn Sophister did with cuiuslibet contradictionis altera pars est uera, & as an vnlearned paynter dyd which could paynte nothyng ellis but a cypressire / whiche whē any mā cā to hym to haue any thyng paynted / sayd euer out of season / will ye haue any thyng of the cypress tre.
I will reson nomore with thys hunter that wanteth all reson.
I heard no reason of yow hyther to / therfore ye leue of / before ye begin / and becaus ye nether will nor can reson with the hunter / ye will chyde with hym / scolde / belye hym / befool hym / & al to defyle hym with the dirte & sklā derous mire of your lyes / folowyng in thys poynt certayn vnclean byrdes / whiche whē they can not make theyr partie good with the hauk all to beray the hauke with theyr stynkyng & burnyng dong.
He rangeth in a licencious liberti / and bresteth in to thys chirche of Englond / vnder colour to hunt the fox / and ranchseth and halloweth at euery dere.
I neuer knew a ryght der hauyng such a long tale as ye haue and so gorgious / nether Peter nor Poule nether any good Bisshop [Page] had at any tyme suche a pōpose tale as ye haue / therfore i take yow for no ryght dere / but for a proude ij. footed fox / and so i hallow at no dere but at the fox & hys generatiō / There ar many / in Englōd that ar no foxes but ryght rede dere whiche wold gladly hunt the fox with me if they durst.
With a purpose to dryne all godlynes / all semelynes / all religions and deuout behauour out of the parke.
I intend to driue only out of the park the fox of Rome with hys ceremonies & traditiones which ye grant he hath made / All that haue red my booke can bear me witnes that i haue not writen one worde agaynst god / or any law or ordināce that god made / where vpon it foloweth by your sayng that theyr is no godlynes / no semelynes nether any religious or deuout behauour in goddis law / for if all godlynes semelynes & religious behauour be dryuen away when the pope with hys ceremonies & ordināces is dryuen away / i pray yow what godlines or semelynes remaneth for Christe & hys worde which abydeth after that the pope and hys worde is dryuen away? Is not thys to make a god of the pope? Yis suerly / All godlynes & semely behauour is only in god / but ye say that in dryuyng away the pope & hys ordinances i dryue away all godlines & semelynes / therfore by yowr sayng the pope & hys ordināces ar god / If ye be not a papist & an Heretike [Page] there is none in the realm of Englond / which prayse so greatly the pope and hys traditiones / & contrari to the Scripture make a god of hym.
He begynneth with the kynges maiesti in alteracion of hys style / and then at lerge callethe the hole realme theues.
I trust that i haue offēded nothyng agaynst the kyngis style for i haue gyuen as myche vnto hym in my booke as may be gyuen vnto an erthly mā / And thoghe i haue not writen the same wordes that ye haue writen i haue writen the same sentence / if your meanyng agre with the worde of god / Where ye say that i call all the hole realm theues / all that ar true men and haue red my booke can testifi the contrari / for i call yow only theues whiche haue stollen away Christis blissed chalice from the lay peple / and not them which haue the theft cōmitted agaynst thē.
Hys chace is agaynst the cross and all images / he cannot abyde lent and fridayes / he lyketh no lawes and ceremonies in the chirche allthoghe they be good. For prestes wyues he maketh a busy suite. He can not away with diuine seruice / in the Latin tong whiche he vtterly abhorreth.
If ye wold not haue gyuen outward worship vnto the cross / and to images [Page] / i had neuer writen so ernestly agaynst them / But when i se yow so ernestly bent to defende the outwarde worship of them / & the outwarde worship could not be takē away except the images were taken away also to the whiche the worship was don / i thought that it shuld be best / to speake agaynst both to gether that the one myght be taken away with the other. What offence is it to speake agaynst the superstition of lent? All good lawes & ceremonies do i alow / it had bene your de [...]y to haue proued ones that ye haue sayd so oft / that the ceremonies which i haue writē agaynst / ar good / ye wil belyke pres me with your autorite because ye ar a doctor / & wold that we shuld be as wel satisficed with your bonum est as the scolares of Pythagoras wer cōtent with ipse dixit. If ye lyke a doctor wil confirme your sayng with reson and scripture it shal be alowed / but ye wil bryng no other reson nether autorite then vlisses mace / and your oun saynge for all your veluet cotes and gylded sporres / we regarde your sayng no more then the voice of a dottrel for all that ye be a doctor / thoug ye cri good, good good til ye be wery. Cal ye argumente brought out of the scripture / to proue that prestes may mary suite for prestes▪ wyues? Well i am cōtent let it be so / i make suite that prestes may haue wyues / & ye haue made suite that prestes may thrise with out peril of lyfe ly with hores / whose suite is more honest? I cā well away with diuine seruice / but mych of it that ye cal diuine seruice is superstition idolatri and the deuelles [Page] seruice. And the Latin tong i loue as wel as yow / but i wold haue it spoken to thē & before thē that vnderstand it / & not to the lay peple that vnderstande it not & there for get no profit by the hearyng of it.
