VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

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KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

As a reformer, Tyndale argues most forcefully sola scriptura. Every octavo page of Answer to More has three or four biblical references, totalling nearly a thousand. Direct quotations from Tyndale's NT are cited by reference to the old-spelling edition of Wallis and the modern -spelling edition of Daniell. Direct quotations from Tyndale's OT are cited by reference to the old-spelling edition of Mombert for the Pentateuch and the modern-spelling edition of Daniell from Genesis through 2 Chronicles plus Jonas. Other OT references are based on the King James Version. Since there are no verse numbers in Tyndale's biblical translations, we use those of the KJV.

In arguing against More, Tyndale appeals to non-scriptural authors , especially to the Fathers of the Church. Within the Commentary , references are made to editions first in the original language, then in a translation. Following the example of Tyndale in promoting the vernacular, we usually give titles in English when there is a published translation; we keep Moriae encomium because of the pun on More's name. References to Greek and Roman literature are based on the Loeb Classical Library. For the Fathers, we use Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina or "CCL" when available; otherwise "CSEL" and "PL." Where the Toronto edition of Erasmus is still in progress, we say "not yet in CWE." When the American edition of Luther does not give an English translation, we say "not in LW" Proper names appear in various forms because they are spelled as found in the source indicated; e.g., "Maarten van Dorp" from CWE and "Martin Dorp" from CWM (14/28n). Abbreviations in Answer and other 16c books have been expanded except for the ampersand (&). Exact quotations from the Bible, Dialogue Concerning Heresies (CWM 6), and Confutation of Tyndale (CWM 8) are cited by the reference ; allusions are introduced by "cf." For other works, the reader can tell from the context the difference between direct and indirect quotes.

George Joye clouded the issue of authorship by attributing Tyndale 's Answer to More to John Frith. To avoid a like confusion, we state that, in general, annotations were made by: Anne O'Donnell for the Bible, Unio Dissidentium, Erasmus, More, and the English setting ; by Jared Wicks (JW) for Luther, Zwingli, and the Continental setting. After she completed her doctoral studies, Jennifer Bess (JB) turned the cross-references to the other independent works of Tyndale into short essays. Although the Commentary has been severely pruned, it is still full because its roots reach down to the Scriptures and the Fathers and its branches spread out to the humanists and the reformers.

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE
[Hand] An answere vnto Sir Thomas Mores dialoge made by Willyam Tindale.

¶First he declareth what the church is / and geveth a reason of certayne wordes which Master More rebuketh in the transla= cion of the newe Testament. [Hand]

¶After that he answereth particularlye vn to everye chaptre which semeth to haue anye apperaunce of truth thorow all his .iij. bokes.

[Hand] Awake thou that sle= pest and stonde vpp from deeth / and Christ shall geue the light Ephesians. v.

The grace of oure lorde / the light of his spirite to se and to iudge / true repentaunce towardes goddes lawe / a fast faith in the mercifull promises that are in oure savioure Christ / fervent loue towarde thy neyghboure after the ensample of Christ and his sayntes / be with the o reader and with all that loue the trouth and longe for the redempcion of goddes electe. Amen.

Oure savioure Ihesus in the .xvj. chaptre of Iohan at his last souper when he toke his leaue of his disciples / warned them sayenge / the holye gost shall come and rebuke the worlde of iudgement. That is / he shall rebuke the worlde for lacke of true iudgement and discrecyon to iudge / and shall proue that the taste of their mouthes is corrupte / so that they iudge swete to be sowre and sowre to be swete / and their yies to be blinde / so that they thinke that to be the verye service of god which is but a blinde supersticyon / for zele of which yet they persecute the true service of god: and that they iudge to be the lawe of god which is but a false imaginacion of a corrupte iudgement / for blinde affeccyon of which yet they persecute the true lawe of god & them that kepe it. And this same is it that Paule sayeth in the seconde chaptre of the first epistle to the Corinthians / how that the naturall man that is not borne agayne and created anew with the spirite of god / be he never so greate a philosopher / never so well sene in the lawe / never so sore studyed in the scripture / as we haue ensamples in the pharises / yet he can not vnderstonde the thinges of the spirite of god: but sa

yeth he / the spirituall iudgeth all thinges and his spirite sercheth the depe secretes of god / so that what so ever god commaundeth him to do / he never leveth serchinge till he come at the botome / the pith / the quycke / the liffe / the spirite / the marye and verye cause why / and iudgeth all thinge. Take an ensample / in the greate commaundement / loue god with all thyne herte / the spirituall sercheth the cause and loketh on the benefites of god and so conceaveth loue in his herte. And when he is commaunded to obeye the powers and rulers of the worlde / he loketh on the benefytes which god sheweth the worlde thorow them and therfore doth it gladlye. And when he is commaunded to loue his neyghboure as him silfe / he sercheth that his neyghboure is created of god and bought with Christes bloude and so forth / and therfore he loveth him out of his harte / and if he be evell forbereth him and with all loue and pacience draweth him to good: as elder brothren wayte on the younger and serve them and sofre them / and when they will not come they speake fayre and flater and geue some gaye thinge and promise fayre and so drawe them and smite them not / but if they maye in no wyse be holpe / referre the punishment to the father and mother and so forth. And by these iudgeth he all other lawes of god and vnderstondeth the true vse and meaninge of them. And by these vnderstondeth he in the lawes of man / which are right and which tirannie.

If god shulde commaunde him to drinke no wyne / as he commaunded in the olde testament that the preastes shulde not: when they ministred in the temple and forbade diverse meates /

the spirituall (because he knoweth that man is lorde ouer all other creatures and they his servauntes made to be at his pleasure / and that it is not commaunded for the wyne or meate it silfe that man shuld be in bondage vnto his awne servaunt the inferioure creature) ceaseth not to serch the cause. And when he findeth it / that it is to tame the flesh and that he be alwaye sobre / he obeyeth gladlye / and yet not so supersticiouslye that the tyme of his disease he wolde not drinke wyne in the waye of a medicyne to recouer his helth / as David ate of the halowed breed and as Moses for necessite lefte the children of Israel vncircumcysed .xl. yeares / where of likelyhod some died vncircumcysed & were yet thought to be in no worse case then they that were circumcysed / as the children that died with in the eyght daye were counted in as good case as they that were circumcysed / which ensamples might teach vs manye thinges if there were spirite in vs. And likewyse of the holye daye / he knoweth that the daye is seruaunt to man / and therfore when he findeth that it is done because he shulde not be lette from hearinge the worde of god / he obeyeth gladlie / and yet not so supersticiouslye that he wolde not helpe his neyghboure on the holye daye and let the sermon alone for one daye / or that he wolde not worke on the holydaye / neade requyringe it / at such time as men be not wont to be at church / and so thorow out all lawes. And even likewyse in all ceremonyes and sacramentes he sercheth the significations and wil not serve the visible thinges. It is as good to him / that the preast saye masse in his goune as in his other apparell / if they teach him not some whate and that his soule be edefyed therbye. And as sone

will he gape while thou puttest sonde as holysalt in his mouth / if thou shewe him no reason therof. He had as lefe be smered with onhalowed butter as anoynted with charmed oyle if his soule be not taught to vnderstonde some whate therbye / and so forth.

But the worlde captyvateth his witte and aboute the lawe of god maketh him wonderful imaginacions vnto which he so fast cleaveth that ten Iohan Baptistes were not able to dispute them out of his hed. He beleveth that he loveth god because he is readie to kille a turcke for his sake that beleveth better in god then he / whom god also commaundeth vs to loue and to leave nothinge vnsought / to winne him vnto the knowlege of the truth / though with the losse of oure lyves . He supposeth that he loveth his neyghboure as moch as he is bounde / if he be not actuallye angrye with him / whom yet he wil not helpe frelye with an halfpenye but for avantage / or vayneglorye or for a wordlie purposse. If any man haue displeased him / he kepeth his malice in and will not chafe him silfe aboute it till he se an occasion to avenge it craftelye and thinketh that well ynough. And the rulars of the worlde he obeyeth thinketh he / when he flatereth them and blindeth them with giftes and corrupteth the officers with rewardes and begyleth the lawe with cautels and sotiltyes.

And because the loue of god & of his neyghboure which is the spirite and the liffe of all lawes and wherfore all lawes are made / is not writen in his harte / therfore in all inferioure lawes and in all worldlye ordinaunces is he betell blinde. If he be commaunded to absteyne from wyne / that will he observe vnto the deeth to / as the charter house monkes

had lever dye then eate flesh: and as for the sobrenesse and chastisinge of the membres will he not loke for / but will powre in ale and bere of the strongest with out measure and heate them with spices and so forth. And the holidaye will he kepe so strayte that if he mete a flee in his bed he dare not kill hir / and not once regarde wherfore the holidaye was ordained to seke for goddes worde / & so forth in al lawes . And in ceremonyes & sacramentes / there he captiuateth his witte & vnderstondinge to obey holye church with out askinge what they meane or desiringe to knowe but onlye careth for the kepinge and loketh ever with a payre of narow yies and with all his spectacles vppon them / lest ought belefte out. For if the preast shulde saye masse / baptize or heare confession with out a stole aboute his necke / he wolde thinke all were marred and doute whether he had power to consecrate / & thinke that the vertue of the masse were lost / & the childe not wel baptized or not baptized at all / & that his absolucion were not worth a myte. He had leuer that the bisshope shuld wagge .ij. fingers ouer him / then that a nother man shulde saye god saue him and so forth. Wherfore beloved reader in as moch as the holye gost rebuketh the worlde for lacke of iudgement / and in as moch also as their ignoraunce is with out excuse before whose faces ynough is sette to iudge by / if they wolde open their yies to se / and not captiuate their vnderstondinge to beleue lyes: and in as moch as the spirituall iudgeth all thinge / even the verye botome of goddes secretes / that is to saye / the causes of the thinges which god commaundeth / how moch more ought we to iudge oure holye fathers secrettes and not to be as an oxe

or an asse with out vnderstondinge.

Iudge therfore reader whether the pope with his be the church / whether their auctorite be aboue the scripture: whether all they teach with out scripture be equalle with the scripture: whether they haue erred / and not onlye whether they can. And agenst the mist of their sophistrye take the ensamples that are past in the olde testament and autentike storyes and the present practise which thou seist before thyne yies. Iudge whether it be possible that any good shuld come out of their domme ceremonies and sacramentes in to thy soule. Iudge their penaunce / pilgrimages / pardons / purgatorye / prayinge to postes / domme blessinges / domme absolucyons / their domme pateringe and howlinge / their domme straunge holye gestures with all their domme disgysinges / their satisfaccions and iustefyinges . And because thou findest them false in so manye thinges / trust them in nothinge but iudge them in al thinges. Marke at the last the practise of our fleshlye spiritualtye and their wayes by which they haue walked aboue .viij. hundred yeares / how they stablish their lyes / first with falsifiynge the scripture / then thorow corruptinge with their riches wher of they haue infinite treasure in store: and last of all with the swerde. Haue they not compelled the emperoures of the erth and the greate lordes and hie officers to be obedient vnto them / to dispute for them and to be their tormentoures / and the samsumims them selves do but imagen mischefe and inspire them. Marke whether it were ever truer then now / the scribes / pharises / Pilate / Herode / Caiphas & Anna / are gathered to gether agenst god & Christ. But yet I trust in vayne / and that he that brake the

counsell of achitophell shall scater theirs. Marke whether it be not true in the hyest degre / that for the sinne of the people hypocrites shall rayne over them . What shewes / what faces and contrarie pretenses are made / and all to stablish them in their thefte / falsehed and dampnable lyes / and to gather them to gether for to contryve sotiltye to oppresse the truth and to stoppe the light & to kepe all still in darkenesse. Wherfore it is tyme to awake and to se everye man with his awne yies and to iudge / if we will not be iudged of Christ when he cometh to iudge. And remembre that he which is warned hath none excuse / if he take no hede. Here with fare well in the lorde Iesus Christ whose spirite be thy gyde and doctrine thy light to iudge with all. Amen.

¶What the church is

Thys worde church hath dyuerse significacions. First it signifyeth a place or housse / whether christen people were wont in the olde time to resorte at tymes conuenient / for to heare the worde of doctryne / the lawe of God and the faith of oure sauioure Ihesus christ / and how and what to praye and whence to axe power and strength to lyue goodly. For the officers therto appoynted preached the pure worde of god onlye and prayed in a tonge that all men vnderstode. And the people herkened vnto his prayers / and said therto Amen and prayed with him in their hertes / and of him lerned to praye at home and every where / and to instructe euery man hys howsholde.

Where now we heare but voyces with out significacion and buzsinges / howlinges and crienges / as it were the halowenges of foxes or baytinges of beres / and wonder at disguisinges and toyes wheroff we know no meaninge.

By reason wherof we be fallen in to soch ignorauncye / that we know of the mercie and promyses which are in christe nothynge at all.

And of the lawe of god we thinke as do the turkes / and as did the olde hethen people / how that it is a thinge which euery man maye doo of his awne power / and in doynge therof becometh good and waxeth rightuouse and deserueth heven: ye and are yet more mad then that. For we ymagen the same of phantasyes and vayne ceremonies of oure awne makynge / neyther nedefull vn to the tamynge of oure awne flesh / neyther profytable vn to oure neyboure / neyther honoure vnto god.

And of prayer we thynke / that no man can praye but at church / and that it is nothinge else but to saye pater noster vnto a post. Wherewith yet and with other obseruaunces of oure awne imagininge / we beleue / we deserue to be sped of all that oure blinde hertes desyre.

In a nother significacion it is abvsed and mystaken for a multitude of shaven shorn and oyled whych we now calle the spirytualtye and clergye. As when we reade in the chronicles Kinge wyllyam was a great tyrant and a weked man vnto holy church and toke moch landes from them. Kinge Iohan was also a perylouse man and a weked vnto holy church / and wold haue had them punyshed for theft / murther and what soeuer mischeue they did / as though they had not bene people annoynted / but euen of the vile rascall and comen laye people.

And Thomas bekett was a blessed and an holy man for he died for the liberties (to do all mischeue vnpunished) and priuileges of the church. Is he a laye man or a man of the church? Soch is the liuynge of holy church. So saye men of holy church. Ye must beleue in holy church and do as they teach you. Will ye not obeye holy church? will ye not do the penaunce enioyned you by holy church? wyll ye not forswere obedience vnto holy church? Beware lest ye fall in to the indignacion of holy church / lest they curse you and so forth. In which all we vnderstonde but the pope / cardenalles / legates / patriarckes / archbisshopes / bisshopes / abbotes / priours / chauncelers / archedecons / commissaries / officiales / prestes / monkes / freres / blacke / whit / pied / grey / & so forth / by (I trowe) a thousand names of blasphemy & of ypocrisie & as many sundrie facions of disgysinges.

It hath yet or shuld haue a nother signifycacyon litle knowen amonge the comen people now a dayes. That is to witt / it signifieth a congregacion / a multitude or a company gathered to gether in one / of all degrees of people. As a man wold saye / the church of london / meaninge not the spiritualtie only (as they wilbe called for their diligent saruinge of god in the sprite & so sore eschuynge to medle wyth temporall maters) but the hole body of the cytye / of all kyndes condicions and degrees. And the church of bristow / al that pertayne vnto the towne generally. And what congregacion is ment / thou shall all waye vnderstonde by the mater that is entreted of and by the circumstaunces therof.

And in this thrid significacion is the church of god or christ taken in the scripture / euen for the whole multytude of all them that receaue the name of christe to beleue in him / and not for the clergye onlye. For paul saith Galatiens .1. I persecuted the church of God a boue measure. Which was not the preachers only / but all that beleued generally / as it is to se actes .xxij. where he saith / I persecuted this waye / euen vnto the deeth bindinge and puttinge in preson both men and wemen. And Galath. 1.1 was vnknowen concernynge my person vnto the congregacyons off the Iewes which were in chryste. And Roma. xvj. I commende vnto you phebe the deaconysse of the church of cenchris. And the churches of Asia salute you .1. Coryn. the laste.

And yf a man can not rule hys awne howsse / how shall he take the care of the church of God .1. Tymothe . iij? yf any faythfull man or woman haue wedoowes / let them fynde them / that the church be not charged. 1. Tymothe .v.

And Matt. xviij. if thi brother heare the not tell the church or congregacion and so forth. In which places and thorowout al the scripture / the church is taken for the hole multitude of them that beleue in christ in that place in that parish towne / citie / prouince / londe or thorowout all the worlde / and not for the spiritualitie only.

Notwithstondinge yet it is some times taken generally for all that embrace the name of Christe though their faythes be nought or though they haue no fayth at all. And some times it is taken specially for the electe only in whose hertes God hath written his lawe with his holy spirite and geuen them a felinge faith of the mercy that is in christe Iesu oure lorde.

¶Why Tindale vsed this worde congregacion rather then church in the translacion of the new testament

Wherfore in as moch as the clergye (as the nature of those hard & indurat adamandstones is / to draw all to them) had appropriat vn to them selues the terme that of right is comen vnto all the hole congregacion of them that beleue in christe and with their false and sotle wyles had begyled and mocked the people and brought them in to the ignoraunce of the worde / makynge them vnderstonde by this word church / nothinge but the shauenflocke / of them that shore the hole world: therfore in the translacion of the new testament where I found this word ecclesia / I enterpretated it / bi this worde congregacion. Even therfore did I it / and not of any mischevouse minde or purpose to stablishe heresie / as master More vntrulye reporteth of me in his dialoge where he rayleth on the translacion of the new testament.

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

be so subtilly cowched that no man can espye them. So blinde he counteth all other men in comparison of his great vnderstondinge . But charitablye I exhorte him in chryste to take hede for though Iudas were wilier then his felowes to get lucre / yet he proued not most wise at the last ende. Nether though Balam the false prophete had a clere sighte to bringe the curse of God vppon the chyldern of Israel for honoures sake / yet his couetousenesse did so blynd his prophesie / that he coude not se his awne ende. Let therfore M. More and hys company awake be tymes ere ever their sinne be rype lest the voyce of theyr wekednesse ascende vp and awake God out of his slepe / to loke vppon them and to bow his eares vnto their cursed blasphemies agenst the open truth / and to send hys heruestmen and mowares of vengeaunce to repe yt.

But how happeth it that M. More hathe not contended in lyke wise agaynst hys derelynge Erasmus all this longe while? Doeth not he chaunge this worde ecclesia in to congregacyon and that not selden in the new testament? peraduenture he owithe him fauoure because he made Moria in his housse. Which boke if were in englishe / then shulde euery man se / how that he then was ferre other wise minded than he nowe writeth. But verelie I thinke that as Iudas betraid not christ for any loue that he had vnto the hie prestes / scribes and phareses / but only to come by that wherfore he thirsted: euen so M. More (as there are tokens evident) wrote not these bokes for any affeccyon that he bare vnto the spiritualtie or vnto the opinions which he so barelie defendeth / but to obtayne only that which he was an hongred fore: I praie God that he eate not to hastely lest he be cho

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

elders in birth of the congregacion or church / and said vnto them / take hede vnto youre selves and vnto the hole flocke / ouer which the holy gost hath made you episcopos ad regendum ecclesiam dei / bisshopes or ouersears to gouerne the church of god. There is presbiteros called an elder in birth which same is immediatly called a bisshope or ouersear / to declare what persons are ment. Herof ye se that I haue no moare erred then there awne texte which they haue vsed sens the scripture was first in the latine tongue / and that their awne texte vnderstondeth by presbiteros nothinge saue an elder. And they were called elders / because of their age / grauite and sadnesse / as thou maist se by the texte: and bisshopes or ouersears by the reason of their offices . And all that were called elders (or prestes if they so will) were called bisshopes also / though they haue diuided the names now / Which thinge thou maist evidently se by the first chapter of titus. And the .xx. of the actes and other places moo.

And when he layeth Timothe vn to my charge / how he was younge / then he weneth that he hath wonne his gylden spores. But I wolde praye him to shew me where he readeth that Paul calleth him presbiteros / preast or elder. I durst not then call him Episcopus propirly. For those ouersears which we now call bisshopes aftir the greke worde / were all waye bydynge in one place / to gouerne the congregacion there. Now was Timothe an apostle. And Paul also writeth that he will come shortly agayne. Wel / will he saye / it cometh yet all to one. For if it becometh the lower ministre to be of a sad and discrete age / moch more it becometh the hyer. It is trueth.

But .ij. thinges are with out lawe / god and necessite. Yf god to shew his power shall shede out his grace moare vppon youth then vppon age at a tyme / who shall lett him? wemen be no mete vesseles to rule or to preach (for both are forboden them) yet hath god endoted them with his spirite at sondrie tymes and shewed his power & goodnesse vppon them and wrought wonderfull thinges by them / because he wold not haue them dispised. We reade that wemen haue iudged all Israel and haue bene greate prophetisses and haue done mightie deades. Yee and if stories be true / wemen haue preached sens the openynge of the new testament.

Doo not oure wemen now christen and ministre the sacrament of baptim in tyme of neade? Might they not by as good reason preach also / if necessite required? If a woman were dreuen in to some Ilande / where Christ was neuer preached / might she there not preach him / if she had the gyfte therto? Mighte she not also baptise? And why might she not / by the same reason ministre the sacramente of the body & bloude of Christe / and teach them how to chose officers & ministres? O pore wemen / how despice ye them! The viler the better welcome vnto you. An hore had ye lever than an honeste wife. If only shauen & annoynted maye doo these thinges / then Christe did them not ner any of his apostles / ner any man in longe time after. For they vsed no soch ceremonyes.

Notwithstondinge though god be vnder no law & necessite lawlesse : yet be we vnder a lawe & ought to preferre the men before the wemen and age before youth / as nye as we can. For it is agenst the lawe of nature that younge men shul

de rule the elder / and as vncomely as that wemen shulde rule the men / but when nede requireth . And therfore if paul had had other shifte & a man of age as mete for the rowme / he wold not haue put Timothe in the office. He shuld no doute haue bene kepte backe vntyll a fuller age and haue lerned in the meane tyme in silence. And what soeuer thou be / that readest this / I exhorte the in oure lorde / that thou reade both the epistles of Paul to Timothe / that thou maist se how diligently (as a mother careth for hir child / if it be in perell) Paul writeth vnto Timothe / to enstructe him / to teach him / to exhorte / to corage him / to stere him vpp / to bewise / sobir / diligent / circumspecte / sad / humble and meke sayenge: these I write / that thou maist know how to behaue thy selfe in the howsse of god which is the church or congregacion. Avoyde lustes of youth / beware of vngodly fables and old wiues/ tales / & auoyde the companye of men of corrupte myndes which wast their braynes aboute wranglynge questions. Let no man dispise thyne youth. As who shulde saye / youth is a dispised thinge of it selfe / where vnto men geue none obedience naturally or reuerence. Se therfore that thy vertue excede / to recompence thy lacke of age / and that thou so behaue thy selfe / that no faute be founde with the. And agayne / rebuke not an elder sharpely / but exhorte him as thy father / and yongemen as thy brethern / and the elder wemen as thy mothers / and the younge wemen as thy sisters and soch like in euerye chapter. Admitte none accusacion agenst an elder vnder lesse then .ij. wittenesses. as thy sisters And Paul chargeth him in the sight of god and of the lorde Iesus christe and of his electe angeles / to doo nothynge rashly or of af

feccion. And shortely where vnto youth is most prone and ready to fall / therof warneth he him with al diligence / even al most or all to gether halfe a dosen tymes of someone thynge. And fynally as a man wold teach a childe that had neuer before gone to scole / so tenderly & so carefully doeth paul teach him. It is a nother thynge to teach the people and to teach the preacher. Here Paul teacheth the preacher / younge Timothe.

