VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

ked at the later end / but that he repent and resyst not the spirite of god whych openeth lyght vnto the worlde.

¶Why he vseth thys word elder and not prest

Another thinge which he rebuketh ys that I interprete thys greke word presbiteros by this word senior. Of a truth senior is no veri good english / though senior and iunior be vsed in the vniuersities: but there came no better in my mynde at that tyme. How be it I spyed my faute sens / longe yer M. More told it me / and haue mended it in all the workes which I sens made and call it an elder. And in that he maketh heresie of it / to call presbiteros an elder he condemneth their awne olde latine texte of heresye also / which they vse yet dayly in the church and haue vsed / I suppose / this .xiiij. hundred yeres. For that texte doeth call it an elder lykewyse. In the .v. chaptre of the first of peter / thus standeth it in the laten texte. Seniores qui in vobis sunt / obsecro ego consenior / pascite qui in vobis est gregem christi. The elders that are amonge you I besech whych am an elder also that ye fede the flocke of christe / whych is amonge you. There ys presbyteros called an elder. And in that he saith fede christes flocke / he meaneth euen the ministres that were chosen to teache the people and to enforme them in gods worde and no laye persones. And in the seconde epystle of Ihon saith the texte / senior electe domine et filijs eius. The elder vnto the electe ladye and to here chylderen. And in the .iij. epystle of Ihon. Senior Gaio dilecto. The elder vnto the beloued Gaius. In these .ij. pystles presbiteros ys called an elder. And in the .xx. of the actes / the texte sayth:

paule sent for maiores natu ecclesie / the