VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

And when M. More saith / that this word church is knowen well ynough / I reporte me vnto the conscyences of all the londe / whether he saie truth or otherwise / or whether the laye people vnderstonde by church the hole multytude of all that professe christe / or the iuglinge sprytes onlye. And when he saith that congregacion is a moore generall terme / iff yt were yt hurteth not. For the circumstaunce doeth ever tell what congregacyon ys ment. Neuerthelesse yet sayth he not the truth. For whersoeuer I maye saye a congregacyon / there maye I saye a church also as the church of the deuell / the church of sathan / the church of wretches / the church of wekedmen / the church of lyers and a church of turkes therto.

For M. More must graunt (if he will have ecclesia translated thorowte all the new testament by thys word church) that church is as comen as ecclesia. Now is ecclesia a greke worde and was in vse before the tyme of the apostles and taken for a congregacyon amonge the hethen / where was no congregacion of god or of christ. And also Lucas hym selfe vseth ecclesia for a church or congregacyon of hethen people thrise in one chapter even in the .xix. of the actes / where Demetrius the goldsmyth or syluersmyth had gathered a companie agenst paul for preachynge agenst ymages.

How be it M. More hath so longe vsed hys figures of poetrie / that (I suppose) when he erreth most / he now by the reason of a longe custome / beleueth him selfe / that he saith most true. Or else (as the wyse people whych when they daunce naked in nettes beleve that no man seyth them) even so M. More thynketh that his erroures