And when he affirmeth that I saye / how that the oylinge and shauinge is no parte of the presthode. That improueth he not ner can do. And therefore I saye it yet. And when he hath enserched thuttermost that he can this is al that he can laye agenst me / that of an hundred there be not .x. that haue the propirties which paul requireth to be in them. Wherefore if oylinge and shauinge be no parte of their presthod / then euermore of a thousand .ix. hundred at the lest shuld be no prestes at all. And quod youre frend wold confirme it with an oth and swere depely / that it wold folowe and that it must nedes so be. Which argument yet / if there were no nother shifte I wold solue aftir an oxforde facion / with concedo consequenciam et consequens. And I saye morouer that their annoyntynge is but a ceremonie borowed of the Iewes / though they haue somewhat altered the maner / & their shauinge borowed of the hethen prestes / & that they be no more of their presthode / then the oyle / salte / spittell / taper & chresom cloth of the substaunce of baptim. Which thinges / nodoute / because they be of their coniurynge / they wold haue preached of necessite vnto the saluacion of the childe / excepte necessite had dreuen them vn to the contrarye.

And seinge that the oyle is not of necessyte / let M. More tell me what moare vertue is in the oyle of confyrmacion / in as moch as the bysshope sacrithe the one as well as the other: ye and let hym tell the reason why there shulde be more vertue in the oyle where wyth the bysshope annoynteth hys prestes. Let him tell you from whence the oyle cometh / how it is made / and why he selleth it to the curates wher with they anoynte the syke / or whether thys be of lesse vertue then the other.

And finally whi vsed not the appostles this greke worde hiereus or the interpreter thys laten worde sacerdos / but all waye thys worde presbiteros and senior / by which was at that tyme nothynge sygnyfyed then an elder? And it was no doute taken of the custome of the hebrues / where the offycers were ever elderly men as nature requireth. As yt appereth in the olde testament and also in the newe. The scrybes / pharises and the elders of the people sayth the texte / which were the officers and rulars / so called by the reason of theyr age.

¶Why he vseth loue rather then cheryte

He rebuketh also that I translate thys greke word agape in to loue / and not rather in to charite so holy and so knowen a terme. Verely charite is no knowen Englesh in that sens whych agape requireth. For when we saye / geue youre almes in the worshepe of God and swete saint charite / and when the father teacheth his sonne to saye blissinge father for saint charite / what meane they? In good faith they wot not. Morouer when we saye / God helpe you / I haue done my charite for this daye / doo we not take it for almes? And the man is euer chidinge and out of charyte /

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.

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.

¶Why fauoure and not grace

And wyth lyke reasons rageth he because I turne charis in to fauoure and not in to grace / sayenge that euery fauoure is not grace and that in some fauoure there is but litle grace. I can saye also in some grace there is lytle goodnesse. And when we saye / he stondeth well in my ladis grace / we vnderstonde no greate godly fauoure. And in vniuersities manye vngracious graces are goten.

¶Why knowlege and not confessyon / repentaunce and not penaunce

And that I vse this word knowlege and not confession / and this repentaunce and not penaunce. In whych all he can not proue / that I geue not the ryghte englishe vnto the greke worde. But yt ys a ferre other thynge that payneth them and byteth them by the brestes. There be secret panges that pinch the very hertes of them / where of they dare not complayne.

The sekenesse that maketh them so impacyent ys / that they haue lost theyr iuglinge termes. For the doctours and preachers were wont to make many deuisyons / distinccyons and sortes of grace / gratis data / gratum faciens / preueniens and subsequens. And wyth confessyon they iugled / and made the people / as ofte as they spake of yt: vnderstonde shryft in the eare. Wherof the scripture maketh no mencyon: no it is cleane agenst the scrypture as they vse yt and preach yt / and vn to god an abhominacyon and a foule stinkynge sacrifice vnto the filthy ydole priapus. The losse of those iuglinge termes ys the mater where of all these bottes brede / that gnawe them by the belies and make them so vnquiet.

And in lyke maner / by this word penaunce / they make the people vnderstonde holy dedes of their enioynynge / with which they must make satisfaccion vnto godwarde for their synnes. When al the scripture preacheth that christ hath made full satisfaccyon for oure synnes to godwarde / and we must now be thankefull to god agayne and kyll the lustes of oure flesh wyth holy workes of gods enioynynge and to take pacientlye all that god layeth on my backe. And if I haue hurte my neyboure / I am bounde to shriue my selfe vnto hym and to make hym a mendes / yf I haue where with / or if not then to axe him forgeuenesse / and he is bounde to forgeue me. And as for their penaunce the scripture knoweth not of. The greke hath Metanoia and metanoite / repentaunce and repente / or forthynkynge and forthynke. As we saye in english it forthynketh me or I forthynke / and I repent or yt repenteth me and I am sory that I dyd yt. So now the scripture sayeth repent or let yt forthynke you and come and beleue the gospell or glad tydynges that ys brought you in chryst / and so shall all be forgeuen you / and henceforth lyue a new lyfe: And yt wyll folowe yf I repent in the herte / that I shall doo no moore so wyllyngely and of purpose. And yf I beleued the gospell / what God hath done for me in christe / I shuld suerly loue hym agayne and of loue prepare my selfe vnto hys commaundementes.

These thinges to be euen so M. More knoweth wel ynough. For he vnderstondeth the greke / and he knew them longe yer I. But so blinde is couetousenesse and dronken desire of honoure. Giftes blinde the eies of the seinge and peruerte

the wordes of the righteous Deut. xvij. When couetousenesse findeth vauntage in servinge falshed / it riseth vpp in to an obstinat malise agenst the trouth and seketh all meanes to resiste it and to quench it. As Balam the false prophete / though he wiste that god loued Israhel & had blessed them and promised them greate thinges / and that he wold fulfyll his promises / yet for couetousenesse and desyre of honoure / he fell in to soch malice agenst the trueth of god / that he sought how to resiste it and to curse the people. Which when god wold not let him doo / he turned him selfe a nother waye and gaue pestilent counsell / to make the people synne agenst god wherbye the wrath of god felle vppon them / and many thousandes perished. Notwithstondinge gods trueth abode fast and was fullfilled in the reste. And Balam as he was the cause that many perished / so escaped he not him selfe. No moare did any that maliciously resisted the open trueth agenst his awne conscience / sence the world beganne / that euer I red. For it is sinne agenst the holy gost / which Christ saith shall neyther be forgeuen here nor in the worlde to come / which texte maye this wise be vnderstonde that as that sinne shalbe punished with euerlastinge damnacion in the life to come: even so shall it not escape vengeaunce here. As thou seist in Iudas / in Pharao / in Balam and in all other tirantes which agenst their consciences resisted the open trueth of god.

So now the cause why oure prelates thus rage / and that moueth them to call master More to helpe / is not that they finde iust causes in the translacion / but because they haue loste their iugglynge and fayned termes / wherwith Peter

prophisied they shuld make marchaundice of the people.

¶Whether the church were before the gospell or the gospell before the church

Another doute there is / whether the church or congregacion be before the gospell or the gospell before the church. Which question is as hard to solue / as whether the father be elder then the sonne or the sonne elder then his father. For the hole scripture and all beleuinge hertes testifye that we are begotten thorow the worde. Wherfore if the worde begette the congregacion / and he that begetteth is before him that is begotten then is the gospell before the church. Paul also Romano. ix. sayth / how shall they call on whom they beleue not? And how shall they beleue with out a preacher? That is / Christ must first be preached yer men can beleue in him. And then it foloweth / that the worde of the preacher must be before the faith of the belevar. And therfore in as moch as the worde is before the faith / and faith maketh the congregacion / therfore is the word or gospell before the congregacion. And agayne as the ayre is darke of it selfe and receaueth all hir light of the sonne: even so ar all mens hertes of them selfe darke with lies & receaue al their trueth of gods worde / in that they consent therto. And morouer as the darke ayre geveth the sonne no lighte / but contrary wise the light of the sonne in respecte of the ayre is of it selfe and lighteneth the ayre and purgeth it from darkenesse: even so the lienge herte of man can geue the word of god no trueth / but contrary wise the trueth of gods worde is of hir selfe and

lyghteneth the hertes of the beleuers and maketh them true / and clenseth them from lies / as thou readest Ihon .xv. ye be cleane by reason of the word. Which is to be vnderstond / in that the word had purged their hertes from lies / from false opinions and from thynkynge evell good / and therfore from consentinge to synne. And Ihon .xvij. sanctifie them o father thorow thy trueth. And thy word is trueth. And thus thou seist that gods trueth dependeth not of man. It is not true because man so saith or addmitteth it for true: But man is true because he beleueth it / testifieth and geueth wittenesse in his hert that it is true. And Christ also saith him selfe Ihon .v. I receaue no wittenesse of man. For if the multitude of manswittenesse might make ought true / then were the doctrine of Mahomete truer then Christes.

¶Whether the appostles left ought vnwritten / that is of necessite to be beleued

But did not the appostles teach ought by mouth that they wrott not? I answere / because that many taught one thinge / and every man the same in diuers places and vnto diuers people / and confirmed euery sermon with a sondry miracle: therfore Christ and his appostles preached an hundred thousand sermons and did as many miracles which had bene superfluous to haue bene all written. But the pith and substaunce in generall of euery thinge necessarie vn to oure soules health / both of what we ought to beleue & what we ought to doo / was written / and of the miracles done to confirme it / as ma

ny as were nedefull. So that what soeuer we ought to beleue or doo / that same is written expresly or drawen out of that which is written.

For if I were bounde to doo or beleue vnder payne of the losse of my soule any thynge that were not written / ner depended of that which is written / what holpe me the scripture that is written? And therto in as moch as Christ and all his apostles warned vs that false prophetes shuld come with false miracles / even to disceaue the electe / if it were possible / where with shuld the true preacher confounde the false / excepte he brought true miracles to confounde the false or else autentycke scripture of full auctorite all ready amonge the people.

Some man wolde axe / how did god continue his congregacion from Adam to Noe / & from Noe to Abraham / and so to Moses / with out wrytynge / but with teachynge from mouth to mouth. I answere first that there was no scripture all the while / they shall proue / when oure lady hath a new sonne. God taught Adam greater thinges then to write. And that there was writynge in the world longe yer Abraham ye and yer Noe doo stories testifie.

Notwithstondinge / though there had bene no writynge / the preachers were euer prophetes glorious in doynge of miracles / where with they confirmed their preachynge. And beyonde that god wrote his testament vn to them all waye / both what to doo and to beleue / even in sacramentes. For the sacrifices which god gaue Adams sonnes were no dumme popetrie or supersticious

mahometrie / but signes of the testament of god. And in them they red the worde of god / as we do in bokes / and as we shuld doo in oure sacramentes / if the weked pope had not taken the significacions a waye from vs / as he hath robbed vs of the true sens of all the scripture. The testament which god mad with Noe / that he wolde no moare droune the world with water / he wrote in the sacrament of the raynebowe. And the appoyntement made betwene him and Abraham / he wrote in the sacrament of circumcision. And therfore saide Steuen Actes .vij. he gaue them the testament of circumcision. Not that the outwarde circumcision was the hole testament / but the sacrament or signe therof. For circumcision preached gods word vnto them / as I haue in other places declared.

But in the tyme of Moyses when the congregacion was encreased / that they must haue many preachars and also rulars temporall / then all was receaued in scripture / in so moch that Christ and his appostles might not haue bene beleued with out scripture for all their miracles. Wherfore in as moch as Christes congregacion is spred a brode in to all the world moch broder then Moseses / and in as moch as we haue not the old testament only but also the new / wherin all thinges are opened so richly and all fulfilled that before was promised / and in as moch as there is no promise behinde of ought to be shewed moare saue the resurreccion: yee and seinge that Christ and all the appostles with all the angels of heuen / if they were here / coude preach no moare then is preached / of necessite vnto oure soules: How then shuld we receave a new article of the faith / with out scripture / as profitable

vnto my soule / when I had beleved it / as smoke for sore eyes. What holpe it me to beleue that oure laidies bodie is in heuen? what am I the better for the beleffe of purgatorye? to feare men thou wilt saye. Christ & his appostles thought hell ynough. And yet (besydes that the fleshly imaginacion maye not stonde with gods worde) what greate feare can there be of that tereble fire which thou maist quench all most for .iij. halfe pence?

And that the apostles shuld teach ought by mouth which they wold not write / I praye you for what purpose? because they shuld not come in to the handes of the hethen for mockynge / saith M. More. I pray you what thinge moare to be mocked of the hethen coude they teach / then the resurreccion / and that Christ was god and man and died betwene .ij. theves / and that for his dethes sake / all that repent and beleue therin / shuld haue their sinnes forgeuen them. Ye and if the apostles vnderstode therby as we doo what madder thinge vnto hethen people coude they haue taught then that bred is Christis body and wine his bloude. And yet all these thynges they wrote. And agayne purgatory / confession in the eare / penaunce and satisfaccion for synne to godward with holy deades / and prayenge to saintes with soch like / as dome sacramentes and ceremonies / ar marvelouse agreable vn to the supersticion of the hethen people / so that they neaded not to absteyne from writynge of them / for feare lest the hethen shuld haue mocked them.

Morouer what is it that the appostles taught by mouth and durst not write? The sacramentes? As for baptim and the sacrament of the body &

bloud of Christ they wrote / and it is expressed what is signified by them. And also all the ceremonies and sacramentes that were from Adam to Christ had significacions / and all that are made mencion of in the new testament. Wherfore in as moch as the sacramentes of the olde testament haue significacions / and in as moch as the sacramentes of the new testament (of which mencion is made that they were deliuered vn to vs by the verye appostles at Christes commaundement) haue also significacions / and in as moch as the office of an appostle is to edifie in Christe / and in as moch as a dumme ceremonie edifieth not / but hurteth all to gether (for iff it preach not vn to me / then I can not but put confidence therin / that the dede it selfe iustifieth me / which is the denyenge of Christes bloude) & in as moch as no mencion is made of them / as well as of other / ner is knowen what is ment by them: therfore it appereth that the appostles taught them not / but that they be the false marchaundice of wilye ypocrites. And therto presthode was in the tyme of the appostles an office which if they wold do truely / it wold moare profitt then all the sacramentes in the worlde. And agayne gods holinesses striue not one agenst a nother ner defile one a nother. Their sacramentes defile one a nother. For wedlocke defileth presthode moare then horedom / thefte / murther or any sinne agenst nature.

They wyll happly demaunde where it is written that wemen shuld baptise. Verely in this commaundement loue thy neyboure as thyselfe it is written / that they maye and ought to ministre not only baptim / but all other in time of neade / iff they be so necessarie as they preach them.

And finally though we were sure that god him selfe had geuen vs a sacrament / what soeuer it were / yet if the significacion were once lost we must of necessite / ether seke vpp the significacion or put some other significacion of gods word therto / what we ought to doo or beleue therby / or else put it downe. For it is impossible to obserue a sacrament with out significacion / but vnto oure damnacion. If we kepe the faith purely and the law of loue vndefiled / whych are the significacions of all ceremonies there is no ieoperdy to alter or chaunge the facion of the ceremonye or to put it doune / if nede requyre.

¶Whether the church can erre

There is a nother question whether the church maye erre. Which if ye vnderstonde of the pope and his generacion / it is verely as hard a question as to axe / whether he which hath both his eyes out be blynd or no / or whether it be possible for him that hath one legge shorter then a nother / to halt. But I said that Christes electe church is the hole multitude of all repentynge synners that beleue in Christ and put all their trust and confidence in the mercye of god / felynge in their hertes / that god for Christes sake loueth them and wilbe or rather is mercifull vn to them and forgeueth them their synnes of which they repent / and that he forgeueth them also all the mocions vn to synne of which they feare lest they shuld therby be drawen in to synne agayne. And this faith they haue with out all respecte of their awne deseruynges / yee and for no nother cause then that the mercifull trueth of god the father which can not lye / hath so promised and so sworne.

And this faith and knowlege is euerlastynge life / and by this we be born a new and made the sonnes of god and obtayne forgeuenesse of synnes and are translated from deeth to life and from the wrath of god vn to his loue and fauoure. And this faith is the mother of all trueth. And bryngeth with hir the spirite of all trueth. Which spirite purgeth vs / as from all sinne / even so from all lyes and erroure noysome and hurtefull. And this faith is the fundacion layd of the appostles and prophetes wheron Paul saith Ephe. ij. that we are bylt / and therby of the household of god. And this faith is the rocke wheron Christ bilt his congregacion. Christ axed the appostles Matth. xvj. whom they toke him for. And Peter answered for them all sayenge I saye that thou art Christ the sonne of the liuinge god that art come in to this worlde. That is / we beleue that thou art he that was promised vn to Abraham / shuld come and blesse vs and deliuer vs. How be it Peter yet wist not by what meanes. But now it is opened thorow out all the world / that thorow the offerynge of his body and bloude. That offeringe is a satisfaccion for the sinne of all that repent and a purchasynge of what so euer they can axe / to kepe them in fauoure. And that they sinne no moare. And Christ answered vppon this rocke I will byld my congregacion : that is / vppon this faith. And agenst the rocke of this faith can no sinne / no hell / no deuell / no lies nor erroure preuayle.

For what soeuer any man hath committed / if he repent and come to this rocke / he is saffe. And that this faith is the only waye bi which the church of Christ goeth vn to god and vn to the enheretaunce of all his riches / testifie all the ap

postles and prophetes and all the scripture / with signes and miracles / and al the bloud of marters. And who soever goeth vnto God and vnto forgeuenesse of synnes or saluacion / by any other waye then thys / the same is an heretike out of the rightwaye and not of Christes church.

For this knowlege maketh a man of the church. And the church is christes body Collossen. j. and every person of the church is a member of christ. Ephe. 5. Now it is no member of christ that hath not christes spirite in it. Roma. viij. as it is no parte of me or member of my body wherin my soule is not present and quikeneth it. And then iff a man be none of christes / he is not of his church.

¶How a true member of christes church synneth not / and how he is yet a synner

Furthermoare / he that hath this faith can not sinne / and therfore can not be disceaved with damnable erroures. For by this faith we be (as I saide) borne of God. Now he that is born of god can not synne / for his seed dwelleth in him / and he can not therfore synne / because he is born of God .j. Ihon .iij. which seed is the holygost that kepith a mans hert from consentinge vnto sinne. And therfore it is a false conclusion that master More holdeth / how that a man maye haue a righte faith ioyned with all kyndes of abhominacion and synne.

And yet every membir of Christes congregacion is a synner and sinneth dayly / some moare and some lesse. For it is written .j. Ihon .j. if we saye we haue no synne / we disceaue oure selues and the trueth is not in vs. And agayne iff we saye / we haue not sinned / we make him a liar

and his worde is not in vs. And Paul .Roma. vij. saith / that good which I wold / that do I not / but that evell which I wold not / that do I. So it is not I that doo it (saith he) but synne that dwelleth in me. Thus are we synners and no synners. No synners / if thou loke vn to the profession of oure hertes towarde the law of God / on oure repentaunce and sorow that we haue / both because we haue synned and also because we be yet full of synne still / and vn to the promises of mercie in oure sauioure christe / and vn to oure fayth. Synners are we / iff thou loke vn to the frailtie of oure flesh / which is as the weakenesse of one that is newly recouered out of a greate disease / by the reason wherof oure dedes are imperfett. And by the reason where of al so / when occasions be greate / we fall in to horrible dedes / and the frute of the synne which remayneth in oure membirs breaketh out. Notwithstondynge yet the spirite leaveth vs not / but rebuketh vs and bringeth vs home agayne vn to oure profession / so that we never cast off the yocke of God from oure neckes nether yeld vpp oure selues vn to synne / for to serue it / but fighte afresh and begynne a new batayle.

¶How a christen man can not erre / and how he maye yet erre

And as they synne not / so they erre not. And on the other syde as they synne / so they erre: but never vn to deeth and damnacion. For they never synne of purpose ner holde any erroure maliciously / synnynge agenst the holygoste / but of weakenesse and infirmitie. As good obedient childern / though they loue their fathers commaundementes / yet breake them oft / by the reason of their wekenesse . And as they can not yelde them selves bond vn to synne / to serue it: even so they can not erre in any thynge that shuld be agenst the promises which are in christe. And in other thynges their erroures be not vn to damnacion / though they be neuer so greate / because they hold them not maliciously. As now / if some when they reade in the new testament of Christes brethern / wold thynke that they were oure ladies childern aftir the birth of christe / because they know not the vse of speakynge of the scripture or of the hebrues / how that nye kinsmen becalled brethern / or happly they might be Iosephes childern / by some first wife / neyther can haue any to teach him for tiranny that is so greate / yet coude it not hurte him / though he died therin / because it hurteth not the redempcion that is in christes bloude. For though she had none but christ / I am therfore neuer the moare saued / neyther yet the lesse / though she had had. And in soch like an hundred that plucke not a mans faith from Christ / they might erre / and yet beneuer the lesse saued no though the contrary were written in the gospel. For as in other synnes /

as sone as they be rebuked / they repent: even so here / assone as they were better taught / they shuld immediatly knowlege their erroure and not resiste.

But they which maliciously maynetene opinions agenst the scripture / or that that can not be proued by the scripture / or soch as make no mater vn to the scripture and saluacion that is in christ whether they be true or noo / and for the blinde zele of them make sectes / breakinge the vnite of christes church / for whose sake they ought to suffre all thynge / and rise agenst their neyboures / whom they ought to loue as them selues / to slee them / soch men I saye are fallen from christe and make an Idole of their opinions. For except they put trust in soch opinions and thought them necessarie vn to saluacion / or with a cankred conscience went about to disceaue / for some filthie purpose / they wold never breake the vnite of faith or yet slee their brethern. Now is this a playne conclusion / that both they that trust in their awne workes / and they also that put confidence in their awne opinions / be fallen from Christe and erre from the waye of faith that is in christes bloude / and therfore are none of christes church / because they be not bilt vppon the rocke of faith.

¶Faith is ever assayled and fought with all.

Morouer this oure faith which we haue in Christ / is euer fought agenst / euer assaylled and beten at with disperacion: not when we sinne only / but also in all temptacions of adversite in to which God bringeth vs / to nurtoure vs and to shew vs oure awne hertes / the ypocrisie and false thoughtes that there lye hidd / oure al most no faith at all and as litle loue / even then happly when we thought oure selues most perfecte of all. For when temptacions come we can not stond / when we haue synned faith is feble / when wronge is done vs we can not forgeue / in sickenes / in losse of goodes and in all tribulacions we be impacient: when oure neyboure neadeth oure helpe / that we must departe with him of oures then loue is colde.

And thus we lerne and fele that there is no goodnesse ner yet power to doo good / but of God only. And in all soch temptacions oure faith perisheth not vtterly neyther our loue and consent vnto the law of God / But they be weke / sycke and wounded and not cleane deed. As a good child whom the father and mother haue taught nurtoure and wisdom / loueth his father and all his commaundementes / and perceaueth of the goodnesse shewed him / that his father loueth him and that all his fathers preceptes are vnto his welth and profitt / and that his father commaundeth him nothinge for any neade that his father hath therof / but seketh his profitt only / and therfore hath a good faith vn to all his fathers promises and loueth al his commaundementes and doeth them with good wyll and with good will goeth to scole. And by the waye haply he seeth companie playe and with the sight is taken and raveshed of his me

mory and forgetteth him selfe and stondeth and beholdeth and falleth to playe also / forgettynge father and mother / all their kyndes / all their lawes and his awne profitt therto. How be it the knowlege of his fathers kyndnesse / the faith of his promises and the loue that he hath agayne vn to his father and the obedient mynde are not vtterly quenched / but lye hyd / as all thynges do when a man slepeth or lieth in a traunce. And assone as he hath played out all his lustes or be warned in the meane season / he cometh agayne vn to his olde profession. Neuer the later many temptacions goo ouer his herte / and the law as a right hangman tormenteth his conscience and goeth nye to persuade him that his father will cast him a waye and hange him if he ketche him so that he is like a greate while to runne awaye rather then to returne vn to his father agayne. Feare and dreade of rebuke and of losse of his fathers loue and of punishment wrastell with the trust which he hath in his fathers goodnesse and as it were geue his faith a fall. But it riseth agayne assone as the rage of the first brount is past and his mynd moare quiett. And the goodnesse of his father and his old kindnesse cometh vn to remembraunce / eyther of his awne corage or by the comforte of some other. And he beleueth that his father will not cast him a waye or destroye him / and hopeth that he will no moare doo so.