He hath be lyke a meruelons plat form in hys hede to buylde that he wold rid Christis Religion of all thes ornamentes / Calleth he thys the huntyng of the fox and Romish fox? Rather goeth the fox a huntynge. The best is the man hunteth by day / and declareth for so miche what he is / only hydyng who he is for wragh ton me semeth shuld not be hys name.
The ornamentes of Christes chirch ar the word of god which ye will not suffer lay men to rede in the chirche / the Sacramentes which ye bothe pare and forbid / faythe whos commenders ye note for heretikes / hope & charite / preachyng of the word of god whiche ye moke / and call it talkyng / the ryghe reconcylyng of them that ar at discorde / and the excommunication of stubborn sinners / ar the ornamentes of the chirch which i wold haue restored agayn to the chirche by yow and your fellowes that haue stollen them out of Christes Chirche & in the stede of them haue set in the chirche a playn boyes play of [Page] vayne ceremonies & haue filled the chirche / with candelles / tapers / images / salt / water / asshes / bowes / and agreat sorte mo of suche other trifles / ar thes the ornamentes of Christes chirche? Nay they ar the lakens that the pope hath gyuen the peple to play with all / that they shuld not cry for the worde of god / Now thys is the fourth tyme that ye haue bene besy about to seke an other name that shuld be myne then wraghton / & becaus i set no other name to my book ye call me a masker / The six articles / and your Catechismi which is called the kyngis book is of your makyng as euery man can tell / that hath heard yow preache or hathe red your other writynges / and yit ye set not your name to them and so vnder the viser of the kynges actes and the kyngis booke ye couer & set out / nay by force violently thurst in to al mennis handes ye & in to the chirche of Christ euen vp to the pulpit your Popish coniurynges / folishe dremes / rotten ceremonies / and idle ordinances / who is now a masker if ye be none? Also to thys your book ye haue set no name at all / and yit ye will be no masker / I haue set my surname vnto my worke / wher by my ancettores haue bene named in tyme past / what if sum haue called me by an other name (as ye gyue me many new names in your booke) may not i vse the name that i know my ancettores haue vsed before me / therfore? Your ancettoures haue not euer bene called gardiners sence the beginnyng. What if your great grande father when he was a yong man & could lustely folow the [...]y [...]he / [Page] were called Robin Raker / and when he wexed aged and began to be vnlusty / were made the keper of sum goodmannis gardin / & frō thēce forth were called Robin gardiner / myght not ye call your self knowyng thys / steuē Raker? Then why ar ye so offended that i name my self as i know my ancettores haue bene named in tyme past? I am as well knowē in Englond by my name. W. Wraghton to be a trew mā as ye ar knowē by your name steuē winton in Germani to be a popish heretike.
But what so euer the kynred name of the man is he may haue pleynty of other names / for whether aman call hym fool / proud arrogant / glorious disdaynful / spitful / hayt ful / vnlearned / vntaught / busy / partly lyer / wrangler / seditious / malicious / or many other of that sort / he can not speake amiss.
