VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

and I beshrew him sauinge my charyte / there we take it for pacyence. And when I saye a charitable man / it is taken for mercifull. And though mercifulnesse be a good loue or rather springe of a good loue / yet ys not euery good loue mercifulnesse. As when a woman loueth her husbonde godly or a man his wife or his frend that is in none aduersitie / it is not allwaye mercifulnesse. Also we saie not this man hath a greate charite to god / but a greate loue. Wherefore I must haue vsed this generall terme loue / in spite of mine herte often tymes. And agape and charitas were wordes vsed amonge the hethen yer chryste came / and signified therfore more then a godly loue. And we maye saye well ynough and haue hearde it spoken that the turkes be charitable one to a nother amonge them selues and some of them vnto the chrysten to. Besydes all thys agape ys comen vnto all loues.165

And when Master More saith euery loue ys not charyte / no more is every appostle chrystes appostell ner every angell gods angell / ner euery hope chrysten hope nor euery faith or beleffe chrystes beleffe / and so by an hundred thousande wordes. So that yf I shulde all waye vse but a worde that were no moore generall then the worde I enterprete / I shulde interprete no thynge at all. But the mater yt selfe and the circumstaunces doo declare what loue / what hope and what fayth ys spoken of. And finally I saye not charite god or charite youre neyboure but loue God and loue youre neyboure ye and though we saye a man ought to loue hys neyboures wife and his doughter / a christen man doeth not vnderstonde / that he ys commaunded to defyle hys neyboures wife or hys doughter.

circumstaunces] 1573, circumestaunces [1531]