And vppon that he geteth him home / dismayed. But not all to gether faythlesse. The old kyndneses wyll not lett him dispayre. How be it all the world can not sett his hert at rest / vntill the payne be past / and vntyll he haue herd

the voyce of his father that all is forgeuen.

¶The maner and ordre of oure election

Even so goeth it with gods electe. God choseth them first and they not god / as thou readest Ihon .xv. And then he sendeth forth and calleth them / and sheweth them his goodwyll which he beareth vn to them / and maketh them se / both their awne damnacion in the lawe and also the mercie that is layd vpp for them in christes bloude / and therto what he will haue them doo. And then when we se his mercie / we loue him agayne and chose him and submitte our selues vn to his lawes to walke in them. For when we erre not in witt / reason and iudgement of thinges / we can not erre in wil and choyse of thynges. The choyse of a mans will doeth naturally and of hir awne accorde folowe the iudgement of a mans reason / whether he iudge righte or wronge. So that in teachinge only resteth the pith of a mans liuynge. How be it there be swine that receaue no lerninge but to defile it. And there be dogges that rent all good lerninge with their teth. And there be pope holy whych folowynge a ryghtewesnes of their awne faynynge resiste the rightwesnesse of god in Christe. And there be that can not attend to herken vn to the trueth for rage of lustes / which when lustes abate / come and obeye well ynough.

And therfore a Christen man must be pacient and sofre longe to wynne his brother to Christ / that he whych attendeth not to daye / maye receave grace and heare to morowe:

we se some at their very later ende / when colde feare of deeth hath quenched the heet of their appetites / lerne and consent vnto the trueth / where vnto before they coude geue none eare / for the wylde rages of lustes that blinded their wittes.

And though gods electe can not so faull that they rise not agayne / because that the mercy of god euer wayteth vppon them / to deliuer them from euell / as the care of a kind father wayteth vppon his sonne / to warne him and to kepe him from occasions and to call hym bake agayne yf he begonne to ferre: yet they forgett them selues oftymes and synke downe in to traunces and fall aslepe in lustes for a season. But assone as they be awaked they repent and come agayne wyth out resistaunce. God now and then withdraweth his hande and leueth them vnto their awne strength / to make them feale that there is no power to do good but of god only lest they shulde be proude of that which is none of theirs. God layd so sore awaight of persecucion vppon Dauids backe that passed his strength to beare. So that he cried oft out in his psalmes / sayenge that he had liued well and folowed the right waye off God in vaine. For the moare he kepte him selfe from sinne / the worse yt went with hym / as he thought / and the better with his enemie Saull the worse he was. Yet god left hym not there / but comforted him and shewed him thynges which before he wist not of / how that the saintes must be pacyent and a byde gods heruest / vntyll the wekedenesse of vngodly synners befull ripe / that god maye repe it in dew season.

God also suffered occasyons stronger then

Dauid / to faull vppon him and to carie him cleane out of the waye. Was he not readye for a churlysshe answere to haue slayn naball and all the males of his housse / so moch as the chyld in the cradell? how be it God with helde hym and kepte him backe from that evell / thorow the wisdome of Abegall. How longe slomberd he / or rather how hard in slepe was he in the adulterye of Bathseba. And in the murther of her husbond Vriah / But at both tymes assone as he was rebuked and his faulte told him / he repented immedyatly & turned agayne mekely. Now in all that longe tyme / from the adulterye of Bathsabe vntyll the prophete Nathan rebuked him he had not lost his faith nor yet his loue vnto the lawes of god / no moare then a man loseth hys wittes when he ys a slepe. He had forgott hym selfe only and had not malycyously cast of the yocke of gods commaundementes from off his necke. There is no man so good / but that there cometh a tyme vppon hym / when he fealeth in hym selfe no moare faith or loue vnto god / then a sycke man oftymes feleth the tast of his meate which he eateth.

And in lyke maner the apostles of chryst at hys passyon were astonyed and amased and in soch a storme of temptacyons / for the soden chaunge from soo greate glorye in to so vyle and shamfull deeth / that they had forgott all the myracles and all the wordes whych he had told them before / how that he shulde be betrayed and delyuered on the same maner vnto deeth. Morouer they neuer vnderstode that sayenge of hys deeth because their hertes were all waye hevie and ouer lade wyth erthely

thoughtes. For though they saw him reyse vpp other / yet who shulde reyse hym vpp / when he were deed / they coude not comprehende.

Reade what thou reade canst / and thou shalt fynd no temptacyon lyke vnto that from the creacyon of the world / or so greate as yt by the hundred parte. So that the wonderfull soden chaunge and the tereble syght of hys passyon and of hys most cruell and most vile deeth / and the losse of whom they so greatly loued / that theyr hertes wolde fayne haue died wyth hym / and the feare of their awne deeth / and the impossibilite that a man shulde ryse agayne of his awne power / so occupyed theyr myndes and so astonyed them and amased them / that they coude receaue no comforte / ether of the scrypture or of the miracles which they had sene christ doo / nor of the monicions and warnynge wherewith he had warned them before / nether of the women that brought them tydynges that he was rysen. The swerd of temptacyons wyth feare / sorow / mornynge & wepynge / had depely perced theyr hertes / and the cruell syght. had so combred their mindes / that they coude not beleue / vntyll chryst hym selfe came / deeth put off and ouercome / ye and when they first saw him / they were astonied for wonderinge and ioye to gether that thoughtes a rose in theyr hertes / alas ys thys he or doeth some spirite mocke vs? he was faine to lett them feale him and to eate with them / to strength theyr faythes.

How be yt there was none of them that was fallen in hys hert from chryste. For assone as the wemen brought worde / Peter and Ihon ran vnto the sepulchre and saw and wondred and wold fayne haue beleuen that he was

risen and longed for hym? But coude not beleue the wound of temptacyon beinge greater then that it coude be healed wyth the preachynge of a woman with out any other miracle.

Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus which while he yet liued durst not be a knowen of hym assone as he was deed / bedged his bodie and buried hym boldly. And the wemen assone as yt was lawful to worke prepared their annoyntmentes with all diligence. And the hertes of the dysciples that went to Emaus burned in their brestes to heare speake of hym.

And thomas had not forsaken Christ / but coude not beleue vntyll he sawe hym / and yet desyred and longed to se hym and reioysed when he saw hym and for ioye cryed out / my lorde my god. There was none of them that euer railed on hym and came so ferre forth / to saye / he was a disceauer and wrought wyth the dyuels craft all thys whyle / and se where to he ys come in the ende? we defye hym and all hys werkes false wretch that he was and hys false doctrine also. And therto must they haue come at the last / when feare / sorow and wonderynge had bene past / yf they had not bene preuented and holpe in the meane tyme.

Yee and peter assone as he had denied chryst came too hym selfe immedyatly and went out and wepte bytterly for sorow. And thus ye se / that peters fayth fayled not / though yt were oppressed for a tyme: so that we neade to seke no gloses for the texte that Chryst sayd to peter how that hys fayth shulde not fayle. Yes sayth Master More yt fayled in hym selfe / but was reserued in our ladye.

But lat vs se the texte and their glose to gether. Christ saith Luke .xxij. Simon / Simon / sathan seketh you to sifte you as men sifte whete: but I haue prayed for the / that thy faith shall not faile / werfore when thou art come vn to thy selfe agayne strength thy brethern. Now put this wise glose therto and se how they agre to gether. Simon / satan seketh to sift you as whete / but I haue prayd for the / that my mothers faith shall not faile / wherfore when thou art come to thy selfe agayne / acordynge as my prayar hath obtayned for the / that my mothers faith shall not faile / strength thy brethern. How saye ye / is not this a propir texte and well framed to gether? Do ye not thinke that there is as moch witte in the heed of mad colens / as in the braynes of soch expositoures?

¶Whether the pope and his secte be Christes church or no

That the pope and his spirites be not the church maye this wise be proued. He that hath no faith to be saued thorow Christe / is not of Christes churche. The pope beleueth not to be saued thorow Christe. For he teacheth to trust in holy workes for the remission of sinnes and saluacion: as in the workes of penaunce enioyned / in vowes / in pilgremage / in chastite / in other mens prayars and holy liuynge / in freres and freres cotes / in saintes merites / and the significacions put out / he teacheth to beleue in the dedes of the ceremonies and of the sacramentes ordeyned at the begynnynge to preach vn to vs and to do vs seruice / and not that we shuld beleue in them and serue them. And a thousand such supersticiousnesses setteth he before vs in steade

of Christ / to beleue in / nether Christ ner gods worde / nether honourable to god ner serviceable vnto our neyboure ner profitable vn to our selues for the tamynge of the flesh / which all are the denyenge of Christes bloud.

A nother reason is this. Whosoeuer beleueth in Christ / consenteth that gods lawe is good. The pope consenteth not that gods lawe is good. For he hath forboden lawfull wedlocke vn to all his / ouer whom he raigneth as a temporall tirant with lawes of his awne makynge and not as a brother exhortynge them to kepe Christes. And he hath graunted vnlaufull horedom vn to as many as bringe money. As thorow all doucheland / euery prest payenge a gulden vn to the archedecon shall frely and quietly haue his hore and put hir awaye at his pleasure & take a nother at his awne luste. As they doo in wales / in yerland / Scotland / Fraunce & Spayne. And in Englond therto they be not few whych haue licences to kepe hores / some of the pope and some of their ordinaries. And when the parishes goo to law with them to put a waye their hores / the bisshopes officers mocke them / poll them and make them spend their thryftes / and the prestes kepe their hores still. How be it in very dede sens they were rebuked by the preachynge of wicleffe / oure englesh spiritualtie haue layd their snares vn to mens wiues / to couer their abhominacions / though they byde not all waye secret.

Ther to all Christen men if they haue done amisse repent when their fautes be told them. The spiritualtie repent not / but of very lust and consent to synne persecute both the scripture wherwith they be rebuked and also them that

warne them to amend & make heretikes of them and burne them. And besydes that / the pope hath mad a playne decre in which he commaundeth sayenge / though the pope synne neuer so greuously and draw with him to hell by his ensample thousandes innumerable / yet let no man be so hardye to rebuke him. For he is heed ouer all & none ouer him distinct .xl. Si papa.

And Paul saith Roma. xiij. let euery soule obey the hier powers that are ordeyned to punysh synne. The pope will not / ner let any of his.

And Paul chargeth .1. Corin. v. if he that is a brother be an horekeper / a dronkerd / couetouse / an extorsioner or a raylar and so forth / that we haue no felowsheppe with him: No not so moch as to eate in his companie. But the pope with violence compelleth vs to haue soch in honoure / to receaue the sacramentes of them / to heare their masses and to beleue all they saye / and yet they wyll not lett vs se whether they saye trouth or no. And he compelleth .x. parishes to paye their tithes and offeringes vn to one soch to goo and runne at riott at their cost & to doo noughte therfore. And a thousand soch like doeth the pope contrarie vn to Christes doctrine.

¶The argumentes where with the pope wold proue him selfe the church / are solued.

Notwithstondinge because as they be all shauen they be all shamelesse to affirme that they by the right church & can not erre / though all the world seeth that not one of them is in the right waye and that they haue with vtter defiaunce forsaken both the doctrine and livinge of

Christe and of all his appostles / lat vs se the sophistrie where with they wold persuade it. One of thier hie reasons is this. The church / saye they / was before the heretikes / and the heretikes came euer out of the church and left it. And they were before all them which they now call heretikes and lutherans / and the lutheranes came out of them. &c. Wherfore they be the right church and the other heretikes in dede as they be called. Well /I will like wise dispute. First the right church was vnder Moses and Aaron & so forth in whose rowmes satt the scribes phareses and hye prestes in the time of Christ. And they were before Christe. And Christ and his apostles came out of them and departed from them and left them. Wherefore the scribes phareses and hie prestes were the right church / and Christ and his appostles and disciples heretikes and a damnable secte. And so the Iewes ar yet in the right waye and we in erroure. And of trueth if their blynd reason be good / then is this argument so to. For they be like and are both one thynge.

But in as moch as the kingdom of god stondeth not in wordes / as paul sayth .1. Co. iiij. but in power / therfore loke vn to the mary and pith of the thinges selfe / and lett vayne wordes passe. Vnder Abraham / Isaac / and Iacob was the church greate in faith and small in numbre / And as it encreased in numbre / so it decreased in faith vntyll the tyme of Moses. And out of those vnbeleuers god stered vpp Moses & brought them vnto the right faith agayne. And Moses left a glorious church and in faith and cleauinge vn to the word of god / and deliuered them vn to Iosuah Eleazer / Phineas and Caleb.

But assone as the generacion of them that saw the miracles of god were deed / they fell to Idolatrie immediatly as thou seist in the bible. And god when he had delyuered them in to captiuite for to chastise their wekednesse / stered them vpp a prophete euer moare / to call them vn to his testament agayne. And so he did wellnye an hundred tymes / I suppose / yer Christ came / for they neuer bode any space in the right faith. And agenst the comynge of Christ the scribes / Phareses / Caiphas / Anna / and the elders / were crepte vpp in to the sete of Moses / Aaron and the holy prophetes and patriarkes and succeded them linially and had the scripture of god but euen in captiuite / to make marchaundice of it and to abvse it vn to their awne glorie & profitt. And though they kepte the people from outward Idolatrie of worshepynge of images with the hethen: yet they brought them in to a worse inward Idolatrie of a false fayth & trust in their awne dedes and in vayne tradicions of their awne faynynge. And they had put out the significacions of all the ceremonies and sacramentes of the olde testament and taught the people to beleue in the workes selfe / and had corrupte the scripture with false gloses. As thou maist se in the gospell / how Christ warneth his disciples to be warre of the leuen of the phareses which was their false doctrine and gloses. And in a nother place he rebuked the scribes and the phareses sayenge: wo be to them / because they had taken awaye the keye of knowlege and had shutt vpp the kingdome of heven and neyther wold entre in them selues ner sofre them that wolde. How had they shutt it vpp? verely with their tradicions and false gloses whych

they had sowed to the scripture in playne places and in the takynge a waye the meaninge of the ceremonies and sacrifices and teachinge to beleue in the worke.

And oure ypocrites are in like maner crept vpp in to the sete of Christ and of his apostles / by succession: not to doo the dedes of Christ and his appostles / but for lucre only (as the nature of the wilye foxe is / to gett him an hole made with a nother beestes laboure) and to make marchaundice of the people with fayned wordes / as Peter warned vs before / & to doo acordinge as Christ and all his apostles prophesyed / how they shuld begyle and leade out of the right waye / all them that had no loue to folow and liue aftir the trouth.

And in like maner haue they corrupte the scripture / and blinded the right waye with their awne constitucions / with tradicions of domme ceremonies / with takynge awaye the significacions of the sacramentes / to make vs beleue in the worke of the sacramentes first / where by they might the better make vs beleue in workes of their settynge vpp aftirwarde / and with false gloses which they haue patched to the scripture in playne places to destroye the litterall sens for to sett vp a false fayned sens of allegories / when there is none soch. And therby they haue stopte vpp the gates of heven / the true knowlege of Christ / and haue made their awne belies the dore. For thorow their belies must thou crepe and there leave all thy fall behynde the.

And soch blynd reasons as oures make agenst vs / made they agenst Christe sayenge: Abraham is our father / we be Moses disciples / how knoweth he the vnderstondinge of the scripture / seinge he neuer lerned of any of vs? only the cursed

vnlerned people that know not the scripture beleue in him. Loke whether any of the rulars or phareses doo beleue in him.

Wherfore the scripture truely vnderstond aftir the playne places and generall articles of the faith which thou findest in the scripture / and the ensamples that are gonne before / wyll all waye testifie who is the right church. Though the phareses succeded the patriarkes and prophetes and had the scripture of them / yet they were heretikes and fallen from the faith of them & from their lyuynge. And Christ and his disciples & Ihon the Baptist departed from the phareses which were heretikes / vn to the right sens of the scripture & vn to the faith & liuinge of the patriarkes & prophetes and rebuked the phareses. As thou seist how Christ calleth them ypocrites / dissimulars / blynd gydes & paynted sepulchres. And Ihon called them the generacion of vipers & serpentes. Of Ihon the angell said vn to his father Luke .j. he shall turne many of the children of Israel vn to their lord god. Which yet before Ihon beleued after a fleshly vnderstondynge in god & thought them selues in the right waye. And he shall turne the hertes of the fathers vn to the childerne. That is / he shall with his preachynge & true interpretynge of the scripture make soch a spirituall hert in the children as was in their fathers / Abraham / Isaac / & Iacob. And he shall turne the disobedient vn to the obedience of the rightteouse & prepare the lorde a perfecte people. That is / them that had sett vpp a rightewysnesse of their awne & were therfore disobedient vnto the rightewysnesse of faith / shall he conuerte from their blyndnesse vn to the wisdome of them that beleued in god to be made righ

tewysse / and with those fathers shall he geue the childern egles eyes to spie out Christ & his rightewysnesse and to forsake their awne and so to become perfecte.

And aftir the same maner / though oure popish ypocrites succede Christ and his appostles and haue their scripture / yet they befallen from the faith and liuinge of them and are heretikes and had nede of a Ihon Baptist to conuerte them. And we departe from them vn to the true scripture and vnto the faith and liuynge theirof / and rebuke them in like maner. And as they which departe from the faith of the true church are heretikes / even so they that departe from the church of heretikes and false fayned faith of ypocrites / are the true church / which thou shalt all waye know by their faith examined by the scripture and by their profession and consent to liue acordynge vn to the lawes of god.

¶A nother argument

Another like blynd reason they haue where in is all their trust. As we come out of them & they not of vs / so we receaue the scripture of them & they not of vs. How know we that it is the scripture of god and true but because they teach vs so? How can we that beleue / excepte we first beleue that they be the church and can not erre in any thynge that perteyneth vn to oure soules health. For if a man tell me of a marvelouse thynge / wherof I can haue no nother knowlege then by his mouth only / how shuld I geue credence excepte I beleued that the man were so honest that he coude not lye or wold not lye. Wherefore we must beleue that they be the right church that can not erre or else we can beleue nought at all.

This wise reason is their shoteancre and al their hold / their refuge to flight and chefe stone in their fundacion / wheron they haue bilt all their lies and all their mischeue that they haue wrought this .viij. hundred yeres. And this reason do the Iewes laye vn to oure charge this daye / and this reason doeth chefely blynd them and hold them still in obstinacie. Oure spirites first falsifie the scripture to stablish their lyes. And when the scripture cometh to light and is restored vn to the true vnderstondinge and their iuglinge spied / and they like to sofre shippwracke / then they cast out this ancre / they be the church and can not erre / their auctorite is greater then the scripture / and the scripture is not true / but because they saye so and admitte it. And therfore what soeuer they affirme / is of as greate auctorite as the scripture.

Notwithstondinge / as I saide / the kingdome of heuen stondeth not in wordes of mans wisdome / but in power and spirite. And therfore loke vn to the ensamples of the scripture and so shalt thou vnderstonde. And of an hundred ensamples betwene Moses and Christe / where the Israelites fell from god and were euer restored by one prophete or other / let vs take one: even Ihon the Baptiste. Ihon went before Christ to prepare his waye / that is / to brynge men vn to the knowlege of their sinnes and vn to repentaunce / thorow true expoundynge of the lawe / which is the only waye vn to Christe. For excepte a man knowlege his sinnes and repent of them / he can haue no parte in Christe / of Ihon Christ saith Matt. xvij. that he was Elias that shuld come and restore all thynge. That is / he shuld restore the scripture vn to the right sens agayne / which

the phareses had corrupte with the leuen of their false gloses and vayne fleshly tradicions. He made croked thynges streyght / as it is written / and rough smoth. Which is also to be vnderstonde of the scripture / which the phareses had made croked wrestynge them vn to a false sens with weked gloses / and so rough that no man coude walke in the waye of them. For when god said / honoure father and mother / meaninge that we shuld obey them and also helpe them at their nede / the phareses put this glose therto / out of their awne leuen sayenge: God is thy father and mother. Wherfore what soeuer nede thy father & mother haue / iff thou offer to god / thou art hold excused. For it is better to offer to god / then to thy father and mother and so moch moare meritorious as god is greater then they: yee and god hath done moare for the then they and is moare thy father and mother then they. As oures now affirme / that it is moare meritorious to offer to god and his holy deed saintes / then vn to the pore liuynge saintes. And when god had promised the people a sauioure to come and blesse them and saue them from their synnes / the phareses taught to beleue in holy workes to be saued by as if they offered and gaue to be prayd for. As oures / as ofte as we haue a promise to be forgeuen at the repentaunce of the herte thorow Christes bloud shedynge / put to / thou must first shriue thy selfe to vs of euery sillable / & we must laye oure handes on thine heed and whistell out thy synnes and enioyne the penaunce to make satisfaction . And yet art thou but loused from the synne only that thou shalt not come in to hell / but thou must yet sofre for every synne .vij. yeres in purgatory which is as whott as hell / ex

cepte thou bye it out of the pope. And if thou aske by what meanes the pope geueth soch pardon. They answere out of the merites of christ. And thus at the last they graunt agenst them selues / that Christ hath not only deserued for vs the remission of oure synnes / but also the forgeuenesse of that grosse and fleshly imagined purgatory / saue thou must by it out of the pope. And with soch tradicions they toke awaye the keye of knowlege and stopped vpp the kingdome of heuen that no man coude entre in.

And as I said / they taught the people to beleue in the dedes of the ceremonyes whych god ordeyned not to iustifie but to be signes of promises by which they that beleued were iustified. But the phareses put out the significacions and quenched the faith and taught to be iustified by the worke / as oures haue serued vs.

For oure sacramentes were onse but signes partely of what we shulde beleue / to stere vs vp vn to faith / and partely what we shuld doo / to stere vs vpp to doo the law of god / and were not workes to iustifie.

Now make this reason vn to Ihon and vn to many prophetes that went before him & did as he did / ye and vn to Christ him selfe and his appostles / and thou shalt finde them all heretikes / and the scribes and phareses good men / iff that reason be good. Therfore this wise thou maist answere. No thankes vn to the heedes of that church that the scripture was kepte / but vn to the mercie of god. For as they had destroyed the right sens of it for their lucre sake / even so wold they haue destroyed it also had they coude / rather then the people shuld haue come vn to the right vnderstondinge of it / as they slew

the true interpretours and preachers of it. And even so no thankes vn to oure ypocrites that the scripture is kepte / but vn to the botomlesse mercie of god.

For as they haue destroyed the right sens of it with their leuen / and as they destroye dayly the trewe preachers of it / and as they kepe it from the laye people / that they shuld not se how they iugle with it / even so wolde they destroye it also / coude they brynge it aboute / rather then we shuld come by the true vnderstondynge of it were it not that god prouided other wise for vs. For they haue put the stories that shuld in many thynges helpe vs / cleane out of the waye / as nye as they coude. They haue corrupte the legend and hues all most of all sayntes. They haue fayned false bokes and put them forth / some in the name of S. Hierome / some in the name of saynt Augustine / in the name of S. Ciprian / S. Deonise & other holy men. Which are proued none of theirs / partly by the stile & latine / & partly by autenticke stories. And as the Iewes haue sett vpp a boke of tradicions called talmud / to destroye the sens of the scripture / Vn to whych they geue faith & vn to the scripture none at all be it never so playne / but saye it can not be vnderstonde / saue by that talmud: even so haue oures set vpp their dunce / their Thomas & a thousand like draffe / to stablish their lies / thorow falsifienge the scripture / & saye that it can not be vnderstonde with out them / be it never so playne. And if a man allege an holy doctoure agenst them they glose him out as they doo the scripture / or will not heare / or saye the church hath other wise determined.