As the maned ox banasius perceyuyng that hys hornes ar so croked in warde that he can nether hurt the hunters hūdes with thē / nor yit defende him self with thē / as soun as he beginneth to run away / casteth the space of iij. pases from hym / so hote dung vpon the hundes that folow him that wheresoeuer it lyghteth it brin geth of the heare / so thys fox and foxis defender / now at the ende of hys booke / redy to run away be cause he cannot defende hym self with hys naturall [Page] wit / which is nether strong i noghe to ouercum goddis truth nether to defende open idolatri / as he rūneth way & dare not trye the mater with autorite argumēt or reson / all to defyleth me with the dung of hye niknames / and sayeth that i may haue names cnow / as wors lyghtly no man can deuise / Of whome may i haue all thes names? of hym that hath them / or of hym that hathe them not? If thes names may be had all of thys Bisshop / what a treasure hath he out of whiche he can bryng out such pleynty of noughtines / what an hart hath he that sendeth out suche fruytes? what a wel is thys that sendeth out such water as thys is? I intend not to scold withe yow nether to stryue with yow in doggis eloquence / where in i gyue yow place and tak yow for my better. Therfore i wil not go about to gyue yow so many names agayne / but i wil as my deuty is / gyue yow the tenth name agayn be cause ye ar a preste / which is busy / ye wil teach cambrige men to pronunce Greke / brewers to make bere / taylers to make garmentes / cookes to dress mete / in bruges ye dissuade men from the Doctrine / of the Germanes / sum tyme ye play the knyght of the garter / sumtym the examiner and sumtyme the iudge and accuser both to gether / sumtyme the purue your / sumtyme the preacher and other whyle the Sacrificier in summa allthyng sauyng the good diuine which is moste required in a Bisshop. Now when as ye intermedle with thes matters which long not vnto your vocation [Page] / and therfore ar more busy then i / i gyue yow that name again for tythe / tyl ye haue turned your cōditiones / as for your other namesi trust i am as well quite of them be thys tyme as of busy.
No man can speake here in farther / then the man in hys booke will make / god and a vow / i wold haue spoken of heretike / But he may not so be called till the book be ansured / therfore he hath made a speciall request / as i haue before noted / But now master hunter your houndes haue ron at ryot / and leuyng the fox yerned / ōly at the dere / whiche in the kyngis maiestes clos ground / with your maskery is felony all thoghe ye speake so playnly as it may be acompted day. Thys is your fault so manifest / and apparant as it excedeth your pour to close or hyde it. God gyue yow grace to make a more fruit ful suit to hys goodnes / and to the kingis maiestie / for your recōciliation to bothe theyr fauoures thē your vndiscrete suit in thys huntyng hath deserued.
I desyred yow goodmā gardiner (or ellis i lie) that ye shuld not be so rashe [Page] as ye had wont to be / to call me heretike withe out a cause as ye did ones in your hall ryght proudly because i weare a cloke and a hat of the new facion / But i could not git / my request for ye haue called me now twyse Heretike and neiher haue ye answered to my argumētes nether shewed me what Heresies i held nether haue ye confuted any false Soctrine or Heresi that i holde therfore ye do wrong thus lyingly and falsly to sklander me. Thynk yow becaus that ye haue taken it in a custō to call men Heretikes god will take it for no sin? Is sin no sin becaus it is of [...] vsed? Well ye ar a mā in autorite & may do what ye list / and no man can haue any ryght where ye beare ruel. I must seke therfore for ryght of an hyer pour / But now haue ye sayde that ye can say to defend the fox & that he is not in Englond / how be it ye haue profited nothyng at all for ye haue nether proued by reson nor scripture that the popis Soctrine which ye haue taken in hand to defende / is good or agreyng with the worde of god. Nether haue ye confuted my resones which i brought in my former booke agaynst the popis learnyng which is now holden in Englond / Therfore ther is nothyng to let me but that i may cōclude in thys booke as i dyd in my former. Who soeuer holdeth still the pepis doctrine cōtrari to the worde of god / holdeth still the po pe which is Antichhriste / But ye hold still in Englond the popis doctrine contrarito the worde of god / therfore ye hold still in Englond the pope which is Antichriste. And thys salf doctrine do ye [Page] defend / thē ar ye a defender of Antichriste. Euery defender of Antichriste / is Christis enemy and the kynges / But ye ar a defender of Antichriste / therfor ye ar Christes enemy & the kyngis. If that Christis enemy & the kyngis / mought still occupi in Englond that occupation which maketh hym Christis enemi & the kyngis / with out forbiddyng or correction after that hys fault is openly knowē / The officers of Englond & gouernoures vnder the kyng / were not Christis frēdes & the kyngis / But i trust they ar Christis frendes & the kyngis the [...]fore / i truste that they wil at leste forbid yow / your deuelish occupation.
God saue the kyng.