More [1531]
Saynt paul . . . slew them. CWM
6/1.429/23–28. The two heretics rejected by Paul were Hymenaeus and Alexander, cf. 1 Tim. 1.20.
1 Timothy 1.20
Tindale [1531]
hugo
charensys. The Dominican Hugh of St. Cher (c1200–1263) compiled a
Latin Concordance of the Bible (1240), wrote Postillae or exegetical notes on the whole Bible, and
attempted textual emendation of the Vulgate (NCE 7.193–94).
Although he defends Hugh of St. Cher, More plays with
consonance on his name: vel Carrensem
conuincat errasse, Ep. 83, To a Monk, n.p., <March-September
1519> (CWM 15.216/9–10).
O expounder . .
. out of his life. Tyndale remembers having read this odd
interpretation of the precept to shun a heretic after two admonitions.
But he mistakenly thought it was in Hugh of St. Cher's Postillae, which surrounded the Vulgate text in the Amerbach
Biblia latina cum postillis Hugonis de s.
Charo, 7 vols. (Basel, 1498–1502). The interpretation comes
instead from a story told by John Colet repeated by Erasmus in his
annotation on Deuita.) 1519, 1522 NT (Reeve
3.701). At a meeting of "the Council" (probably the commission of
1511–12 that convicted some Lollards), someone asked what biblical basis
there was for inflicting capital punishment on heretics. An elderly
theologian offered Titus 3.10, which says, "devita," using the imperative of devitare
("to avoid") to mean "to take someone de
vita" ("out of life"). Erasmus concludes with a warning about
the danger of mistaking the meanings of words, as when doctors give as a
remedy what they should recognize from the label as poison.
Erasmus had also included this incident in Folly's narrative of what she
heard on one of her frequent visits to theological disputations (Moriae encomium, ASD 4/3.186/53–54; CWE 27.146).
(JW)
Titus 3.10
excomunicat] excommunicated [1573]
whome . . .
flesh. Cf. 1 Cor. 5.1–5.
1 Corinthians 5.1–5
215/13–15 Paule dyd excommunicate, but our Byshops do burne.[1573]
asshamed . . .
repented. Cf. 2 Cor. 7.9.
2 Corinthians 7.9
ye deliuer . . .
asshes. King Utopus, who ruled by reason alone, granted
religious toleration to all except those who denied the immortality of
the soul and divine providence (CWM 4.221/27–32). In his Apology, More denies beating heretics except
for those whose reason was underdeveloped: a
child and a former inmate of Bedlam (CWM 9.117–18). He specifically
denies mistreating George Constantine, a distributor of
contraband books (CWM 9.118/33–37), and Segar Nicholson, a Cambridge
bookseller (CWM 9.119/18–26). During More's term as Lord
Chancellor , 25 October 1529 to 16 May 1532, six men were
executed for heresy by the secular government with his approval: Thomas Hitton (d. Maidstone, February 1530),
Thomas Benet or Dusgate (d. Exeter, January 1531), Thomas
Bilney (d. Norwich, August 1531), Richard Bayfield and John Tewkesbury (d. London, December 1531), and James Bainham (d. London, April
1532) (CWM 8/3.1207, 1247, .1645), cf. 114/17–18n. More mentions Hitton
(112/12n) and Bilney (146/12–13n) by name; perhaps More was unaware of
Benet in the West Country; More directed the search for Bayfield and
Tewkesbury and interrogated Bainham at Chelsea, cf. Ackroyd 292–99.
Thanks to Andrew Hope for the reference to Benet (Foxe 5.18–26). Bainham's public affirmation of
Reformation belief ritually undid his public abjuration. Cf. Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare
(U of Chicago P, 1980) 74–84. In his Apology, published about Easter 1533 (CWM 9.xc),
More protests "that men shold causelesse vppon such surmysed and
vnproued crueltye, chaunge the good lawis byfore made agaynste
heretyques" (CWM 9.167/8–10). He declares ironically that he is "but a
playne soule and can inuent no neweltyes, but [is] content to stande to
the olde order and lawes . . ." (CWM 9.168/17–18). A few months later,
More sent Erasmus a copy of the inscription on the tomb he hoped to
occupy in Chelsea, describing himself as "a source of trouble to
thieves, murderers, and heretics." From Ep. 2831, Chelsea <June?
1533> (Allen 10.261/93–95; More, Selected
Letters 181).
Tyndale deplores the violence of churchmen who urge their followers to win salvation by killing Turks, Jews, and heretics (Obedience C7v). Whereas More defends such a
policy, Tyndale repeatedly condemns those who advocate the burning of
heretics (212/26). Curates who make secret accusations of heresy against
their parishioners resemble the wolves who attack the flock in Acts 20
(Obedience K51:—v).
Clerics accused of heresy are questioned in secret ,
constrained in prison, and degraded from office before being burnt (Obedience K1v). Like Pilate, papists in heresy
trials condemn the innocent to death (Mammon A4v). Tyndale hopes that a true Christian would help
the weak, not threaten them with literal fire (
Matthew
a6). Through Christ's favor, even those who built their hopes on
their own imagination could repent, suffer the spiritual fire of
tribulation, and obtain mercy (Mammon H4).
Tyndale returns the word "heresy" to the original meaning of
hairesis, a "choosing" (OED), in this case,
to accept the gift of faith, cf. 127/24n. Tyndale would agree with John Milton, who argued throughout his long
career that freedom, not force, enables the faithful to serve God, e.g.:
Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline
(1641), A Treatise of Civil Power in
Ecclesiastical Causes (1659), and Of True
Religion (1673).(JB)
Acts 20