Now therfore when they aske vs how we kno

we that it is the scripture of god / aske them how Ihon Baptiste knew and other prophetes which god stered vpp in all soch times as the scripture was in like captiuite vnder ypocrites? Did Ihon beleue that the scribes / phareses and hie prestes were the true church of god / and had his spirite and coude not erre? who taught the egles to spie out their praye? euen so the children of god spie out their father and Christes electe spie out their lorde / and trace out the pathes of his fete and folowe / ye though he goo vppon the playne and liquide water which will receaue no steppe: and yet there they find out his foote / his electe know him / but the world knoweth him not Ihon .1. If the world know him not / and thou call the world pride / wrath / envie / couetousnesse / slowth / glotonnye and lecherie / then our spiritualtie know him not. Christes shepe heare the voyce of Christ Ihon .x. where the world of ypocrites as they know him not / even so the wolues heare not his voyce / but compell the scripture to heare them and to speake what they luste. And therfore excepte the lorde of Sabaoth had left vs seed / we had bene all as Sodom and Gommor said Esaias in his first chapter. And even so saide Paule in his tyme.And even so saye we in oure tyme / that the lord of the hostes hath saued him seed and hath gathered him a flocke to whom he hath geuen eares to heare / that the ypocritish wolues can not heare / and eyes to se / that the blynde leadars of the blynd can not se / and an hert to vnderstonde / that the generacion of poysoned vipers can nether vnderstonde ner knowe.

If they allege sent Augustine which saith / I had not beleued the gospell / excepte the auctorite

of the church had moued me. I answere / as they abuse that sayenge of the holy man / even so they allege al the scripture and all that they bringe for them / even in a false sens. S. Augustine before he was conuerted was an hethen man and a philosopher full of worldly wisdome vn to whom the preachinge of christe is but folishnesse / saith paul .j. Corin. j. And he disputed with blynd reasons of wordly wisdome agenst the christen. Neuerthelesse the ernest liuinge of the christen acordinge vn to their doctrine and the constant soferinge of persecucion and aduersite for their doctrines sake moued him and stered him to beleue that it was no vayne doctrine / but that it must nedes be of god / in that it had soch power with it. For it happeneth that they which will not heare the worde at the begynninge / are aftir warde moued by the holy conuersation of them that beleue.As Peter warneth christen wiues that had hethen husbandes that wold not heare the trueth preached / to liue so godly that they might winne their hethen husbandes with holy conuersacion. And Paul saith how knowest thou christen wife / whether thou shalt winne thine hethen husbande / with holy conuersacion ment he. For many are wonne with godly liuynge / which at the first ether will not heare or can not beleue. And that is the auctorite that S. Augustine ment. But if we shall not beleue / tyll the liuynge of the spiritualtie conuerte vs / we belike to byde longe ynough in vnbeleffe.

And when they aske whether we receaved the scripture of them? I answere / that they which come after receaue the scripture of them that go before. And when they aske whether we bele

ue not that it is gods worde by the reason that they tell vs so. I answere / that there are .ij. maner faythes / an historicall faith and a felynge faith. The historical faith hangeth of the trueth and honestie of the teller or of the comen fame and consent of many. As if one told me that the turke had wonne a citie and I beleved it moved with the honestie of the man. Now if there come a nother that semeth moare honest or that hath better persuasions that it is not so / I thynke immediatly that he lied and lose my faith agayne. And a felynge faith is / as iff a man were there present whan it was wonne and their were wounded and had there lost all that he had and were taken presoner there also. That man shuld so beleue that all the world coude not turne him from his faith. Even like wise iff my mother had blowen on hir finger and told me that the fire wold burne me / I shuld haue beleued hir with an historicall faith / as we beleue the stories of the worlde / because I thought she wold not haue mocked me. And so I shuld haue done / if she had told me that the fire had bene cold and wold not haue burned / but assone as I had put my fingre in the fire / I shuld haue beleued / not by the reason of hir / but with a felynge faith / so that she coud not haue persuaded me aftir warde the contrarie . So now with an historicall faith I maye beleue that the scripture is Gods by the teachynge of them / and so I shuld haue done though they had told me that roben hode had bene the scripture of God. Which faith is but an opinion and therfore abideth euer frutelesse and fauleth a waye / iff a moare gloriouse reason be made vnto me or iff the preacher liue contrarye.

But of a felynge faith it is written. Ihon .vj. They shalbe all taught of God. That is / God shall write it in their hertes with his holy spirite. And Paul also testifieth Romano. viij. the spirite beareth recorde vn to oure spirite / that we be the sonnes off God. And this faith is none opinion / but a sure felynge / and therfore euer frutefull. Neyther hangeth it of the honestie of the preacher but of the power of God and of the spirite / and therfore iff all the preachers of the world wold goo a boute to persuade the contrary / it wold not preuayle / no moare then though they wold make me beleue the fire were cold / aftir that I had put my fingre therin.

Of this ye haue an ensample Ihon .iiij. of the Samaritanish wife / which left hir pitcher and went in to the citie and said / come and se a man that hath told me all that euer I did / is not he Christe and many of the Samaritanes beleued because of the sayenge of the woman / how that he had told hir all that euer she did / and went out vn to him and desyred him to come in / which faith was but an opinion and no faith that coude haue lasted or haue brought out frute / but when they had herd Christ / the spirite wrought and made them fele. Whervppon they came vn to the woman and saide: we beleue not now because of thy sayenge / but because we haue harde our selues and know that he is christ the sauioure of the worlde. For christes preachinge was with power and spirite that maketh a man feale and knowe and worke to / and not as the scribes and phareses preached and as oures make a man ready to cast his gorge

to heare them raue and rage as mad men. And therfore saith the scripture cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme / that is to saye / his strength. And euen so cursed is he that hath no nother beleffe but because men so saye. Cursed were he that had no nother why to beleue then that I so saye. And even so cursed is he that beleueth only be cause the pope so saith / and so forth thorow oute all the men in the worlde.

¶The faith that dependeth of a nother mans mouth is weke.

If I haue no nother fealynge in my faith then because a man so saith / then is my faith faithlesse and frutelesse. For if I haue no nother felynge that lecherie is synne then that the pope so preacheth / whom I se before my face sett vppe in Rome a stues of .xx. or .xxx. thousand hores / takynge of every pece tribute yerly / and his bisshopes with all other his disciples folowynge the ensample mightily / and the pope therwith not content / but to sett vpp therto a stues of younge boyes agenst nature / the committers of which synne be burnt at a stake amonge the turkes / as Moses also commaundeth in his lawe / and the pope also to forbid all the spiritualltie / a multitude of .xl. or .l. hundred thousand to mary / & to geue them licence to kepe euery man his whore who so wyll: if I saye / I haue no nother felynge in my faith that lechery is synne then this mans preachinge / I thynke my faith shuld be to weake to beare moch frute. How coude I beleue a man that wold saye he loued me / if

all his dedes were contrary? I coude not beleue God him selfe that he loued me / if in all my trybulacions I had of him no nother comforte then those bare wordes.

And in like maner if I had no nother felynge in my fayth that couetousnesse were synne / then that the spiritualtie so sayth / my faith coude be but weake and faintie / when I se how the pope wyth wiles hath thrust downe the emproure / and how the bisshopes and prelates be cropt vpp. an hye in all regyons aboue their kinges and haue made them a seuerall kingdome and haue goten in to their handes all most the one halfe of euery realme whiche they diuide amonge them selues / geuinge no laye man ony parte wyth them / and hepynge vpp bisshoperike vppon bisshoperike / promocyon vppon promocion / benefice vppon benefice / with vnions and tot quottes robbinge in euery parish the soules of their fode and the pore of their due sustynaunce: ye and some preachinge that it were lesse sinne to haue .ij. wyues then .ij. benefices / but whyle they be yet younge & hote / and therfore thynke couetousnesse greater synne then lecherye: which same / when they be waxed elder and their complexcyon some what altered / thinke that couetousnesse is as small a synne as lechery / and therfore take all that cometh. And if any man cast theyr preachynge in their tethes / they answere that they be better lerned and haue sene further. If I saye / I haue no nother felinge that couetousnesse is synne / then the preachynge of these holy fathers / my faith were bilt but vppon a weke rocke or rather on the soft sonde. And therfore oure defenders do ryght well to fome out their awne shame and to vtter the secret thoughtes

of their hertes. For as they write / so they beleue. Other felynge of the lawes of god and feyth of chryst haue they none / then that theyr God the pope so sayth. And therfore as the pope preacheth with hys mouth only / even soo beleue they wyth theyr mouth only what soeuer he preacheth / with out moare a doo / be it neuer so abhominable / and in theyr hertes consent vnto all their fathers wekednesse and folow hym in theyr dedes as fast as they can runne.

The turkes beinge in numbre. v. tymes mo then we knowlege one God and beleue many thynges of God moued only by the auctoryte of theyr elders and presume that God wyll not let so greate a multitude erre so longe tyme. And yet they haue erred and bene faythlesse thys .viij. hundred yeres. And the Iewes beleue thys daye / as moch as the carnall sorte of them euer beleued / moued also by the auctoryte of theyr elders only / and thynke that yt ys impossyble for them to erre / beynge Abrahams seed and the chyldern of them to whom the promysses of all that we beleue were made. And yet they haue erred and bene faythlesse thys .xv. hundred yeres. And we of lyke blyndnesse beleue only by the auctoryte of our elders and of lyke pryde thynke that we can not erre / beynge soch a multytude. And yet we se how God in the olde testament did lett the greate multitude erre / reseruynge al waye a litle flocke to call the other backe agayne and to testifie vnto them the right waye.

¶How this word church hath a double interpretacyon

This ys therfore a sure conclusyon / as paul sayth .Ro. ix. that not all they that are of Israel are Israelites / neyther because they

be Abrahams seed / are they all Abrahams chyldren: but they only that folow the faith of Abraham. Euen so now none of them that beleue wyth theyr mouthes moued wyth the auctoryte of theyr elders only: that ys / none of them that beleue wyth Master Mores fayth / the popes fayth and the deuels fayth whych maye stonde (as Master More confesseth) with al maner abhominacyons / haue the ryght fayth of christ or are of hys church. But they only that repent and fele that the law is good / And haue the law of god written in their hertes and the fayth of oure sauioure Iesus / even wyth the sprite of God. There is a carnall Israel and a spirituall. There ys Isaac and Ismael / Iacob and Esau. And Ismael persecuted Isaac and Esau Iacob and the fleshly the spiritual. Wherof paul complayned in hys tyme persecuted of hys carnall brethern / as we doo in oure tyme and as the electe euer dyd and shall doo tyll the worldes ende. What a multitude came out of Egypte vnder Moses of whych the scripture testifyeth that they beleued / moued by the miracles of Moses / as Simon magus beleued by the reason of philippes miracles actes .viij. Neuer the lesse the scripture testyfieth that. vj. hundred thousand of those beleuers peryshed thorow vnbeleffe and lefte theyr carcasses in the wildernesse and neuer entred in to the lond that was promysed them. And euen so shall the childern of Master Mores faythlesse fayth made by the persuasyon of man / leppe shorte of the rest whych oure sauioure Iesus is rysen vnto. And therfore lett them enbrace thys present worlde as they doo / whose chyldern they are though they hate so to be called.

And hereby ye se that it is a playne and an evident conclusion as bright as the sonne shyninge that the trueth of gods worde dependeth not of the trueth of the congregacion. And therfore when thou art asked / whi thou beleuest that thou shalt be saved thorow christ and of soch like principles of oure faith / answere thou wottest and felest that it is true. And when he asketh how thou knowest that it is true / answere because it is written in thine herte. And if he aske who wrott it / answere the sprite of God. And if he aske how thou camest first by it / tel him / whether by readynge in bokes or hearynge it preached / as by an outward instrument / but that inwardly thou wast taught by the spirite of God. And if he aske whether thou beleuest it not because it is written in bokes or because the prestes so preach / answere no / not now / but only because it is written in thine hert and because the spirite of god so preacheth and so testifieth vn to thi soule. And saye / though at the begynnynge thou wast moued by readynge or preachynge / as the Samaritanes were by the wordes of the woman / yet now thou beleuest it not therfore any lenger / but only because thou hast herde it of the spirite of God and red it written in thyne herte.

And concerninge outwarde teachynge we allege for vs scripture elder then any church that was this .xiiij. hundred yeres / and old autenticke stories which they had brought a slepe where with we confounde their lies. Remembir ye not how in oure awne tyme / of all that taught grammer in England not one vnderstode the latyne tongue? how came we then by the latyne tongue agayne? not by them / though we lerned certay

ne rules and principles of them by which we were moued and had an occasion to seke further / but out of the old auctours. Even so we seke vpp old antiquities out of which we lerne and not of oure church / though we receaved many principles of oure church / at the beginninge / but moare falshed amonge then trueth.

It hath pleased God of his exceadynge loue where with he loued vs in christ (as Paul saith) before the world was made and when wee were deed in synne and his enemies in that we did consent to synne and to liue evell / to write with his spirite .ij. conclusions in oure hertes / by which we vnderstond all thynge: that is to wete / the faith of Christ and the loue of oure neyboures. For whosoeuer feleth the iust damnacion of synne and the forgeuenesse and mercie that is in christes bloud for all that repent and forsake it and come and beleue in that mercie / the same only knoweth how God is to behonoured and worsheped and can iudge betwene true seruinge of God in the spirite and false imageseruinge of God with workes. And the same knoweth that sacramentes / signes ceremonies and bodyly thynges can be no seruice to God in his person but memorials vnto men and a remembraunce of the testament wherewith god is serued in the spirite. And he that feleth not that / is blynd in his soule and of oure holy fathers generacion & maketh god an image and a creature and worshepith him with bodyly seruice. And on the other syde he that loueth his neyboure as him selfe vnderstondeth all lawes and can iudge betwene good and evell right and wronge / godly and vngodly in all conuersacion / dedes / lawes / bargens /

couenauntes / ordinaunces and decrees of men / & knoweth the office of euery degre and the due honoure of euery person. And he that hath not that written in his herte is popish and of the spiritualtie which vnderstondeth nothynge saue his awne honoure his awne profit and what is good for him selfe only: and when he is as he wold be / thinketh that al the world is as it shuld be.

¶Of worshepinge and what is to be vnderstonde by the worde

Concerninge worshepinge or honouringe (which .ij. termes are both one) M. More bringeth forth a difference / a distinccion or diuision of greke wordes / fayned of oure scolemen which of late nether vnderstode greke / latine or hebrue / called dulia / yperdulia and latria. But the difference declareth he not ner the propirties of the wordes / but with confused termes leadeth you blindfold in his mase.

As for yperdulia I wold fayne wete where he readith of it in all the scripture and whether the worshuppe done to his lorde the cardinalles hatte were dulia / yperdulia or idololatria. And as for dulia and latria we fynde them both referred vn to god in a thousande places.

Therfore that thou be not begyled with falshed of sophisticall wordes / vnderstond / that the wordes which the scripture vseth in the worshepynge or honouringe of god are these: loue god / cleaue to god / dreade / serue / bowe / praye and cal on god beleue and trust in god and soch like. Which wordes al we vse in the worshepinge of man also / how be it diuersly and the difference therof doeth all the scripture teach.

God hath created vs and made vs vnto his awne likenes / and our sauioure christ hath bought vs with his bloude. And therfore are we Gods possession of dutie and right and Christes saruauntes only / to wayte on his wil and pleasure / and ought therfore to moue nether hand ner fote ner any other membir / other hert or mynd other wise then he hath appoynted. God is honoured in his awne person / when we receaue all thynge both good and bad at his hande / and loue his lawe with al oure hertes / and beleue hope and long fore all that he promiseth.

The officers that rule the world in Gods stede / as father / mother / master / husband / lorde and prince are honoured / when the law which almightye God hath committed vnto

them to rule with / is obeyed. Thi neyboure that is out of office / is honoured / when thou (as god hath commaunded the) louest hym as thi selfe / countest him as good as thy selfe thinkest him as worthy of any thynge as thy selfe and comest louyngly to helpe him at all his nede / as thou woldest be holpe thy selfe / because God hath made him like vnto his awne image as well as the and christ hath bought him as well as the.

Yf I hate the lawe / so I breake it in myne hert / and both hate and dishonoure God the maker therof. If I breake it outwardly / then I dishonoure God before the world and the officer that ministreth it. Yf I hurte my neyboure / then I dishonoure my neyboure and him that made him and him also that bought him with his bloude. And even so iff I hate my neyboure in myne herte / then I hate him that commaundeth me to loue him and him that hath deserued that I shuld at the lest way for his sake loue him. If I be not ready to helpe my neyboure at his nede / so I take his due honoure from him / and dishonoure him / and him that made him / and him also that bought him with his bloude / whose saruant he is. Yf I loue soch thinges as God hath lent me and committed vn to mine administracion / so that I can not find in myne hert to bestow them on the vses which God hath appoynted me / then I dishonoure god and abuse his creature in that I geue moare honoure vn to it then I shuld do / And then I make an Idole of it in that I loue it moare then god and his commaundment and then I dishonoure my neyghboure from whose nede I withdraw it.

In like maner if the officer abusynge his power / compell the subiecte to doo that which god forbiddeth or to leue vndone that which god commaundeth / so he dishonoureth god / in withdrawenge his seruaunt from him / and maketh an Idole of his awne lustes / in that he honoureth them a boue god / and he dishonoureth his brother in that he abuseth him contrary vn to the right vse which God hath created him for and christ hath bought him for / which is to wayte on gods commaundementes. For iff the officer be other wise minded then this / the worst of these subiectes is made by the hondes of him that made me / and bought with the bloude of him that bought me / and therfore my brother and I but his saruaunt only / to defende him and to kepe him in the honoure that god and christ hath sett him / that no man dishonoure him: he dishonoureth both God and man. And therto if any subiecte thynke any otherwise of the officer (though he be an emperoure) then that he is but a sarvaunt only / to ministre the office indifferently / he dishonoureth the office and god that ordeyned it. So that all men / what so euer degre they be of are every man in his rowme / saruauntes to other / as the hand sarueth the foote and every membre one a nother. And the angels of heuen are al so oure brethern and very saruauntes for Christes sake / to defend vs from the power of the deuels.

And finally all other creatures that are nether angels ner man / are in honoure lesse then man / and man is lorde ouer them / & they created to sarue him / as scripture testifieth / and he not to serue them / but only / his lord god and his sauioure Christe.

¶Of worshepinge of sacramentes / ceremonies / images / reliques and so forth

Now let vs come to the worshepynge or honourynge of sacramentes ceremonies images and reliques. First images be not god / and therfore no confidence is to be geuen them. They be not made after the image of god ner are the price of christes bloude / but the werkmansheppe of the craftes man and the price of money and therfore inferioures to man.

Wherfore of all right man ys lord ouer them and the honoure of them is to doo man seruyce and mans dishonoure yt ys to doo them honorable seruyce / as vnto hys better. Images then and reliques ye and as christ saith / the holy daye to are seruantes vnto man. And therfore it foloweth that we can not / but vnto oure damnacion put one a cote worth an hundred cotes / vppon a postes backe / and let the ymage of god and the price of christes bloude goo vpp & downe / therby naked. For yf we care more to cloth the deed image made by man and the pryce of seluer then the liuely image of god and pryce of christes bloude / then we dishonoure the image of god and hym that made him and the price of chrystes. bloude and hym that bought hym.

Wherfore the right vse / office and honoure of al creatures inferiores vnto man / is to do man seruice / whether they be images / reliques / ornamentes signes or sacramentes / holidayes / ceremonies or sacrifices. And that maie be on this maner and no doute it so once was. If (for an ensample) I take a pece of the crosse of christe and make a litle crosse therof and beare it aboute me / to loke theron with a repentinge hert / at tymes when I am moued therto / to put me in remembraunce that the body of christ was broken and his bloud

shed theron / for my sinnes / and beleue stedefastly that the mercyfull trueth of god shall forgeue the sinnes of all that repent for his deeth sake and neuer thinke on them moare then it seruith me and I not it and doeth me the same seruice as yf I red the testament in a boke / or as iff the preacher preached it vnto me. And in like maner if I make a crosse in my forehed / in a remembraunce that god hath promised assistence vnto al that beleue in him / for his sake that died on the crosse / then doeth the crosse serue me and I not it. And in like maner if I beare on me or loke vppon a crosse of what soeuer mater it be / or make a crosse vppon me / in remembraunce that whosoeuer wilbe christes disciple must sofre a crosse of aduersite tribulacions and persecucion / so doeth the crosse serue me and I not it. And this was the vse of the crosse once / and for this cause it was at the begynnynge set vpp in the churches.

And so yf I make an image of christ or of any thinge that christ hath done for me / in a memory / it is good and not euel vntill it be abvsed.

And euen so / yf I take the true life of a saynt and cause it to be painted or carued / to put me in remembraunce of the saintes life / to folow the saynt as the saint did christe / and to put me in remembraunce of the greate faith of the saint to god and how true god was to helpe him out of al tribulacion / and to se the saintes loue to warde his neyboure / in that he so paciently sofered so paynefull a deeth and so cruell marterdome to testifie the trueth for to saue other / and all to strength my soule with all and my faith to god and loue to my neyboure / then doeth the image serue me and I not it. And this was the vse of images at the beginninge and of reliques also.

And to knele before the crosse vnto the word of god which the crosse preacheth is not euell. Neyther to knele doune before an image in amans meditacions to cal the lyuinge of the saint to minde for to desyre god of lyke grace to folow the ensample / is not evell. But the abuse of the thynge is euell / and to haue a false fayth: as to beare a pece of the crosse aboute a man / thynkynge that so longe as that ys aboute hym / spyrytes shall not come at him / his enimies shall do him no bodyly harme / all causes shall go on his side euen for beringe it aboute him / and to thynke that yf it were not aboute him yt wold not be so / & to thinke / if any misfortune chaunce / that it came for leauynge it of or because this or that ceremonie was lefte vndone / and not rather because we haue broken Gods commaundementes / or that God tempteth vs to proue oure pacyence. Thys ys playne ydolatrie / and here a man ys captyue / bonde and seruaunt vnto a false faith and a false ymaginacyon / that ys nother god ner hys worde. Now am I Gods only and ought to serue nothynge but god and hys worde. My bodye must serue the rulars of thys world and my neyboure (as god hath appoynted it) & so must all my goodes: but my soule must serue God only / to loue hys law and too trust in hys promyses of mercye in all my nedes. And in like maner yt ys that thousandes / whyle the prest patereth Saynt Ihons Gospell in latine ouer theyr heedes / crosse them selues wyth / I trow / a legyon of crosses / behynde and before and wythe reuerence on the very arses and (as Iack off napis when he claweth him selfe) ploucke vp theyr legges and crosse so moch as their heeles and the very soles of their fete / & beleue that if it be done in

the tyme that he readeth the gospell (and else not) that there shall no mischaunce happen them that daye / because only of those crosses. And where he shuld crosse him selfe / to be armed and to make him silfe stronge to beare the crosse with Christe / he crosseth him selfe to driue the crosse from him / and blesseth him selfe with a crosse from the crosse. And if he leaue it vndone / he thynketh it no small synne / and that god is hyly displeased with him and if any misfortune chaunce / thinketh it is therfore / which is also Idolatrie and not gods worde. And soch is the confidence in the place or image or what soeuer bodyly obseruaunce it be: soch is S. Agathes letter written in the gospell tyme. And soch are the crosses on palmesondaye made in the passion tyme. And soch is the beryng of holy waxe aboute a man. And soch is that some hange apece of S. Ihons gospell aboute their neckes. And soch is to beare the names of god with crosses betwene ech name aboute them. Soch is the sayenge of gospels vn to wemen in childbed. Soch is the limeteriers sayenge of in principio erat verbum from housse to housse. Soch is the sayenge of gospells to the corne in the feld in the procession weke that it shuld the better growe. And soch is holy bred holy water and seruinge of all ceremonies and sacramentes in generall with out significacion. And I praye you how is it possible that the people can worshepe images / reliques / ceremonies and sacramentes / saue supersticiously / so longe as they know not the true meaninge / nether wil the prelates sofre any man to tell them: yee and the very meanynge of some and right vse no man can tell?

