VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

beleue to be scripture / and so shuld I beleue them if they shewed me a false boke but when I haue red the scripture and find not their doctrine there ner depende therof / I doo not geue so greate credence vn to their other doctrine as vn to the scripture. Why? For I finde moo witteneses vn to the scripture then vn to their other doctrine. I finde hole nacions and contres that receaue the scripture and refuse their other doctrine and their exposicions in many places. And I finde the scripture other wyse expounded of them of old tyme then they which now wilbe the church / expounde it. Wherby their doctrine is the moare susspecte. I finde mencion made of the scripture in stories / that it was / when I can finde no mencion or likelyhode that their doctrine was. I finde in all ages that men haue resisted their doctrine with the scripture and haue sofred deeth by the hundred thousandes in resistynge their doctrine. I se their doctrine brought in and maynetened by a contrary waye to that by whych the scripture was brought in. I finde by the selfe same scripture / when I loke diligently theron / that their other doctrine can not stonde therwith.

185/33 not worshepe . . . crosse. Cf. CWM 6/1.360/4.

186/3 festes of the crosse. Cf. CWM 6/1.360/8–9. Roman Catholics celebrated "The Finding of the Cross" on 3 May (dropped from the liturgical calendar in 1969) and "The Exaltation of the Cross" on 14 September.

186/3–4 corpus Christi. Inspired in part by the formulation of transubstantiation by Lateran IV in 1215, the Eucharist is especially honored on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This commemoration was extended to the Western'Church in 1264 by Urban IV (pope, 1261–64), who requested Aquinas to compose a Mass and Office. Celebrated in late spring, the feast is characterized by an outdoor Eucharistic procession and mystery plays. In England, complete cycles survive from York, Chester, Wakefield, and Ntown , with the Chester cycle incorporating Aquinas' hymn Lauda Sion. For an comprehensive study of the theological and devotional texts, see Rubin passim.

186/7 no man . . . vowe. Cf. CWM 6/1.360/10–11, 8/1.42/24–25. On vows, Tyndale concisely states at 196/8–9 what is set forth more diffusely at 161/17–162/24 and 189/18–190/7. (JW)

186/10 Marten . . . nexte generall counsell. Cf. WA 2.36;WA 7.76. In Prelates (D2), Tyndale discusses in general terms power struggles between pope and emperor over calling a council. During his brief pontificate, Adrian VI (pope, 1522–23) was requested by the Diet of Nuremberg to call a council in a German city within a year. In 1524, 1526, 1530, and 1532 Charles V formally requested Clement VII (pope, 1523–34) to convene a general council. In 1526 Charles even threatened to ask the cardinals to convoke it. But Clement feared conciliarism and the power of the Empire as demonstrated in the Sack of Rome (6–15 May 1527) by mutinous troops. Cf. Olivier de la Brosse et al., Latran V et Trente, Histoire des Conciles Oecuméniques 10 (Paris: Editions de l'Orante, 1975) 165–84.

186/12–13 the pope ... a counsell. On 2 June 1536, Paul III (pope, 1534–49) summoned a council to be held at Mantua. Circumstances prevented this from taking place, but a second bull of convocation specified Trent as the venue in 1542. Finally, the bull of 30 November 1544 was effective, and the Council of Trent opened 13 December 1545, two months before Luther died on 18 February 1546. (JW)

I finde in the scripture that they which haue not Christes spirite to folow the steppes of his liuinge perteyne not vn to Christ Romano. viij. I find in the scripture / that they whych walke in their carnall birth aftir the maner of the childern of Adam can not vnderstonde the thinges of the spirite of god .1. Cor. ij. I finde in the scripture that they whych seke glorie can not beleue christ Ihon .v. I finde in the scripture that they which submitte not them selues to doo the

186/15 inconstauncie of Marten. Cf. CWM 6/1.362/14–16.

186/16 his later boke . . . his firste. Cf. CWM 6/1.362/2–6. As a respectful subject whose theological views differed from his sovereign 's, Tyndale avoids naming Henry VIII's Assertio (1521), which attacked Luther's Babylonian Captivity (1520) and evoked his Contra Henricum Regem Angliae (1522) (WA 10/2.180–222; not in LW).

186/20 lerned not all trouth in one daye. Tyndale has no further information to offer concerning Luther's development in the years from 1517 to 1522, and so he parries More's charges with ironical observations on the delay in convening a council (186/11–14), on "disputations" staged by inquisitors with their prisoners (186/ 28–187/3), and on the corrupt judges appointed to the Luther case (187/4–10). Luther advanced gradually, much like Jesus' apostles , to his grasp of biblical truth and ecclesiastical falsehood, but then he showed biblical grounds and had the backing of Christians everywhere (186/19–24,187/10–12). (JW)

186/21 the hethen. For the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius, cf. Acts 11.1–18.