And as for the riches that is bestowed on ima

ges and reliques they can not proue but that it is abhominable / as longe as the pore are dispised and vncared for and not first serued / for whose sakes and to fynd preachers / offeringes tithes / londes rentes and all that they haue was geuen the spiritualtie. They will saye we maye do both. Maye or not maye / I se that the one most necessary of both / is not done: But the pore are bereued of the spiritualtie of all that was in tyme passed offered vn to them. Morouer though both were done / they shall neuer proue that the sight of gold and siluer and of preciousstones shuld moue a mans hert to dispice soch thynges aftir the doctrine of Christe. Nether can the riche cote helpe to moue thy mind / to folow the ensample of the saint / but rather if he were purtrayde as he sofred / in the most vngoodly wise. Which thinge taken awaye / that soch thynges with all other seruice / as stekynge vpp candels / moue not thy mynde to folow the ensample of the saint / ner teach thy soule any godly lernynge: then the image serueth not the / but thou the image / and so art thou an Idolater / that is to saye in English / a serueimage. And thus it appereth that youre vngodly and bely doctrine where with ye so magnifie the dedes of youre ceremonies and of youre pilgremages and offerynge for the dede it selfe / to please god and to obtayne the fauoure of deed saintes (and not to moue you and to put you in remembraunce of the law of god & of the promises which are in his sonne and to folow the ensample of the saynte) is but an exhortynge to serue images / and so are ye imageseruers / that is / Idolaters / And finally the more deuocion men haue vn to soch dedes / the lesse they haue vn to gods commaundement /

in so moch that they which be most wontte to offer to images and to shewe them / be so colde in offerynge to the pore / that they wyll scace geue them the scrappes which must else be geuen dogges / or their old shone / iff they maye haue new bromes for them.

¶Pilgrimages

To speake of pilgrimages / I saye / that a christen man / so that he leaue nothinge vndone at home that he is bounde to doo / is fre to goo whother he will / only aftir the doctrine of the lorde / whose seruaunte he is and not his awne. If he goo and viset the pore / the secke and the presoner / it is well done and a worke that god commaundeth . If he goo to this or that place / to heare a sermon or because his mynd is not quiet at home / or if because his hert is to moch occupied on his worldly businesses bi the reasons of occasions at home / he gett him in to a moare quiett and styll place / where his minde is moare abstracte and pulled from worldly thoughtes it is well done. And in all these places if what soeuer it be / whether liuely preachynge / ceremonie / relique or image stere vpp his herte to god and preach the worde of god and the ensample of oure sauioure Iesus moare in one place then in a nother / that he thither goo / I am content. And yet he bydeth a lorde and the thynges serue him and he not them / Now whether his entent be so or no / his dedes wil testifie / as his vertuouse gouernynge of his housse and louynge demeanoure to warde his neyghboures: yee and gods worde wilbe all waye in his hert and in his mouth & he euery daye perfecter then other.

For there can nothinge edifie mans soule saue that which preacheth him gods worde. Only the worde of god worketh the health of the soule. And what someuer preacheth him that / can not but make him perfecter.

But to beleue that god wilbe sought moare in one place then in a nother / or that god will heare the moare in one place then in a nother / or moare where the image is / then where it is not is a false faith and Idolatrie or imageseruice. For first god dwelleth not in temples made with handes Actes .xvij. Item steuen died for the contrary and proued it by the prophetes Actes .vij. And Salomon in the .viij. off the thirde of the kinges / when he had byld his temple / testified the same and that he had not byld it for god to dwell in / ye and that god dwelleth not in the erth / but that he shuld out of heuen heare the prayars of them that prayed there. And the prophetes did often testifye vn to the people that had soch a false faith that god dwelt in the temple / that he dwelt not their. Morouer god in his testament byndeth him selfe vn to no place ner yet the: But speaketh generally (concerninge where and when) sayenge psalme .xlix. in the daye of the tribulacion thou shalt call on me and I wil deliuer the / and thou shalt glorifie me. He setteth nether place ner tyme / But whersoeuer and when soeuer: so that the prayar of Iob vppon the dongehyll was as good as Poules in the temple. And when oure sauioure saith Ihon .xvj. Whatsoeuer ye axe my father in my name / I will geue it you / he saith not in this or that plase / or this or that daye: but whersoeuer & when soeuer / as well in the feldes as in the toune and on the Monedaye as on the sondaye. God

is a spirite and wilbe worsheped in the spirite Ihon .iiij. That is / though he be present euery where / yet he dwelleth liuely and gloriously in the myndes of angells only and hertes of men that loue his lawes and trust in his promises. And whersoeuer god findeth soch an hert / their he heareth the prayar in all places and tymes indifferently. So that the outward place nether helpeth or hindred / excepte (as I said) that a mans minde be moare quiett and still from the rage of wordely businesses / or that some thynge stere vpp the worde of god and ensample of our sauioure moare in one place then in a nother.

¶Whence Idolatrie or imageseruice springeth

Now that thou maist se whence all this Idolatrie or imageseruice is sprounge / marke a litle / and then I will answere vn to the argumentes which these imageseruars make agenst the open trueth. All the ceremonies ornamentes and sacrifices of the olde testament were sacramentes. That is to wete / signes preachinge vn to the people one thynge or a nother. As circumcision preached vn to them / that god had chosen them to be his people / and that he wold be their god and defende them and encrease and multiplie them and kepe them in that londe and blesse the frutes of the erth and all their possessions . And on the other syde it preached / how that they had promised god agayne to kepe his commaundementes / ceremonies and ordinaunces. Now when they saw their younge children circumcised / iff they consented vn to the appoyntement made betwene god and them / moued by the pre

achinge of that same / then were they iustified thereby. How be it the dede in it selfe / the cuttynge off of the foreskyn of the manchildes priuey membir iustified them not ner was a satisfaccion for the childes synnes / but the preachynge only did iustifie them that receaued the faith theroffe. For it was a bage geuen indifferently as well vn to them that neuer consented in their hertes vn to gods lawe / as vn to the electe in whose hertes the lawe was written. And that this was the meaninge of circumcision maye be proued many wayes: But namely by Paul Romans .ij. where he saith / circumcision is moch worth / if thou kepe the lawe (whose signe it was) and else not. And Roma. iij. where he saith that god did iustifie the circumcised of faith (whose signe it was on the other syde) and else not.

And the paschall lambe was a memoriall of their deliueraunce out of Egypte only and no satisfaccion or offeringe for synne.

And the offeringe of their first frutes preached how they had receaued all soch frutes of the hand of god / and that it was god that gaue them that land and that kepte them in it / and that did blesse and make their frutes grow. In token wherof as vn to a lorde roiall they brought him the first ripe frutes of their herueste. Which remembraunce as longe as it abode in their hertes / it moued them to loue god againe and their neyboure for his sake / as he so oft desyred them. And out of this ceremonye was fett the blessynge of oure new ripe frutes for like purpose / though we haue lost the significacion.

And their other offeringes / as the sacrifices of doues / turtles / lambes / kyddes / shepe / calues / gottes and oxen were no satisfaccions for syn

ne / but only a signe and token / that at the repentaunce of the hert / thorow an offeringe to come and for that seedes sake that was promised Abraham / their synnes were forgeuen them.

And in like maner the ornamentes and all other ceremonies were eyther an open preachynge or secrett prophisies and not satisfaccions or iustifienges. And thus the workes did serue them and preach vnto them and they not the workes ner put any confidence therin.

¶False worshepynge

But what did the children of Israel and the Iewes? They latt the significacions of their ceremonyes goo and lost the meanynge of them and turned them vn to the workes to serue them / sayenge that they were holy workes commaunded of god and the offerars were therby iustified and obtayned forgeuenesse of synnes and therby became good: as the parable of the pharesey and publican declare Luke .xviij. and as it is to se in Paul and thoroute all the Byble: and became captiue to serue and put their trust in that which was nether god ner his worde. And so the better creature agenst nature did serue the worse. Where of all likelyhode god shuld haue accepted their worke by the reason of them / if their hertes had bene right / & not haue accepted their soules for the bloudes sake of a calfe or shepe / for as moch as a man is moch better then a calfe or shepe / as Christ testifieth Matth. xij. For what pleasure shuld god haue in the bloud of calues or in the light of oure candeles? his pleasure is onlye in the hertes of them that loue his commaundementes.

Then they went further in the imagination of their blynd reason sayenge / in as moch as god accepteth these holy workes / that we be made righteous therby / then it foloweth that he whyche offereth most / is most rightewesse and the best man: ye and it is better to offer an oxe then a shepe / because it is more costly. And so they stroue who might offer most / and the prestes were well apayde. Then went they further in their fleshly wisdome sayenge: if I be good for the offeringe of a doue and better for a shepe and yet better for an oxe / and so euer the better thynge I offer / the better I am / Oh how accepted shuld I be if I offered a man / and namelye him that I most loued? And vppon that imaginacion / they offered their awne children and burnt them to asshes before images that they had imagined.

And to confirme their blyndnesse they layde for them (nodoute) the ensample of Abraham which offered his sonne Isaac and was so accepted / that god had promised him / how that in his seed / all the world shuld be blessed. Herof ye se vn to what abhominacion blynd reason bryngeth a man / when she is destitute of gods worde.

And to speake of the sabbath / which was ordeyned to be their saruaunte & to preach & be a signe vn to them / that god thorow his holy spirite & worde did sanctifie them / in that they obeyed his commaundementes & beleued and trusted in his promises (& therfore were charged to leaue workynge and to come on the holy daye & heare the worde of god by which they were sanctified) vn to it also they became captiue and bonde to sarue it / sayenge that they were iustified by absteynynge from bodyly laboure (as oures thinke al so) in so moch that though they bestowed not the

holy day in vertue prayer and hearinge the worde of god / in almosdede / in visitynge the sycke / the nedie and comfortelesse and so forth / but went vp & downe ydlye / yet what soeuer nede his neyghboure had / he wolde not haue holpe hym on the saboth daye / as thou mayst se by the ruler of the synagoge which rebuked christ for healinge the people on the holy daye luke .xiij.

And of like blyndnesse they went and fett out the brasen serpent (which Moses commaunded to be kepte in the arcke for a memorie) and offered before it: thinkynge (no doute) that god must be there present / for else how coude yt haue healed the people that came not nye yt / but stode afarre off and beheld yt only. And a thousand soch madnesses did they.

And of the temple they thought that god herd them there better then any were else: ye and he hearde them nowhere saue there. And therfore they coude not praye but there / as oures can no where but at church and before an ymage. For what prayar can a man praye / when the woorde of god is not in the temple of hys herte: ye and when soch come to church / what is their prayer and what is their deuocyon / saue the blynde imageseruice of their hertes.

But the prophetes euer rebuked them for soch faythlesse workes and for soch false fayth in theyr workes. In the .xlix. psalme saith the prophete / I wil receaue no calues of youre houses ner gottes out of youre foldes / thinke ye that I will eate the flesh of oxen or drynke the bloude of gottes? And Esaias saith in his first chaptre / what care I for the multitude of your sacryfyces sayth the lorde. I am full. I haue

no lust in the burnt offeringes of youre rammes or in the fatt of fatt beestes or bloud of calues / lambes or gottes: offer me no moare soch false sacryfyce. And therto youre swete cense ys an abhominacion vnto me. And thus he said because of the false fayth and peruertynge the ryght vse of them.

And for their false fastinge / not referrynge theyr fast vnto the tamynge and subduynge of theyr flesh vnto the spirite / when they complayned vnto god iustifienge them selues and saynge / how happeneth it / that we haue fasted and thou woldest not loke vppon it / we haue humbled oure soules and thou woldest not know it. God answered them by the prophete Esayas in the .lviij. chaptre / behold / in the daye of youre fast / ye doo youre awne lustes and gather vpp all youre dettes. And how soeuer ye fast / ye neuer the later striue and fight and smyte with fyste cruelly. I haue chosen no soch faste and humblynge of soule, &c. But that ye louse weked bondes and lett the oppressed goo fre / and to breake breed vnto the hongrye and to cloth the naked and so forth.

And concerninge the temple / Esaias sayth in hys last chaptre. What housse wyll ye bild for me or in what place shall I rest? heuen is my sete and the erth my fote stole. As who shuld saye I am to greate for any place that ye can make / and (as steuen sayth actes .vij. and paul actes .xvij.) I dwell not in a temple made with handes.

¶How ceremonies sprange amonge vs

Vnderstond also (to se how we came yn to like blyndenesse) that before the comynge of christe in the flesh / the Israelites and Iewes were scatered thorow out all the world / to punish theyr imageseruice / both eest / west south and north / as ye reade in the chronicles how Englonde was once full: so that there was no prouince or greate citie in the world where no Iewes were: god so prouydynge for the spedie preachynge of the gospell amonge the hethen thorow out the worlde. Now chryst / as he was promised / so was he sent / vnto the Iewes or Israelites. And what by chrystes preachynge and the appostles after his resurrexion / there were innumerable Iewes conuerted haply an hundred thousand or moo in Ierusalem and Iewry and in the contres aboute / and abode still in the londe. Then paul rose vpp and persecuted them in Iherusalem and thorow out al Iewry and Damasco / sleynge all that he coude catche or makinge them forswere christe. For feare of which persecucion they fled in to all costes and preached vnto the Iewes that were scatered / prouinge that Iesus was christ the sauioure of the worlde / both by the scripture and also by myracles: so that agreate parte of the Iewes came to the faith euery where / and we hethen came in shortely after / and parte a bode styll in vnbeleffe as vnto this daye.

Now the Iewes beynge born & bred vp / roted and noseld in ceremonyes as I haue shewed and as ye maye better se in the .v. bokes of Moses / if ye wold reade them / coude but with greate difficultie / depart from them as it is to se in al the epistles of paul / how he fought agenst them. But in processe

they gatt the vpperhand. And therto the fyrst that were christened and all the offycers and bisshopes of the church / euen so moch as the greate God of Rome were Iewes for the most parte a greate season.

And Morouer / as paul saith .Ro. ix. not al that came of Israel are ryght Israelites nether are al they Abrahams sonnes that are Abrahams seed. Whi so? because they folowed not the steppes of the fayth of their graundfathers. Even so / not all they that were called and also came vnto the mariage whych god the father made betwene christ hys sonne and all sinners / brought their maryage garment wyth them / that is to wete / true faith wherwyth we be maryed vnto chryste and made his flesh and hys bloude and one spirite with hym / his brethern and heyres with him and the sonnes of god also. But many of them (to fulfyll the sayenge of christ / that the kyngdome of heuen / which is the gospell / is like a net that ketcheth good and bad) were dreuen in to the net and compelled to confesse that Iesus was christ and that seed that was promised Abraham and Messias that shuld come: not off any inward fealinge that the spirite of god gaue them / nether of any louely consent that they had vnto the law of god that it was good / mornynge / both because they had broken it and because also they had no power to fulfill it and therfore to obtayne mercie and power came to christ and vnto the father thorow him / with the hert of naturall childern which receaue all thinge frely of their fathers bounteous lyberalitie and of loue become saruauntes vnto theyr brethern for theyr fathers sake: But were compelled only

with violence of the scripture which everiwhere bare wittenesse vn to christe and agreed vn to al that he did / and ouercome also with the power of miracles that confirmed the same. That is to saye / they came with a storifaith / a popish faith / a faithlesse faith & a fayned faith of their awne makinge / and not as God in the scripture describeth the faith / so beleuinge in christ / that they woldbe iustified by theyr awne dedes / which is the denienge of christe. As oure papistes beleue. Which moare mad then those Iewes / beleue nothynge by the reason of the scripture / but only that soch a multitude consent therto / compelled with violence of swerde / with falsyfienge of the scripture and fayned lyes. Which multitude yet is not the fifte part so many as they that consent vn to the lawe of Mahomete. And therfore by their awne argumentes / the faith of the turkes is better then theirs. And their faith therto maye stond by theyr awne confession / with all misheue (as it well appereth by them) and with yeldynge them selues to worke all wekednesse with full delectacion / aftir the ensample of the faith of their father the deuell / and with out repentaunce and consent vn to the law of god / that it is good. Which popish therto so beleue in Christ / and so wilbe his saruauntes / that they wilbe bond vn to domme ceremonies and deed workes puttynge their trust and confidence in them & hopinge to be saued by them and ascribynge vn to them the thanke of their saluacion and righttewysnesse.

And therfore because / as I saide / the Iewes ye and the hethen to / were so accustomed vn to ceremonies and because soch a multitude came with a faithelesse faith / they went and cleane

contrary vnto the mynde of paul / set vp ceremonies in the new testamente / partely borowynge them of Moses and partely imageninge like / as ye now se / and called them sacramentes: that is to saye / sygnes (as yt ys playne in the storyes) the sacrament of holy water / of holy fyre / holy bred / holy salt and so forth. And they gaue them significacions. As holy water signifyed the sprinclinge of christes bloude for our redempcyon. Which sacrament or sygne (though yt seme superfluous / in as moch as the sacrament of christes body and bloud signifieth the same dayly) yet as longe as the significacion bode / it hurted not. And the kyssynge of the pax was sett vpp to signifie / that the peace of christ shuld be euer amonge vs one to loue an other after hys ensample as the word yt selfe well declareth. For pax ys as moch to saye as peace.

And as for confirmacion / it is no doute / but that it came this wise vp and that thys was the vse / which the word it selfe well declareth. We reade in the stories / that they wich were conuerted vnto the faith of the age of discrecion / were ful taught in the law of god (as right is) and in the fayth of oure sauiour Iesus / yer they were baptised / and vppon the profession or promisinge to kepe that law and fayth / were baptised. And then for the socure and helpe of younge childern / baptised before the age of discrecion / to know the law of god and faith of christe / was confirmacion institute that they shuld not be all waye ignoraunt and faithlesse / but be taught the professyon of theyr baptim. And thys / no doute / was the maner / as we maye wel gather by probable coniectures and euident tokens. When the childern were of

.vj. or seuen yeres olde / their elders brought them vnto the preest or deacon in euery parish / which officer taught the children what their baptim ment & what they had professed therin: that is to wete / the law of god & their dutie vn to all degrees / and the faith of oure sauioure. And then because it shuld not be neglecte or lefte vndone / an hier officer as the archdeacon (for it hath not bene I suppose in the bisshopes handes all waye as now / nether were it mete) came aboute from parish to parish / at tymes conuenient. And the prestes brought the children vn to him at .xj. or .xij. yere olde / before they were admitted to receaue the sacrament of Christes body haply. And he apposed them of the law of god & faith of Christe / and axed them / whether they thought that law good / and whether their hertes were to folow it. And they answered ye.

And he apposed them in the articles of oure faith / and axed them / whether they put their hope and trust in Christ / to be saued thorow his deeth and merites. And they answered ye. Then confirmed he their baptim sayenge: I confirme you / that is / I denunce and declare / by the auctorite of gods worde and doctrine of Christ / that ye be truely baptised within in youre hertes and in youre spirites / thorow professynge the lawe of god and the faith of oure sauioure Iesu / which youre outwarde baptim doeth signifie / and thervppon I put this crosse in youre forehedes that ye goo and fight agenst the deuell / the world and the flesh / vnder the standarde of oure sauioure / in the name of the father / the sonne / and the holy gost. Amen. Which maner I wold to god for his tender mercie were in vse this daye.

But aftir that the deuell was broken lowse and the bisshopes beganne to purchace / and the deacons to scratch all to them / and the spiritualtie to clime an hye: then because the laboure semed to tediouse and paynfull / to appose the childern one by one / they axed the prestes that presented them only / whether the childern were taught the profession of their baptim. And they answered ye. And so vppon their wordes they confirmed them with out apposinge. When they no lenger apposed them / the prestes no lenger taught them / but committed the charge to their godfather and godmothers / and they to the father and mother / dischargynge them selues by theyr awne auctorite with in halfe an houre.

And the father and mother taught them a monstrous laten pater noster and an Aue and a crede. Which gibbresh euery popiniaye speaketh with a sundrye pronunciacion and facion / so that one pater noster semeth as many languages all most as there be tonges that speake it. How be it / it is all one / as longe as they vnderstonde it not. And in processe as the ignoraunce grewe / they brought them to confirmacion streight from baptim: so that now oftimes they be volowed and bysshoped both in one daye / that is / we be confirmed in blindenesse to be kept from knowlege for euer. And thus are we come in to this damnable ignoraunce and ferce wrathe of god thorow oure awne deseruinge / because when the trueth was told vs we had no loue therto. And to declare the full & sett wrath of god vppon vs / our prelates whom we haue exalted ouer vs to whom we haue geuen al most al we had / haue perswaded the wordly princes (to whom we haue

submitted our selues and geuen vpp our power) to deuoure vpp body and soule / and to kepe vs / downe in darkenesse / with violence of swerde / and with all falshed and gyle.

In so moch that if any do but lift vpp his nose to smell aftir the trueth / they swapp him in the face with a fire brande to sengge his smellynge / or if he open one of his eyes to once loke towarde the light of gods worde / they bleare and dase his sight with their false iuglynge: so that if it were possible / though he were gods electe / he coude not but be kepte doune and perish for lacke of knowlege of the trueth.

And in like maner / because christ had institute the sacrament of his body and bloude / to kepe vs in remembraunce of his bodye breakinge and bloud shedynge for oure synnes / therfore went they and sett vpp this facion of the masse and ordeyned sacramentes in the ornamentes therof to signifie and expresse all the rest of his passion. The amice on the heed is the kercheue that Christ was blyndfolded with / when the soudioures buffeted him and mocked him sayenge: prophete vn to vs who smote the? But now it maye well signifie that he that putteth it on / is blynd and hath professed to leade vs aftir him in darkenesse / acordynge vn to the begynnynge of his playe. And the flappe theron is the croune of thorne. And the albe is the white garment that herode put on him / sayenge he was a fole because he held his peace and wold not answere him. And the .ij. flappes on the sleues and the other .ij. on the albe beneth ouer agenst his fete behind and before / are the .iiij. nayles. And the fanon on his hand / the cord that his handes were bound with: And the stole the rope where with he was

bounde vn to the piler / when he was scorged: And the corporiscloth / the sindon wherin he was buryed: & the altare is the crosse or haply the graue and so forth. And the castynge abrode of his handes / the splayenge of Christ vppon the crosse. And the light and stickinge vpp of candels and beringe of candels or tapers in procession happlye signifyed this texte. Mat. v. ye be the light of the worlde / and let youre light so shyne before men / that they maye se youre good workes & glorefye youre father which is in heven. And the salt signifyeth the wysdome of Christes doctrine / and that we shulde therwith salt oure dedes and do nothinge with out the auctorite of goddes worde. So that in one thynge or other / what in the garmentes and what in the gestures all is playde / in so moch that before he will goo to masse / he wilbe sure to sell him / lest Iudases parte shuldbe left out.

And so thorow out all the sacramentes / ceremonies or signes (.iij. wordes of one significacion) there were significacions vn to them at the beginninge. And so longe as it was vnderstond what was ment by them and they did but serue the people and preach one thinge or a nother vn to them / they hurted not greatly / though that the fre seruaunt of Christ ought not to be brought violently in to captiuite vnder the bondage of tradicions of men. As S. Augustine complayneth in his dayes / how that the condicion & state of the Iewes was moare easy then the christens vnder tradicions: so sore had the tyranny of the shepardes invaded the flocke all redy in those dayes. And then what iuste cause haue we to complayne oure captiuite now / vn to whose yocke

from that tyme hitherto / even .xij. hundred yeres longe / hath euer some what moare wayght bene added to / for to kepe vs downe and to confirme vs in blindnesse? how be it / as longe as the significacions bode / they hurted not the soule / though they were paynful vnto the body. Neuer the later I impute this oure greuous faull in to so extreme and horrible blyndnesse (wher in we are so depe and so dedly brought a slepe) vn to nothinge so moch as vn to the multitude of ceremonies. For assone as the prelates had sett vpp soch a rable of ceremonies / they thought it superfluous to preach the playne texte any longer and the law of god / feith of Christ / loue toward oure neyboure and the ordir of oure iustifienge & saluacion / for as moch as all soch thynges were playd before the peoples faces dayly in the ceremonies and euery child wist the meanynge: but gott them vn to allegories / faynynge them euery man aftir his awne brayne / with out rule / all most on euery silable / and from thence vnto disputynge and wastinge their braynes aboute wordes / not attendynge the significacions vntyll at the last the laye people had lost the meaninge of the ceremonies and the prelates the vnderstondynge of the playne texte / and of the Greke Latine and specially of the Hebrue which is most of nede to be knowen / and of all phrases / the propir maner of speakynges and borowed speach of the Hebrues.

Remembir ye not how with in this .xxx. yeres and ferre lesse / and yet dureth vn to this daye / the olde barkynge curres dunces disciples and like draffe called scotistes / the childern of darkenesse / raged in euery pulpyt agenst

Greke Latine and Hebrue / and what sorow the scolemastirs that taught the true Latine tonge had with them / some betynge the pulpyt with their fistes for madnesse and roringe out with open and fominge mouth / that if there ware but one tirens or virgill in the world and that same in their sleues and a fire before them / they wold burne them therin / though it shuld cost them their liues / affirmynge that all good lerninge decayed and was vtterly lost sens men gaue them vn to the Latine tonge? ye and I dare saye / that there be .xx. thousand prestes curattes this daye in Englond and not so few / that can not geue you the right English vn to this texte in the pater noster / fiat voluntas tua sicut in celo & in terra and answere therto.

And assone as the significacion of the ceremonies was lost / and the prestes preached christ no lenger / then the comen people began to wax mad and out of their mindes vppon the ceremonies. And that trust and confidence which the ceremonies preached / to be geuen vn to Gods worde and Christes bloude / that same they turned vn to the ceremonie it selfe as though a man were so mad to forgett that the bosh at the tauern dore did signifie wine to be solde within / but wold beleue that the bosh it selfe wold quench his thirste. And so they became seruantes vn to the ceremonies / asscribynge their iustifienge and saluacion vn to them supposynge that it was nothynge else to be a christen man / then to serue ceremonies / and him most christen that most serued them / and contrary wise him that was not popish & ceremoniall / no christen man at all. For I pray you / for what cause worshepe we our spiritualtie so hiely or wherfore thynke

we their prayars better then the pore laye mens / then for their disgysynges and ceremonies? ye and what other vertue se we in the holiest of them / then to wayte vppon dumme supersticious ceremonies ?

Yee and how cometh it that a poore laye man hauinge wife and .xx. children and not able to fynde them / though all his neybours know his necessite / shall not gett with bedgynge for Christes sake / in a longe somers daye / ynough to fynde them .ij. dayes honestly / when iff a disgysed monster come / he shall with an houres lyenge in the pulpit / gett ynough to fynde .xxx. or .xl. sturdy lubboures a moneth longe / of which the weakest shalbe as stronge in the bely when he cometh vn to the manger / as the mightiest porter in the weyhousse or best courser that is in the kynges stable? Is ther any other cause then disgisynge and ceremonyes? For the dedes of the ceremonies we count better then the dedes which god commaundeth to be done to our neyboure at his nede. Who thinketh it as good a dede to fede the pore / as to stecke vpp a candle before a poste or as to sprencle him selfe with holy water? Nether is it possible to be other wise / as longe as the significacion is lost. For what other thinge can the people thinke / then that soch deades beordeyned of god / and because as it is euident / they serue not our neyboures nede / to be referred vn to the person of god and he though he be a spirite / yet serued therwith? And then he can not but forth on dispute in his blynde reason / that as god is greater then man / so is that dede that is appoynted to serue god greater than that whych serueth man. And then when it is not possible to thinke them ordeyned for nought / what can I

wother wise thynke then that they were ordeyned to iustifie and that I shuld be holy therby / acordynge to the popis doctrine / as though god were better pleased when I sprinkle my selfe with water or sett vpp a candle before a blocke / then iff I fedde or clothed or holpe at his nede him / whom he so tenderly loueth that he gaue his awne sonne vn to the deeth for him / and commaunded me to loue him as my selfe?

And when the people beganne to runne that waye / the prelates were glad & holpe to heue aftir with sotle allegories & falsifienge the scripture / & went & halowed the ceremonies / to make them moare worshepful / that the laye people shuld haue them in greater estimacion & honoure / & be afrayde to twich them for reuerence vn to the holy charme that was saide ouer them / & affirmed also that christes deeth had purchased soch grace vn to the ceremonies to forgeue sinne & to iustifye. O monstre / Christes deeth purchased grace for mans soule / to repent of euell & to beleue in Christ for remission of synne / & to loue the lawe of god and his neyboure as him selfe / which is the true worshepynge of god in the spirite / & he died not to purchesse soch honoure vn to vnsensible thynges / that man to his dishonoure / shuld doo them honourable seruice & receaue his saluacion of them.

This I haue declared vn to you / that ye mighte se & fele euery thinge sensibly. For I entend not to leade you in darkenesse. Nether though twise .ij. cranes make not .iiij. wild gees / wold I therfore that ye shuld beleue that twise .ij. made not .iiij. Nether entend I to proue vn to you that Paules steple is the cause whi temes is broke in about Erith / or that teynterden steple is the cause of the decaye of sandwich hauen as Master Mo

re iesteth. Neuer the lesse this I wold were persuaded vn to you (as it is true) that the bildynge of them & soch like / thorow the false faith that we haue in them / is the decaye of all the hauens in Englande & of all the cities / townes / hie wayes & shortly of the hole comen wealth. For sens these false monstres crope vpp in to oure consciences & robbed vs of the knowlege of oure sauioure Christe / makynge vs beleue in soch pope holy workes & to thynke that ther was no nother waye vn to heuen / we haue not ceased to bylde them abbayes / cloysters / coleges / chauntrees and cathedrall churches with hie steples / striuinge & enuienge one a nother / who shuld do most. And as for the dedes / that pertayne vn to oure neyboures and vn to the comen wealth / we haue not regarded at all / as thinges which semed no holy workes or soch as god wold once loke vppon. And therfore we left them vnseneto / vntyl they were past remedie or past our power to remedie them / in as moch as our slowbelies with their false blessynges had iugled a waye from vs / that wherwith they might haue bene holpen in dew season. So that that syly pore man / though he had haply no wisdome to expresse his mynde / or that he durst not / or that master More fascioneth his tale as he doeth other mennes to iest out the trouth / sawe that nether goodwin sandes ner any other cause alleged was the decaye of sandwich hauen / so moch as that the people had no lust to maynetene the comen wealthe / for blynde deuocion which they haue to popeholy workes.

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¶The solutions and answeres vn to M. Mores first boke

In the first Chapter to beginne the boke with al / to bringe you goodlucke and to geue you a saye or a taste what trueth shall folowe / he fayneth a letter sent from no man.

ij.

In the seconde chapter / besydes that it is vntrue this vse to haue bene euer sens the tyme of the appostles / he maketh many sophisticall reasons about worshepinge of sayntes reliques and images / and yet declareth not with what maner worshepe / but iugleth with the terme in comune / as he doeth with this worde church and this word faith / when the wordes haue diuers significacions: for al faythes are not one maner faith and so forth / and therefore he begylyth a mans vnderstondinge. As if a man said / the boyes will was good to haue geuen his father ablowe / and a nother wold inferre / that a good wyll coude be no synne / and conclude / that a man might lawfully smite his father. Now is good wyll taken in one sens in the maior and in a nother in the minor / to vse scolars termes / & therfore the conclusion doeth mocke a mans witte. Then disputeth he / the seruaunt is honowred for the masters sake / and what is done to the pore is done to Christ (as the popish shall once fele / for their so robbynge them). And the .xij. appostles shall haue their setes and sitte and iudge with christe (as shall all that here preach him truely as they did) and Mary that powred the oyntement on christes heed before his passion /

hath hir memoriall / and therfore we ought to sett candles before images. First I axe him by what rule his argument holdeth. And secondaryly I answere that the true worshepynge of saintes is their memorial / to folow them as they did christe. And that honoure we geue them and so do not ye popish / but folow the steppes of youre father the pope / as he doeth the steppes of his father the deuell. And as for stekinge vpp of candels / I answere that God is a spirite and in the spirite must be worsheped only. Faith to his promises and loue to his lawes and longynge for the life that is in his sonne are his due honoure and seruice. All bodyly seruice must be referred vn to oure selues and not vn to the person of God immediatly. All outward thynges which we receave of god ar geuen vs / to take oure partes with thankes and to bestow the rest vppon oure neyboures. For god vseth no soch thinges in his awne person / but created them for to geue them vs / that we shuld thanke him / and not to receaue them of vs / to thanke vs: for that were our prayse and not his. Fastynge / watchynge / wolward goinge / pilgrimage and all bodyly excercice must be referred vn to the taminge of the flesh only. For as god deliteth not in the tast of mete / drinke / or in the sighte of gold or seluer / no moare doeth he in my fast and soch like / that I shuld referre them vn to his person / to do him a pleasure with all. For god in him selfe is as good as he can be and hath all the delectacion that he can haue. And therfore to wish that god were better then he is or had moare pleasure then he hath / is of a worldely imaginacyon.

And al the spirites that be in heuen are in

as good case as they can be & haue all the delectacion they can haue / & therefore to wish them in better case or to studie to doo them more pleasure then they haue / is fleyshly minded popishnesse. The pleasure of them that be in heuen is / that we herken to God and kepe his commaundementes / which when we doo / they haue all the pleasure that they can haue in vs. If in this life / I sofre hell gladly / to winne my brother to folow god / how moch moare if I were in heuen shuld I reioyce that he so did? If in this world when I haue nede of my neyboure / by the reason of mine infirmites / yet I seke nought of him / saue his wealth only / whate other thynge shuld I seke of him / if I were in heuen / where he can do me no seruice ner I vse any pleasure that he can do me?

The deuel desyred to haue his imaginacions worsheped as god / & his popish childern desyre the same / and compell men so to honoure them / and of their deuelish nature describe they both God and his saintes. And therfore I saye / al soch fleshly imaginacions / as to fast the wenisdaye in the worshepe of S. Ihon or of S. katerine or what saynt it be / or to fast sayntes euens or to goo a pilgremage vnto their images or to offer to them / to doo them pleasure / thinkynge therby to obteyne their fauoure and to make speciall aduocates of them / as a man wold winne the fauoure of a nother with presentes and giftes / and thinkynge that if we did it not / they wold be angrie / are playne Idolatrye and

imageseruice / for the saint deliteth in no soch. And when thou stekest vpp a candle before the image / thou mightest with as good reason make an holow bely in the image and powre in meate and drincke. For as the saynt nether eateth ner drincketh / so hath he no bodyly eyes to delyte in the light of a candle.

A nother is this / god geueth not the promises that are in Christ for bodyly seruice / but of his mercy only / vn to his awne glorie. Ye and of the fathers goodnesse doo all naturall childern receaue. Axe a litle boye / who gaue him his gaye cote / he answereth / his father. Axe him whi / and he answereth / because he is his father and loueth him / and because he ys his sonne. Axe him whether his father loue him / and he saith ye. Ax him how he knoweth it and he saith / because he geueth me this or that. Axe him whether he loue his father / he saith ye. Axe him whi / he saith / for his father loueth him and geueth him all thynge. Axe him why he worketh / he answereth / his father will so haue it. Axe him whi his father geueth not soch and soch boyes cotes to. Nai saith he / they be not his sonnes / their fathers must geue them as myne doeth me. Goo now ye popish bond seruauntes and receaue youre rewarde for youre false workes and robbe youre brethern & raigne ouer them with violence and cruell tiranny and make them worshepe youre pilars / polaxes images and hattes. And we will receaue of the mercifull kyndnesse of oure father and will serue our brethern frely / of very loue and wilbe their seruauntes and sofre for their sakes. And therto oure good dedes which we do vn to oure neybours nede / springe out of oure rightwysenesse or iustifienge / which is the forgeuenesse of

oure synnes in Christes bloude / and of other rightwysnesse knowe we not before god. And contrari wise youre rightwysnesse or iustifienge which stondeth / as youre faith doeth / with all wekednesse / springeth out of youre holy workes which yee doo to no man frely saue vn to paynted postes.

And when he allegeth the sacrifices of the old law / I saye they were sacramentes and preached vn to the people (as no dout / oure candels once were) and were no holy werkes to be referred vn to gods person to obtayne his favoure / and to iustifie the people / and that the people shuld doo them for the werkes selues. And when the people had lost the significacions and loked on the holynesse of the dedes / to be iustified therby / they were imageseruice and hatefull to god and rebuked of the prophetes / as it is to se thorow out all the old testament.

Then he iugleth with a texte of S. Paule Rom. xiiij. let eueriman for his parte abounde / one in this Idolatrie and a nother in that: when the sens of the texte is / let euery man be sure of his awne conscience / that he doo no thinge / excepte he know well and his conscience sarue him that it maye be lawfully done. But what care they to abuse gods worde and to wrest it vn to the contrary?

And in the last end / to vtter his excellent blindnesse / he saith / the wiseman Luther thinketh that if the gold were taken from the reliques / it wold be geuen vnto the pore immediatly / when he seith the contrary / that they which haue their purses full will geue the pore (if they geue ought) ether an halfe peny or in his contre the .iiij. parte of a ferthynge. Now I axe master

Mores conscience / seinge they haue no deuocion vn to the poore which are as christes awne person and for whom Christe hath sofered his passion that we shuld be kynd to them and whom to visett with oure almes is gods commaundement / with what minde doo they offer so greate treasure / to the garnessinge of shrines / images and reliques? It is manyfest that they which loue not gods commaundement / can do nothynge godly. Wherfore soch offeringes come of a false faith / so that they thinke them better then workes commaunded by god and beleue to be iustified therby. And therfore are they but imageseruice .

And when he saith / we might as well rebuke the powringe of the annoyntment on Christes heed. Nay / Christe was then mortall as well as we / and vsed soch thinges as we doo / and it refreshed his body. But and if thou woldest now powre soch on his image to doo him pleasure / I wold rebuke it.

iij.

In the third Chapter he bringeth in miracles done at S. Steuens tombe. I answere that the miracles done at saintes tombes / were done for the same purpose that the miracles which they did when they were aliue / were done: even to prouoke vn to the faith of their doctrine / and not to trust in the place or in bones or in the saint. As Paul sent his napken to heale the seke / not that men shuld put trust in his napkin / but beleue his preachinge.

And in the olde testament Eliseus healed Naaman the hethen man in the water of Ior

dayne / not to put trust in the water or to praye in that place / but to wonder at the power of god and to come and beleue / as he also did. And that his bones / when he was deed / reysed vpp a deed man / was not done that men shuld pray to him: for that was not lawfull then / by their awne doctrine / nether to put trust in his bones. For god to avoyd all soch Idolatrie / had poluted all deed bones / so that whosoeuer twitched a deed bone / was vncleane and all that came in his companye / vntyll he had washed him selfe: in so moch that if a place were abvsed with offeringe vn to Idoles / there was no beter remedie then to scater deed bones there / to driue the people thence / for beinge defiled and poluted. But his bones did that miracle / to testifie that he was a true prophete and to moue men vn to the faith of his doctrine.

And even so miracles done at the holy crosse / were done / to moue men vn to the faith of him that died theron / and not that we shuld beleue in the wodde.

He saith that pilgrimes put no trust in the place / as necromancers doo in their circles / and saieth he wotteth not what / to mocke out the texte of our sauioure of prayenge in the spirite. And in the ende he confoundeth him selfe sayenge /. we reken oure prayers moare pleasaunt in one place then in a nother. And that must be by the reason of the place / for god is as good in one place as in a nother and also the man. Morouer where a man pleaseth god best / thither is he most bounde to goo. And so that imaginacyon bindeth a man to the place with a false faith / as nicromancers trust in their circles.

And agayne if god had said that he wold moare heare in one place then in a nother / he had bound him selfe to the place. Now as god is like good euery where generally so hath he made his testament generally / whersoeuer mine hert moueth me and am quiet to pray vn to him / there to heare me like graciously.

And if a man laye to oure charge / that god bound them vn to the tabernacle and aftir to the temple in the old testament. I saye that he did it not for the places sake / but for the monumentes and testimonies / that their preached the worde of god vn to them / so that though the prestes had bene negligent to preach / yet shuld soch thynges that there were haue kepte the people in the remembraunce of the testament made betwene god and them. Which cause and soch like only shuld moue vs to come to church / and vn to one place moare then a nother. And as longe as I come moare to one place then a nother by cause of the quietnesse or that some thynge preacheth gods worde moare liuely vn to me there than in a nother / the place is my seruaunte and I not bonde to it: which cause and soch like taken awaye / I can not but put trust in the place as necromancers doo in their circles / & am an imageseruer and walke aftir myne awne imaginacion and not aftir gods worde.

And when he saith / we might as well mocke the obseruaunce of the paschall lambe. I answer / Christ oure paschall lambe is offered for vs and hath deliuered vs as Paul saith .1. Cor. v. whose signe and memoriall is the sacrament of his body and bloude. Morouer we were not deliuered out of Egypte. And therfore in as

moch as we be ouerladen with our awne / I se no cause why we shuld become Iewes / to obserue their ceremonies to.

And when he saith holy straunge gestures. I answere / for the holynesse I wyll not swere: but the straungenesse I dare well avowe. For euery prest maketh them of a sundrie maner and many moare madly then the gestures of Iackanapes. And when he saith that they were left from hand to hand sens the appostles tyme / it is vntrue. For the appostles vsed the sacrament as Christ did / as thou maist se .1. Corin .xj. Morouer the appostles left vs in the light and taught vs all the counsell of God / as Paule wittenesseth Actes .xx. and hid nothinge in straunge holy gestures and apes playe the significacions wherof noman might vnderstonde.

And a Christen man is moare moued to pitie saith he / at the sight of the crosse / then with out it. If he take pitie as English men doo / for compassion / I saye / that a Christen man is moued to pitie when he seith his brother beare the crosse. And at the sight of the crosse / he that is lerned in god / wepith not Christe with ignoraunt wemen / as a man doeth his father when he is deed: but morneth for his synnes / and att the sight of the crosse comforteth his soule with the consolacion of him that died theron. But their is no sight whether of the crosse or ought else / that can moue you to leue youre wekednesse / for the testament of god is not written in youre hertes.

And when he speaketh of prayenge at church who denyeth him that men might not praye at church or that the church shuld not be a place of prayar? But that a man coude not praye sa

ue at church / and that my prayars were not hearde as wel elsewhere / If I prayed with like feruentnesse and stronge faith / is a false lye.

And when he speaketh of the presence of god in the temple. I answere that the prophetes testified / how that he dwelt not there / and so doeth Paul Actes .xvij. and so doeth Steuen Actes .vij. and Salomon .iij. Of the kinges .viij. And no doute as the mad Iewes ment / he dwelt not there / ner as we moare mad suppose also. But he dwelled there only in his signes sacramentes / and testimonies which preached his worde vn to the people. And finally for their false confidence in the temple / god destroyed it. And no doute for oure false faith in visitynge the monumentes of Christe / therfore hath god also destroyed them and geuen the place vnder the infideles.

And when he speaketh of the piler of fire & cloude. I answere / that god was no nother wise present there then in all fire and in all cloudes saue that he shewed his power there specially by the reason of the miracle / as he doeth in the eyes of the blynde whom he maketh se / and yet is no nother wise present in those eyes then in other / ner moare there to be prayde to then in other. And in like maner he is no moare to be prayed to where he doeth a miracle then where he doeth nonne. Nether though we can not but be in some place / ought we to seke god in any place / saue only in oure hertes and that in verite / in faith hope and loue or charite acordynge to the worde of his doctrine.

And oure sacramentes / signes / ceremonies / images / reliques and monumentes ought to be

had in reuerence so ferforth as they put vs in minde of gods worde and of the ensample of them that liued therafter and no further.

And the place is to be sought and one to be preferred before a nother for quietnesse to praye and for liuely preachynge and for the preachynge of soch monumentes and so furth. And so longe as the people so vsed them in the olde testament / they were acceptable and plesaunt to god and god was saide to dwell in the temple. But when the significacions beinge lost / the people worsheped soch thynges for the thinges selues / as we now doo / they were abhominable to god and god was saide to be no lenger in the temple.

iiij.

And in the .iiij. he saith / that god setteth moare by one place then a nother. Which doctrine besydes that it shuld bynde vs vn to the place and god therto and can not but make vs haue confidence in the place / is yet false. For first god vn to whose worde we maye adde . nought / hath geuen no soch commaundement ner made any soch couenaunte. Nether is Christ here or there saith the scripture / but in oure hertes is the place where god dwelleth by his awne testimonie if his word be there.

And when he proueth it / because god doeth a miracle moare in one place then in a nother I answere / if god wyll doo a miracle / it requireth a place to be done in. How be it he doeth it not for the place but for the peoples sakes whom he wold call vn to the knowlege of his name / and not to worshepinge him moare in one place then in a nother.

As the miracles done in Egipte / in the red se / in mount Sinay and so forth were not done that men shuld goo in pilgremage vnto the places to praye there / but to prouoke them vnto the true knowlege of god / that after warde they myght euer praye in the spryte / where soeuer they were. Christ also did not his miracles that men shuld praye in the places where he did them / But to stere vpp the people to come and heare the worde of their soules health. And when he bringeth the miracle of Siloe / I answere / that the sayde miracle and that christ sent the blynd thither to receaue his sight / were not done / that men shuld praye in the pole: but the seconde miracle was so done / to declare the obedient faith of the blinde and to make the miracle moare knowen / and the first for the worde of God / that was preached in the temple / to moue the contre aboute to come thither and lerne to knowe God / and to become a liuely temple / out of which they might euer praye and in all places. Nether was the miracle of lazarus done / that men shuld moare praye in that place then in a nother / but to shew christes power and to moue the people thorow wonderinge at the miracle / to herken vnto gods worde and beleue it / as it is to se playnly.

Morouer God so loueth no church / but that the parish haue libertie to take it downe and to byld it in a nother place: ye and yf it be tymbre to make it of stone and to alter it at their pleasure. For the places / ye and the images must serue vs and not god which is a spirite and careth for none moare then other ner is other wise present in one then in a nother. And likewise ys yt of sayntes bones we maye remoue them whother we will / ye and breake all images therto and

make newe / or yf they be abused / put them out of the waye for euer / as was the brasen serpent / so that we be lordes ouer all soch thynges and they oure seruauntes. For if the sayntes were oure seruauntes / how moch moare their bones. It is the hert and not the place that worshepeth god. The kechen page turninge the spitt maie haue a purer hert to god / then his Master at church / and therfore worshepe God better in the kechen / then his master at church. But when wyll M. More be able to proue that miracles done at sayntes tombes / were done that we shuld praye vnto the sayntes / or that miracles done by deed saintes whych a liue nether preached gods worde ner coude doo miracle are done of god?

God loueth none angell in heuen better then the greatest sinner in erth that repenteth and beleueth in christ. But contrary wyse careth most for the weakest and maketh all that be perfecte their saruauntes / vntyll as paul saith .Eph. iiij. they be growen vpp in the knowlege of god in to a perfecte man and in to the measure of age of the fullnesse of christ / that is / that we know al the misteries and secretes that god hath hyd in christ / that we be no moare childern wauerynge with euery wynde of doctrine / thorow the sotiltie and wilinesse of men that come vppon vs to bringe vs in to erroure or begile vs. So ferre it is of that he wold haue vs kept downe to serue images. For with bodyly seruice we can serue nothinge that is a spirite. And therto if it were possyble that all the angeles of heuen coude be mine enimies: yet wold I hold me by the testament that my mercyfull and true father hath made me in the bloude off my sauyoure / and so come vnto

all that is promised me and christ hath purchased for me / and geue not a straw for them all.

v.

In the .v. chapter he falleth from al that he hath so longe swette to proue & beleueth not by the reason of the miracles / but by the comen consent of the church and that many so beleue. This man is of a ferre other complexion then was the prophete Elias. For he beleued a lone as he thought / agenst the consent by all likelyhod / of . ix. or .x. hundred thousand beleuers. And yet M. Mores church is in no nother condicion vnder the pope / then was that church agenst whose consent Elias beleued a lone vnder the kinges of Samary.

vj.

In the .vj. chapter & vnto the .xviij. he proueth all most nought saue that which neuer man denied him / that miracles haue bene done. But how to know the true miracles from the false were good to be knowen which we shal this wise do if as we take those for true sacramentes and ceremonies which preach vs gods worde / euen so we count them true miracles only which moue vs to herken therto.

xvj.

Concerninge his .xvj. chapter of the mayde of Ipswich / I answere / that Moses warned hys Israelites that false miracles shuld be done to proue them / whether their hertes were fast in the lorde. And euen so christ and the apostles shewed vs before that lienge miracles shuld come / to peruerte the very electe / if it were possyble.

And therfore we must haue a rule to know the true miracles from the false / or else it were impossible that any man shuld scape vndisceaued and continue in the true

waye. And other rule then thys ys there not: that the true are done / to prouoke men to come and herken vnto gods worde / and the false to confirme doctrine that ys not gods worde. Now yt ys not Gods worde if thou reade all the scripture thorowe out / but contrary therto / that we shuld put soch trust and confidence in our blissed lady as we doo / and cleane agenst the testament that is in christes bloude. Wherfore a man nede not to feare / to pronounce that the deuell dyd yt to mocke vs with all.

Neuer the later let vs compare the mayde of Ipswich and the maide of kent to gether. First they saye that the maide of Ipswich was possessed with a deuell & the maide of kent with the holy goste. And yet the tragedies are so lyke the one to the other in all poyntes / that thou cowdest not know the holy gost to be in the one and the deuell in the other by any dyfference of workes. But that thou mightest with as good reason saye that the deuell was in both / or the holy gost in both / or the deuell in the mayde of kent and the holy gost in the mayde of Ipswich. For they were both in like traunses / both raueshed from them selues / both tormented a lyke / both disfigured / lyke terreble ougly and grysely in sight / and theyr mouthes drawen a syde / euen vnto the very eares of them / both enspyred / both preach / both tell of wonders / wilbe both caryed vnto our lady / and are both certified by reuelacyon that our lady in those places and before those images shuld deliuer them.

Now as for the mayde of Ipswych was possessed off the deuell by theyr awne con

fession. Whence then came that reuelacion / that she shuld be holpe and all hir holy preachinge? Iff of the deuell / then was the myracle and all of the deuell. Iff of the holy gost / then was she inspired with the holy gost and had the deuell within hir both at tonce. And in as moch as the mayd of kent was inspired by the holy gost by their confession / whence came that stoppynge of hir throte / that rauinge / those greuouse panges / that tormentynge / disfigurynge / drawing of hir mouth awrye and that ferfull and terreble countenaunce? If of the holy gost / and then whi not the revell and gamboldes of the maide of Ipswich also? and then what mater maketh it whether a man haue the deuell or the holy gost in him. If ye saye of the deuell / then had she likewise both the deuell and the holy gost both at tonce. Morouer those possessed which Christ holpe avoyded christ and fled from him / so that other which beleued were fayne to bringe them vn to him agenst their willes. For which causes and many moo that might be made / thou maist conclude / that the deuell vexed them and preached in them / to confirme fayned confession and dome ceremonies and sacramentes with out significacion and damnable sectes / and shewed them those reuelacions. And assone as they were brought before oure ladies image / departed out of them / to delude vs and to turne oure faythes from Christ vn to an old blocke. As we reade in the legend of S. Bartholomewe / how the deuels hurte men in their lymmes and assone as they were brought in to a certayne temple before an Idole / their they departed out of them and so begyled the people makynge them beleue that the Idole had healed them of some naturall diseases.

How be it let it be the holy gost that was in the maide of kent. Then I praye you what thinge worthy of so greate prayse hath oure ladye done? Our lady hath deliuered her of the holy gost & emptyed her of moch hie lerninge which as a goodly poetisse / she vttered in rimes. For appose her now of christ / as scripture testifieth of him / and thou shalt finde her clene with out ryme or reason. The mayde was at home also in heuenly pleasures / and our lady hath deliuered her out of the ioyes of Orestes and brought her in to the miseries of middell erth agayne.

xvij.

As for dulia / yperdulia and latria / though he shew not with which of them he worsheped the cardinalles hatt / ys answered vnto hym all ready.

xviij.

In the .xviij. where he wold faine proue that the popes church can not erre / he allegeth thynges wherof he myght be asshamed / yf he were not past shame / to proue that the bisshopes haue auctorite to lade vs with tradicions nether profitable for soule nor body. He bringeth a false allegorie vppon the ouerplus that the Samaritane if it were layde out / promised to paye when he came agayne / for the bysshopes tradicions. Nay M. More / besydes that allegories which euery man maye fayne at his pleasure can proue nothynge / Chryst interpreteth it him selfe / that it betokeneth a kynde mynde and a louinge neyboure / whych so loued a straunger / that he neuer left carynge for hym / both absent as wel as present / vntyll he were full hole and comen out of all necessite.

It signifieth that the prelates / if they were

true apostles and loued vs after the doctrine of christ / wold sell their myters / croses / plate / shrynes / iuels and costly showes to socoure the pore and not robbe them / of all that was offered vn to them / as they haue done: and to repare thynges fallen in decaye and ruine in the comen welth / and not to bedger the realmes wyth false Idolatrye and imageseruice / that they haue not lefte them where wyth to beare the cost of the comen charges.

And Morouer when the scribes and phareses taught their awne doctrine / they satt not vppon Moses sete / but on their awne. And therfore christ (so far it is off that he wold haue vs herken vnto mans doctryne) sayde / bewarre of the leuen of the scribes / phareses and saduces which is their doctrine and rebuked them for their doctrine and brake yt hym selfe and taught hys dysciples so to doo and excused them / and sayd of all tradicions / that what soeuer his heuenly father had not planted / shuld be plucked vp by the rotes. And therto all the persecucion that the appostles had of the Iewes / was for breakynge of tradycyons.

Oure prelates ought to be oure saruauntes as the appostles were / to teach vs christes doctrine / and not lordes ouer vs / to oppresse vs with theyr awne. Peter calleth it temptynge of the holy goste actes .xv. to lade the hethen with ought a boue that whych necessite and brotherly loue required. And paul rebuketh his corinthians for their ouer moch obedience and the galathyans alsoo and warneth all men to stonde fast and not to sofre them selues to be brought in to bondage.

And when he sayth peter and paul commaunded vs / to obey oure superioures. That ys trouth / they commaunded vs to obey the temperall swerde whych the pope wyll not. And they commaunded to obey the bysshopes in the doctrine of christe and not in their awne. And we teach not to breake all thynges rashly / as M. More vntrulie reporteth on vs (which is to be sene in oure bokes / if men wil loke vppon them). Of tradicions therfore vnderstond generally. He that maye be fre is a fole to be bonde. But yf thorow wilinesse / thou be brought in to bondage: then yf the tradicion hurte thy soule and the fayth / they are to be broken immediatly / though wyth the losse of thy lyfe. If they greue the body only / then are they to be born tyll god take them off / for breakynge the peace and vnite.

Then how sore maketh he christes burthen. If yt be so sore / why is Master More so cruell to helpe the bysshopes to lade vs with moare? But surelye he speaketh verye vndiscretelye. For christ did not lade vs with one sillable moare then we were euer bounde to / nether did he saue interpret the law trulye. And besides that / he geueth vn to al his / loue vnto the law: which loue maketh all thynges easye to be born that were before impossible.

And when he saith / ye be the salt of the erth was spoken for the bysshops and prestes only yt ys vntrue / but yt was spoken generally vn to all that beleue and know the trueth / that they shulde be salt vnto the ignoraunt / and the perfecter vn to the weker / ech to other euery man in hys measure. And Morouer yf yt be spoken vn to the prelates only / how fortuneth yt that Master More ys so busye to salte the

world with his hie lernynge? And last of all the salt of oure prelates which ys theyr tradycions and ceremonyes wyth out sygnificacion ys vnsauerye longe a goo / and therfore no moare worth but to be cast out at the dores and to be troden vnderfote.

And that he sayth in the ende that a man maye haue a good faith with euell liuinge / I haue proued it a lie in a nother place. Morouer fayth / hope and loue be .iij. sisters that neuer can departe in this worlde / though in the worlde to come loue shal swalowe vp the other two. Nether can the one be stronger or weker then that other. But as moch as I beleue so moch I loue and so moch I hope: ye and so moch I worke.

xix.

In the .xix. he proueth that prayinge to saintes is good & miracles that confirme it are of god or els the church saith he doeth erre. It foloweth in dede or that the popis church erreth. And when he saith it is sinne to beleue to moch I saie we had the moare nede to take hede what we beleue and to serch gods worde the moare dylygently that we beleue nether to moch ner to litle.

And when he saith god is honoured by prayenge to saintes because it is done for hys sake: I answere / if it sprange not out of a false faith but of the loue we haue to god / then shuld we loue god moare. And morouer in as moch as all oure loue to god spryngeth out of faith / we shulde beleue and trust god. And then if oure fayth in god were greater then oure feruent deuocyon to sayntes / we shulde praye to no sayntes at all / seynge we haue promyses of all thynges in oure sauyoure Iesu and in the sayntes none at all.

XXV.

In the .xxv. how iugleth he / to proue that al that perteyneth vn to the faith / was not written / alleginge Ihon in the laste / that the world coude not conteyne the bokes / if al shuld be written. And Ihon meaneth of the miracles which Iesus did and not of the necessarie poyntes of the faith.

And how bringeth he in the perpetuall virginite of oure ladye which though it be neuer so true / is yet none article of oure faith / to be saued by. But we beleue it / with a story faith / because we se no cause resonable to thinke the contrary.

And when he saith many misteries are yet to be opened / as the cominge of antichriste. Naye verelye the babe is knowne well ynough and al the tokens spide in him which the scripture describeth him by.

And when he allegeth Paules tradicions to the tessalo. / to proue his phantasye. I haue answered rochester in the obedience / that his tradicions were the gospell that he preached.

And when he allegeth Paul to the corin. I saye that Paul neuer knew of this word Masse. Nether can any man gather there of any straunge holy gestures / but the playne contrary and that there was no nother vse there then to breake the breed amonge them at soper / as christ did. And therfore he calleth it christes soper and not Masse.

There was lerned the maner of consecracion. A greate doute / as though we coude not gather of the scripture how to do it. And of the water that the prest mingleth with the wine. A gre

ate doute also and a perelouse case if it were left out. For ether it was done to slake the hete of the wine or put to after / as a ceremonie / to signifie that as the water is chaunged in to wine / so are we chaunged thorow faith as it were in to christe and are one with him / how be it all is to their awne shame / that ought shuld be done or vsed amonge vs christen / where of noman wist the meaninge. For if I vnderstonde not the meaninge / it helpeth me not .1. corin. xiiij. and as experience teacheth. But if oure sheperdes had bene as wel willynge to fede as to shere / we had neded no soch dispicience / ner they to haue burnt so many as they haue.

And as for that he allegeth out of the epistle of Iames for the iustifienge of workes. I haue answered in the Mammon agenst which he can not hisse / and will speake moare in the .iiij. boke.

And as for the Saboth / agreate mater / we be lordes ouer the saboth and maye yet chaunge it in to the monedaye or any other daye / as we se nede / or maye make euery tenth daye holy daye only if we se a cause why / we maye make .ij. euery weke / if it were expedient & one not ynough to teach the people. Nether was there any cause to chaunge it from the saterdaye then to put difference betwene vs and the Iewes and lest we shuld become seruauntes vn to the daye aftir their supersticion. Nether neded we any holydaye at all / if the people might be taught with out it.

And when he axeth by what scripture we know that a woman maye christen. I answere / if baptim be so necessary as they make it / then

loue thy neyboure as thy selfe doeth teach wemen to baptise in tyme of neade: ye and to teach and to rule there husbandes to / if they be besydes them selues.

And when he saith that of likelyhode / the laye people vnderstode the gospell of Ihon and Paules pistles better then greate clerkes now. I answere / the moare shame is theirs. How be it ther be .ij. causes why: the one is their diligent sheringe: and a nother / they denye the iustifienge of faith where of both Paule and Ihon doo entreate and all most of nothynge else / if the significacyon of oure baptime which is the lawe of god and faith of christ / were expounded trulye vnto vs / the scripture wolde be easye to all that exercised them selues there in. And sir in as moch as the prelates care so litle for the losse of the vnderstondynge of the scripture and to teach the people / how happeneth it / that they care so sore for a bald ceremonie / which the significacion lost / though christ him selfe had institute it / we coude not obserue with out a false faith & with out hurtynge of oure soules?

And finally to rocke vs a slepe with all / he saith / that he shall neuer spede wel / that wil seke in the scripture whether our prelates teach vs a true faith / though ten preach ech contrary to other in one daye. And yet christ for all his miracles sendeth vs to the scripture. And for all Paules miracles / the Iewes studied the scripture the diligenterly / to se whether it were as he saide or no. How be it he meaneth / that soch can not spede wel because the prelates will burne them excepte M. More helpe them and make them forswere christ before hande.

xxvij.

In the .xxvij. he bringeth Paul exhortynge to agre & to tell al one tale in the faith which can not be saith Master More / excepte one beleue by the reason of a nother. Yes verelye we al beleue that the fyre is hotte and yet not by the reason of a nother and that with a moch surer knowlege then if we beleued it the one by the tellynge of a nother. And euen so they that haue the law of god written in their hertes and are taught of the spirite to know synne and to abhorre it / and to fele the power of the resurreccion of christ / beleue moch surer then they that haue no nother certente of their faith / then the popis preachynge confirmed with so godly liuinge.

And it is not vnknowne to M. More that the churches of late dayes and the churches now beinge haue determined thinges in one case the one contrarye to the other / in soch wyse that he can not denye but the one hath or doth erre: the which case I coulde shewe him if I so were minded. The olde popes / cardinalles and busshopes sayed yee to the thinge that I meane / where vnto these that now raigne saye naye. Now sir if you gather a generall counsell for the matter / the churches of fraunce and Italye will not beleue the churches of spayne & douchlonde because they so saye: but will aske how they proue it. Neyther will Louayne beleue Parise / because they saye that they can not erre / but will heare first their probacion. Also how shal we know that the old pope & his prelates erred / because these that are now so saye? When the old pope liued we were as moch bound to beleue that he coude not erre / as we be now that this can not: wherfore you must graunt me / that god must shew a miracle for the tone parte / or else they must brynge autenticke scripture.

Now sir god hath made his last and euerlastinge testament / so that all is open / and no moare behynde then the apperinge of Christe agayne. And because he will not stere vpp euery daye a new prophete with a new miracle to confirme new doctrine or to call agayne the old that was forgotten / therfore were all thynges necessarye to saluacion comprehended in scripture euer to endure. By which scripture the counseles generall and not by open miracles / haue concluded soch thinges as were in them determined / as stories make mencion. And by the same scripture we know which counseles were true and whych false. And by the same scripture shall we / if any new question arise / determine it also. Abraham answered the rich man / they haue Moses and the prophetes / let them heare them / and saide not / they haue the scribes and the phareses whom they shuld heare preachynge out of the sete of their awne doctrine with out scripture.

And when he allegeth / he that heareth you heareth me / and if any man heare not the church take him for an hethen / concludynge that we must beleue whosoeuer is shauen in all that he affirmeth with out scripture or miracle / I wold fayne wete in what figure that silogismus is made. Christes disciples taught Christes doctrine confirmynge it with miracles / that it might be knowen for gods and not theirs. And euen so must the church that I will beleue shew a miracle or bringe autenticke scripture that is come from the appostles which confirmed it with miracles.

xxix.

In the .xxix. he allegeth that christ saide not the holy gost shall write / but shall teach. It is

not the vse to saye / the holy gost writeth / but inspireth the writer. I maruayle that he had not brought / as many of his brethren doo / Matthew in the last / where Christ commaunded the appostles to goo and teach all nacions / and saide not write. I answere / that this precepte / loue thy neyboure as thy selfe and god aboue all thynge went with the appostles and compelled them to seke gods honoure in vs / and to seke al meanes to continue the faith vn to the worldes ende. Now the appostles knewe before that heresies shuld come / and therfore wrote / that it might be a remedie agenst heresies / as it well appereth Ihon .xx. where he saith / these are written / that ye beleue and thorow beleffe haue life. And in the seconde of his first pistle he saith / these I write because of them that deceaue you. And Paul and Peter therto warne vs in many places. Wherfore it is manifest / that the same loue compelled them to leue nothynge vnwritten that shuld be necessarily requyred / and that if it were left out / shuld hurte the soule.

And in the last Chaptre to make all fast / he bringeth in the kinges grace how he confuted Marten Luther with this conclusion / the church can not erre: where vn to I will make none answere for feare to displease his grace / neverthelesse because Marten coulde not soyle it / if his grace loke well vppon the matter / he shall finde that god hath assoyled it for him in a case of his owne.

And vppon that master More concludeth his first boke / that whatsoeuer the church / that is to wete / the pope and his brode saye / it is gods worde / though it be not written ner confirmed with miracle ner yet good liuinge / ye and

though they saye to daye this and to morow the contrarie / all is good ynough and gods worde: ye and though one pope condemne a nother (.ix. or .x. popes arow) with all their workes for heretikes / as it is to se in the stories / yet all is right & none erroure. And thus good night and good rest / Christ is brought a slepe and layde in his graue and the dore seled to / and the men of armes aboute the graue to kepe him doune with polaxes. For that is the surest argument / to helpe at nede and to be rid of these babillinge heretikes / that so barke at the holy spiritualtie with the scripture / beinge therto wretches of no reputacion / nether cardenales ner bisshopes ner yet greate benefised men / ye and with out totquottes and pluralities / hauynge no holde but the very scripture / whervnto they cleaue as burres so fast that they can not be pulled awaye saue with very singgynge them of.

¶A sure token that the pope is antichriste.

And though vn to all the argumentes & persuasions which he wold blinde vs with / to beleue that the pope with his secte were the right church / and that god for the multitude will not sofre them erre / we were so simple that we saw not the sotiltie of the argumentes ner had wordes to solue them with / but oure bare faith in oure hertes yet we be sure and so sure that we can therin not be disceaued / and doo both feale and se that the conclusion is false and the contrary true.

For first Peter saith .ij. Peter .ij. there shalbe false teachers amonge you whych shall secretly brynge in damnable sectes / denyenge the lorde that bought them / and many shall

folow their damnable wayes / by whom the waye of trouth shalbe evel spoken of / and with fayned wordes they shall make marchaundice ouer you. Now saith Paul Roma. iij. the law speaketh vn to them that are vnder the law. And euen so this is spoken of them that professe the name of christe. Now the pope hath .x. thousand sectes cropen in / as pied in their consciences as in their cotes / settynge vpp a thousand maner workes to be saued by / whych is the denyenge of Christe. And we se many and all most all to gether folow their damnable wayes. And in that Peter said that they shall rayle and blaspheme the trueth / it foloweth that there shalbe a litle flocke reserued by the hand of god to testifie the trueth vn to them or else how coude they rayle on it? And it foloweth that those raylars shalbe the mightier parte in the world / or else they durst not do it. Now what truth in christ doeth not the pope rebuke and in settynge vpp false workes denie all to gether? And as for their fayned wordes / where findest thou in all the scripture purgatory / shrift penaunce / pardon /pena culpa / yperdulia and a thousande fayned termes moo? And as for their marchaundice / loke whether they sell not all gods lawes and also their awne / and all synne and all Christes merites and all that a man can thynke. To one he selleth the faute only and to a nother the faute and the payne to / and purgeth his purse of his money and his braynes of his wittes / and maketh him so beestely / that he can vnderstonde no godly thynge.

And Christ saith Mathew .xxiiij. their shal false anoynted arise and shew signes and wonders: that is / they shall shew miracles and so pre

uayle that / if it were possible / the electe shuld be brought out of the true waye. And these false annoynted / by the same rule of Paul and in that christ saith also that they shal come in his name must be in the church of christ and of them that shall call them selves Christen / and shall shew their wonders before the electe and be a sore temptacion vn to them / to bringe them out of the waye. And the electe which are few in comparison of them that be called and come faynedly / shall amonge that greate multitude be kepte by the mightie hande of god agenst all naturall possibilite. So that the church and very electe shall neuer be soch a multitude to gether by them selues with out persecucion and temptacion of their faith / as the greate multitude vnder the pope is which persecute and sofre not. And these which the pope calleth heretikes shew no miracles / by ther awne confession / nether ought they / in as moch as they bringe no new lerninge ner ought saue the scripture which is all redy receaued and confirmed with miracles. Christ also promiseth vs nought in this world saue persecucion for oure faith. And the stories of the olde testament are also by Paulus .1. Cor. x. oure ensamples. And there / though god at a tyme called with miracles a greate multitude / yet the very chosen that receaued the faith in their hertes / to put their trust in God alone and which endureth in temptacions were but fewe and euer oppressed of ther false brethern and persecuted vn to the deeth and dreuen vn to corners.

And when Paul .ij. Tessa. ij. saith that Antichristes cominge / shalbe by the workynge of sathan with all power / signes and wonders of falshed and all disceaueablenesse for them that pe

rish / because they conceyued not loue vn to the trouth / to besaued by / & therfore shall god send them stronge delusion or gyle / to beleue lies: the texte must also pertayne vn to a multitude gathered to gether in Christes name of whych one parte & nodoute the gretter / for lacke of loue vn to the trouth that is in Christe / to liue therafter / shall faull in to sectes & a false faith vnder the name of Christe & shalbe induratt and stablished therin with false miracles to perish for their vnkyndnesse. The pope first hath no scripture that he dare abyde by in the light / nether careth / but blasphemith that his word is truer then the scripture. He hath miracles with out gods worde / as all false prophetes had. He hath lyes in all his legendes in all preachinges and in all bokes. They haue no loue vn to the trueth. Which appereth by their greate synnes that they haue sett vpp aboue all the abhominacion of all the hethen that ever were / & by their longe continuaunce therin: not of frailte: but of malice vn to the trueth & of obstinatt lust & selfe will to synne. Whych appereth in .ij. thynges: the one / that they haue gotten them with wiles & falsehed from vnder all lawes of man & even aboue kinge & emproure / that no man shuld constrayne their bodies & brynge them vn to better ordir / that they maye synne frely with out feare of man. And on the other syde / they haue brought gods worde aslepe / that it shuld not vnquiet their consciences / in so moch that if any man rebuke them with that / they persecute him immediatly and pose him in their false doctrine & make him an heretike and burne him and quench it.

And Paul saith .ij. Timothe .iij. in the later dayes there shalbe perelous times. For ther shal

be men that loue them selves / couetous / hye minded / proud / raylars / disobedient to father & mother / vnthankfull / vngodly / churlish / promisebreakers / accusars or pickquareles / vnlouinge / dispicers of the goode / traytours / hedy / puffed vpp and that loue lustes moare then god / hauynge an apperaunce of godlynesse / but denienge the power therof. And by power I vnderstonde the pure faith in gods worde which is the power & pith of all godlynesse & whence all that pleaseth god springeth. And this texte pertayneth vn to them that professe Christe. And in that he saith hauinge an apperaunce of godlynesse & of that foloweth in the texte / of this sorte ar they that entre in to mens howses & lead wemen captiue laden with synne / ever axynge & neuer able to atteyne vn to the trueth (as our hearers of confessions doo) it appereth that they be soch as wilbe holier then other & teachers & leaders of the rest. And loke whether there be here any sillable that agreeth not vn to oure spiritualtie in the hiest degre. Loue they not them selues their awne decrees and ordinaunces / their awne lies and dreames and despice all lawes of god and man regarde noman but them only that be disgysed as they be? And as for their couetousenesse which all the world is not able to satisfie / tell me what it is that they make not sarue it? in so moch that if god punish the world with an evell pocke / they immediatly paynt a blocke & call it Iob to heale the disease in stede of warnynge the people to mend their lyuinge. And as for their hye minde & pride / se whether they be not aboue kynges & emproure & al the names of god / and whether any man maye come to beare rule in this world excepte he be sworn to them and come vpp vnder them.

And as for there raylynge loke in their excomunicacion / and se whether they spare kinge or emproure or the testament of god. And as for obedience to father and mother / Nay / they be immediatly vnder god and his holy vicar the pope / he is their father and on his ceremonies they must wayte. And as for vnthankefull / they be so kynde / that if they haue receaued a thousand pound londe of a man / yet for all that they wold not receaue one of his offspringe vn to a nightes herber at his nede / for their founders sake. And whether they be vngodly or no I reporte me vn to the parchment. And as for churlishnesse / se whether they will not haue their causes venged / though it shuld cost hole regions / ye and al christendome / as ye shall se and as it hath cost halfe christendome all redie. And as for their promise or trucebreakynge / se whether any appoyntement maye endure for their dispensacions / be it neuer so lawfull / though the sacrament were receaued for the confirmacion. And se whether they haue not broken all the appoyntementes made betwene them and their founders. And se whether they be not accusers and traytours al so of all men / and that secretly and of their very awne kynges and of their awne nacion. And as for their heedinesse / se whether they be not prone / bold and runne hedelonge vn to all mischeue / with out pitie and compassion or caringe what misery and destruccion shuld fall on other men / so they maye haue their present pleasure fulfilled. And se whether they loue not their lustes / that they will not be refrayned from them ether by any law of god or man. And as for their apperaunce of godlynesse / se whether all be not gods seruice that they fayne / and se whether not

all most all consciences be captiue ther to. And it foloweth in the texte / as the sorserers of Egipte resisted Moses / so resisted they the trueth. They must be therefore mightie iugulars. And to poynte the popish with the fingre he saith / men ar they with corrupte mindes and castawayes concerninge faith / that is they be so fleshly minded / so croked so stoborn and so monstrouse shapen / that they can receaue no facion to stonde in any buyldynge that is grounded vppon faith / but when thou hast turned them al wayes and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame / thou must be fayne to cast them out with the turkes and Iewes / to serue god with the imageseruice of their awne false werkes. Of these and like textes and of the similitudes that christ maketh in the Gospell of the kingdome of heuen it appereth / that though the holy gost be in the chosen and teacheth them all trueth in Christe / to put their trust in him / so that they can not erre therin / yet while the world stondeth / God shall neuer haue a church that shall eyther persecute or be vnpersecuted them selues any season / aftir the fassion of the pope. But there shalbe in the church a fleshly seed of Abraham and a spirituall / a Caim and an Abel / an Ismaell and an Isaac / an Esau and a Iacob / as I have sayde / a worker and a beleuer / a greate multitude of them that be called and a small flocke of them that be electe and chosen. And the fleshlye shall persecute the spirituall / as Caim did Abel and Ismaell Isaac & soforth / and the greate multitude the smal litle flocke and antichrist wilbe euer the best christen man.

So now the church of god is dowble / a fleshly and a spirituall : the one wilbe and is not: the other is and maye not be so called / but must be called a lutheran / an heretike and soch like. Vnderstonde therfore / that god when he calleth a congregacion vn to his name / sendeth forth his mesingers to cal generally. Which mesingers bringe in a greate multitude amased & astonied with miracles and power of the reasons which the preachers make / and ther with be compelled to confesse that there is but one god of power and might a boue all and that Christ is god and man and borne of a virgin and a thousand other thinges. And then the greate multitude that is called and not chosen / when they haue gotten this faith comune as well to the deuels as them and moare strongly persuaded vnto the deuels then vn to them / then they goo vn to their awne imaginacions sayenge: we maye no lenger serue Idoles / but god that is but one. And the maner of seruice they fett out of their awne braynes and not of the word of god / and serue god with bodily seruice as they did in times past their Idoles / their hertes seruynge their awne lustes still. And one will serue him in white / another in blacke / a nother in greye and a nother in pied. And a nother to doo god a pleasure with all / wilbe sure / that his showe shal haue .ij. or . iij. good thicke soles vnder and will cut him aboue / so that in somer while the wether is whott / thou maist se his bare fote and in winter his socke. They wilbe shorn and shauen and Saduces: that is to saye / rightewes / and phareses / that is / seperated in facions from all wother men. Ye and they will consecrat them selues all to gether vn to god and will annoynte their handes

and halowe them as the chalice / from all maner laye vses: so that they maye serue nether father ner mother master lord or prince / for polutynge them selues / but must wayte on god only / to gather vpp his rentes / tithes / offeringes and al other duties. And al the sacrifice that come they consume in the altare of their belies and make Calil of it / that is / a sacrifice that noman maye haueparte of. They beleue that there is a god: But as they can not loue his lawes / so they haue no power to beleue in him / But they put their trust and confidence in their awne workes & by their awne workes they wilbe saued / as the rich of this world / when they sue vn to greate men / hope with giftes and presentes to obtayne their causes. Nether other seruinge of God know they / saue soch as their eyes maye se and their belies feale. And of very zele they wilbe gods vicars and prescribe a maner vn to other and aftir what facion they shall serue god / and compell them therto / for the avoydinge of Idolatrie / as thou seist in the phareses.

But litle flocke / as sone as he is persuaded that there is a god / he runneth not vn to his awne imaginacions / But vn to the mesinger that called him / and of him axeth how he shall serue god. As litle Paul acte. ix. when christ had ouer thrown him and caught him in his nett: axed sayenge: lord what wilt thou that I doo. And as the multitude that were conuerted actes .ij. axed of the apostles what they shulde doo. And the preacher setteth the lawe of god before them / and they offer their hertes to haue it written therin / consentinge that it is good and rightwysse.

And because they haue runne cleane contrary vn to that good law they sorow and morne / and because also their bodies and flesh are otherwise disposed. But the preacher comforteth them and sheweth them the testament of Christes bloud / how that for his sake all that is done is forgeuen / and al their wekenesse shalbe taken a worth vn tyll they be stronger / only if they repent and will submitte them selues to be scolars and lern to kepe this law. And litle flocke receaueth this testament in his hert and in it walketh and serueth God / in the spirite. And from hence forth al is christ with him / and christ is his and he christes. Al that he receaueth / he receaueth of christe / and all that he doeth / he doeth to christe. Father mother / master / lord & prince ar christ vnto him / and as christ he serueth them with al loue. His wife / childern / saruauntes and subiectes are christ vn to him / and he teacheth them to serue christ and not him selfe and his lustes. And if he receaue any good thinge of man / he thanketh God in christ / which moued the mans herte. And his neyboure he serueth as Christ in all his nede / of soch thynges as god hath lent / because that all degrees are bought as he is / with christes bloude.

And he wil not besaued / for seruinge his brethern / nether promiseth his brethern heuen for seruinge him. But heuen / iustifienge / forgeuenesse / all gyftes of grace and al that is promised them they receaue of Christ and by his merites frely. And of that which they haue receaued of christ they serue ech other frely as one hand doeth the other / sekinge for their seruice nomoare then one hand doeth of a nother eche the others health / wealth helpe / ayde / succoure and to assiste one a

nother in the waye of christ. And god they serue in the spirite only / in loue / hope faith and dreade.

When the greate multitude that be called and not chosen / Caim / Ismael / Esau and carnall Israel that serue God night and daye with bodyly seruice and holy workes soch as they were wont to serue their Idoles with all / behold litle flocke that they come not forth in the seruice of god / they rore out / where art thou? whi comest thou not forth & takest holy watere? wherfore saith litle flocke. To put awaye thy sinnes. Nay brethern / God forbid that ye shuld so thinke / Christes bloud only washeth awaye the synnes of all that repent and beleue. Fire / salt / water / bred / oyle be bodyly thynges / geuen vn to man for his necessite and to helpe his brother with / & god that is a spirite can not be serued therwith. Nether can soch thinges enter in to the soule to purge hir. For gods worde only is hir purgacion. No saye they / are not soch thinges halowed. And saye we not in the halowenge of them that whosoeuer is sprinkled with the water or eateth of the bred / shall receaue health of soule and body? Sir the blessynges promised vnto Abraham for all nacions are in christ / and out of his bloud we must fett them / and his word is the breed / salt and water of oure soules. God hath geuen you no power to geue thorow youre charmes soch vertue vn to vnsensible creatures / which he hath halowed him selfe and made them all cleane (for the bodyly vse of them that beleue) thorow his worde of promese and permission and oure thankes geuinge. God saith / if thou beleue saynt Ihons Gospell / thou shalt be saued / and not for the beringe of it aboute the with so many crosses /

or for the obseruinge of any soch obseruances.

God for thy bitter passion rore they out by and by / what an heretike is this? I tell the that holy church nede to allege no scripture for them for they haue the holy gost which inspireth them euer secretly / so that they can not erre whatsoeuer they saye / doo or ordayne . Whate wilt thou despice the blessed sacramentes of holy church wherwith god hath bene serued this .xv. hundred yere (ye verely this .v. thousand yeres / even sens caim hithirto / and shall endure vnto the worldes end / amonge them that haue no loue vn to the trueth to be saued therby) thou art a stronge heretike and worthy to be burnt. And then he is excomunicat out of the church. If litle flocke feare not that bogge / then they goo strayght vn to the kinge. And it like youre grace / perelous people and sedicious / and euen ynough to destroye youre realme / if ye se not to them betimes. They be so obstinat and tough / that they will not be conuerted / and rebellious agenst god and the ordinaunces of his holy church. And how moch moare shall they so be agenst youre grace / if they encrease and grow to a multitude. They wyll peruert all and suerly make new lawes and ether subdue youre grace vn to them or rise agenst you. And then goeth a parte of litle flocke to potte and the rest scatter. Thus hath it euer bene and shall euer be / lett noman therfore disceaue him selfe.

¶An answere to Master Mores seconde boke

In the first chapter ye may not trie the doctrine of the spiritualtie by the scripture: But what they saye / that beleue vndoutedly and by that trie the scripture. And if thou finde the playne contrary in the scripture / thou maist not beleue the scripture / but seke a glose and an allegorie to make them agre. As when the pope saith / ye be iustified by the workes of the ceremonies and sacramentes and so forth / and the scripture saith / that we be iustified at the repentaunce of the hert thorow Christes bloude. The first is true playne / as the pope saith it and as it stondeth in his texte / but the second is false as it appereth vn to thine vnderstandinge and the literall sens that kylleth . Thou must therfore beleue the pope and for Christes doctrine seke an allegorie and a misticall sens: that is / thou must leaue the clere light and walke in the miste. And yet Christ and his appostles for all their miracles required not to be beleued with out scripture / as thou maist se Ihon .v. and Actes .xvij. and bi their diligent alleginge of scripture thorow out all the new testament.

And in the ende he saith for his pleasure / that we knowlege / that noman may ministre sacraments but he that is deriuede out of the pope. How be it this we knowlege / that noman coude ministre sacramentes with out significacion which are no sacramentes saue soch as are of the popis generacion.

iij.

In the thrid chapter and in the chapter folowynge / he vttereth how fleshly minded he is / and how beestly he imageneth of God / as Paule saith .1. corin. 2. the naturall man can not vnderstond the thinges of the spirite of God. He thinketh of God / as he doeth of his cardenall / that he is a monstre / pleased when men flater him / and if of whatsoeuer frailte it be / men breake his commaundementes / he is then raginge mad as the pope is and seketh to be venged. Naye / God is euer fatherly minded toward the electe membres of his church. He loued them yer the world beganne / in Christ. Ephe. 1. He loueth them / while they be yet evell and his enimies in their hertes / yer they be come vn to the knowlege of his sone christe / and yer his law be written in their hertes: as a father loueth his younge sonne / whyle he is yet euell and yer it know the fathers law to consent therto.

And aftir they be once actually of his church and the law of God and faith of christ written in their hertes / their hertes neuer synne any moare / though as Paule saith .Roman. vij. the flesh doeth in them that the spirite wold not. And when they synne of frailte / God ceaseth not to loue them styll / though he be angrie / to put a crosse of tribulacions vppon their backes / to purge them and to subdue the flesh vn to the spirite or to al to breake their consciences with threateninge of the lawe and to feare them with hell. As a father when his sonne offendeth him feareth him with the rod / but hateth him not.

God did not hate paul / when he persecuted but had layd vpp mercy for him in store / though he was angre wyth hym to scorge hym and to teach him better. Nether were those thynges layd on his backe which he after sofered / to make satisfaccion for his foresinnes / but only to serue hys brethern and to kepe the flesh vnder. Nether did god hate Dauid when he had synned / though he was angre with him. Nether did he after sofre to make satisfaccyon to god for hys olde synnes / but to kepe his flesh vnder and to kepe hym in mekenesse and to be an ensample for oure lernynge.

iiij.

In the fourth saith he if the church were an vnknowen companie / how shuld the infydeles / yf they longed for the faith / come therby? O whother wandereth a fleshly minde / as though we first sought out god. Nay / God knoweth his and seketh them out and sendeth his mesingers vnto them and geueth them an hert to vnderstonde. Dyd the hethen or any nacyon seke chryste? Nay / christ sought them and sent hys appostles vnto them. As thou seyst in the storyes from the begynnynge of the worlde and as the parables and similitudes of the gospell declare.

And when he saith / he neuer founde ner herd of any of vs / but that he wold forswere to saue his life. Answere / the moare wrath of god will light on them / that so cruelly delite to torment them and so craftely to begyle the weake. Neuer thelesse yet it is vntrue. For he hath hearde of sir Thomas hitton whom the bisshopes of Rochester and caunterbury slew at maydstone and of many that sofered in braband holland and at colen and in all

quarters of douchlonde and doo dayly.

And when he saith that their church hath many marters / let him shew me one / that died for pardons / and purgatory that the pope hath fayned / and let hym take the mastrie.

And what a doo maketh he / that we saye / there is a church that sinneth not and that there is no man but that he sinneth / which are yet both true. We read .j. Ihon .iij. he that is born of god synneth not. And Eph. v. men loue youre wives as the lorde doeth the church / and gaue him selfe for her / to santifie her and to dense hir in the fountaine of water thorow the worde / and to make hir a glorious church vn to him selfe / with out spott or wrincle.

And .j. Ihon .j. If we saie / we haue no sinne we disceaue oure selues and make him a lyer and hys worde is not in vs. Master More also wyl not vnderstond that the church ys some tyme taken for the electe only which haue the law of god written in their hertes and fayth to be saued thorow christe written there also. Whych same for all that saye wyth paul / that good which I wold / that doo I not. But that euell which I hate / that do I: so it is not I that doo it but sinne that dwelleth in my flesh.

And Gala. v. the flesh lusteth contrary to the spirite and the spirite contrary to the flesh / so that these two fightynge betwen them selues / ye can not doo what ye wolde. For they neuer consent that synne is good ner hate the law ner cease to fight agenst the flesh / but assone as they be faullen / rise and fight a fresh. And that the church ys some tyme taken for the commen rascall of all

that beleue / whether wyth the mouth only and carnally with out spyryte nether louinge the law in their hertes nor fealinge the mercy that is in christ / but ether runne all to gether at ryott or kepe the law with cauteles and exposycions of their awne fayninge & yet not of loue but for feare of hell / as the theues do for feare of the galowes / and make recompence to god for their synnes wyth holy dedes.

He also wyll not vriderstonde / that there be twoo maner faythes: one / that ys the faith off the electe / whych purgeth them of all their synnes for euer. As ye se Ihon .xv. ye be cleane sayth christ / be the reason of the worde: that is / thorow beleuinge christes doctryne. And Ihon .j. he gaue them power to be the sonnes of God / thorow beleuinge in hys name. And Ihon .iij. he that beleueth the sonne hath euerlastynge lyfe / and a thousand like textes.

And a nother of them that be called and neuer electe. As the fayth of Iudas / of symon magus / of the deuel / and of the pope. In whose hertes the law of god ys not wrytten / as it appereth by their workes. And therfore when they beleue many thynges of christe / yet when they come vnto the saluacion that is in his bloude / they be but Iewes and turkes and forsake christ and runne vn to the iustifienge of ceremonies wyth the Iewes and turkes. And therfore they remayne euer in synne within in theyr hertes.

Where the electe hauinge the law written in their brestes and louinge it in their spirites / synne there neuer / but with out in the flesh. Agenst which sinne they fight continually & minishe it daily

with the helpe of the spirite / thorow prayar / fastynge and seruinge their neybours louingly with all maner seruice / out of the law that is written in their hertes. And their hope of forgeuenesse is in Christe only / thorow his bloude and not in ceremonyes.

V.

And vn to his .v. Chapter I answere / by the pope the scripture is hid and brought in to ignoraunce & the true sens corrupte. And by them that ye call heretikes we knowe the scripture and the true sens theroff. And I saye / that the pope kepeth the scripture as did the phareses / to make marchaundice of it. And agayne / that the heretikes become out of you / as out of the scribes & phareses came the appostles and Christ him selfe and Ihon Baptiste / and that they be plucked out of you and graffed in Christe and bilt vppon the fundacion of the appostles and prophetes.

And in the end / when he saith that the heretikes be faullen out of Christes mistical bodi which is the pope and his. I answere that ye be a misticall body and walke in the mist and will not come at the light / and the heretikes be departed out of youre mist and walke in the clere light of gods worde.

vj.

In the .vj. he saith that the heretikes be all nought / for they all periure & abiure. He yet saieth vntrue. Many abyde vn to the deeth. Many for their wekenesse ar kepte out of youre handes. Many for their ouer moch boldnesse in their awne strength be deliuered in to youre handes & fall in the flesh / their hertes abydinge still in the trueth as Peter & thousandes did / & aftir repent

& be no lesse cristen then before though ye haue them in dirision vn to youre awne damnacion. And many because they come to Christ for fleshly liberte and not for loue of the trouth / fall as it becometh them / vnder youre handes: as Iudas & Balam / which at the begynnynge take christes parte / but aftirward when they finde ether losse or no vauntage they gett them vn to the contrary part and are by profession the most cruelle ennimies & sotellest persecuters of the trouth. Loke Master More and rede and marke well.

vij.

In the .vij. he saith / that he hath holy saintes and holy counsels on his side. Name the sayntes and proue it. Name the counsells and the holy prelates there of. Thou shalt shew me no nother popes or cardenales / then soch as we haue now / that wyll obey nother god ner man / or any law made by god or man: but compell all men to folow them / strengthynge their kingdome with the multitude of all misdoars.

He saith also that good and bad worshepe saintes / the good well and the bad evell. How cometh it then / that ye shew not the difference & teach to doo it wel? I se but one facion amonge all the popish.

And finally he saith he is not bounde to answere vn to the reasons and scripture that are layde agenst them. It is ynough to proue their part / that it is a comen custume and that soch a multitude doo it / and so by his doctrine the turkes are in the right waye.

viij.

In the .viij. he saith / the saintes be moare charitable now then when they liued. I answere / Abraham was while he liued as charitable as the best. And yet deed / he answered him / that prayed him / they haue Moses and the prophetes / lett them heare them. And so haue we / not Moses and the prophetes only / but a moare clere light / euen Christ and the appostles / vn to whych if we herken we be saintes all ready.

And to proue that they in heuen be better then we in erth / he allegeth a texte of oure sauioure Luke .vij. that the worst in heuen is better then Ihon Baptist. Now the texte is / he that is lesse in the kingdome of god is gretter then he. We that beleue are gods kingedome. And he that is lest (in doenge seruice vn to his brythern) is euer the grettest aftir the doctrine of Christe. Now Christ was lesse then Ihon for he did more seruice then Iohan / and therfore greater then he. And by their awne doctrine there was no sainte in heuen before the resurreccion of Christe / but what care they what they saye / blinded with their awne sophistrie.

Morouer cursed is he that trusteth in ought saue god saith the texte and therfore the saintes wold haue no man to trust in them whyle they were a liue. As Paul saith .1. Corin. iij. what is Paul saue youre saruante to preach Christe. Did Paul die for you? were ye baptised in the name of Paul? Did I not marie you to Christ / to put youre trust in him? And againe let noman reioyce or trust in man / saith he. For all are youres whether Paul / or Appollo or Cephas: whether the world / life / deeth / present thynges or thynges to come: all are youres & ye are Christes /

and christ is gods. If my faith be stedfast in the promises that I haue in Christes bloud / I nede but to praye mi father in Christes name and he shall send me a legion of angels to helpe me: so that my faith is lorde ouer the angels and ouer all creatures to turne them vn to my soules health and my fathers honoure / and maye be subiecte vn to no creature / but vn to gods worde in oure sauioure Christe only. I may haue no trust therfore in the saintes. If ye saye / ye put no trust in them / but only put them in remembraunce of their dutie / as a man desyreth his neyboure to praye for him / remembring him of his dutie /and as when we desyre our brethern to helpe vs at oure nede. That is false / for ye put trust in all youre ceremonies and all youre holy dedes and in whosoeuer disgyseth him selfe and altereth his cote from the comune facion / ye and euen in the cotes of them that be not yet saintes / aftir youre doctrine.

Yf a prest said masse in his gowne / wold ye not rise agenst him and slee him / and that for the false faith that ye haue in the other garmentes. For what honoure can those other garmentes doo to god moare then his gowne or profit vn to youre soules / seinge ye vnderstonde nought ther by? And therto in the collectes of saintes ye saye / saue me God and geue me euerlastinge life for the merites of this or that saint / euery man aftir his phantasie chosynge him some one sainte singularly to be saued by. With which collectes I praye you shew me how stondeth the deeth of Christe? Paul wold saye that Christ died in vayne if that doctrine were true.

And therto in as moch as ye saye / the saintes

merite or deserue not in heaven / but in this world only / it is to be feared / lest their merites besore wasted and the deseruinges of many al spent thorow oure holy fathers so greate liberaltye.

Abraham and the prophetes / and the appostles and many sens praide to no saintes & yet were holy ynough.

And when he saith / they coude helpe when they were aliue. That was thorow their faith in beleuinge the promise. For they had promises that they shuld doo soch miracles to stablish their doctrine and to prouoke vn to Christ / and not vn to them selues.

And when he proueth that the saintes be in heuen in glorie with Christ all ready sayenge if god be their god they be in heuen / for he is not the god of the deed. There he steleth awaye Christes argument where with he proueth the resurreccion / that Abraham and all saintes shuld rise againe & not that their soules were in heuen which doctrine was not yet in the worlde. And with that doctrine he taketh awaye the resurreccion quite / and maketh Christes argument of none effecte. For when Christe allegeth the scripture that god is Abrahams god / and addeth to / that god is not the god of the deed / but of the liuinge and so proueth that Abraham must rise agayne: I deny christes argument and saye with master More / that Abraham is yet aliue / not because of the resurreccion / but because his soule is in heuen. And in like maner Paules argument vn to the Corrinthians is nought worth. For when he saith / if there be no resurreccion / we be of all wretches the most miserablest. Here we haue no pleasure / but sorow / care / and oppression. And therfore if we rise not agayne / all our soferinge

is in vayne. Nay Paul / thou art vnlerned: goo to master More and lerne a newe waye. We be not most miserable / though we rise not agayne / for oure soules goo to heuen assone as we be deed / and are there in as greate ioye as christ that is rysen agayne. And I maruell that Paul had not comforted the Tessalonians with that doctrine / if he had wist it / that the soules of their deed had bene in ioye / as he did with the resurreccion / that their deed shuld rise agayne. If the soules be in heuen in as greate glorie as the angels aftir youre doctrine / shewe me what cause shulde be of the resurreccion.

And when he saith / whether the saintes do it them selues / or by intercession made to god / it maketh no mater / so we be holpe / it appereth bi his doctrine / that all is good that helpeth / though a man praye vn to the deuell / by whom many be holpe. Now in Christ we haue promises of al maner helpe & not in them. Where then is our faith to be holpe by Christ when we hope to be holpe by the merites of saintes? So it appereth that the moare trust we haue in saintes / the lesse we haue in Christe.

And when he bringeth in a similitude that we praye phisicions / though god can helpe vs / and therfore we must praye to saintes. It is not like / for they haue naturall remedies for vs whych we must vse & not tempte god. But the saintes haue no naturall remedies ner promise of supernatural. And therfore it can be but a false supersticious faith. And where no natural remedie is there god hath promised to help them that beleue in him. And moreouer when I praye a phisicion or surgion and trust to be holpe by them / I dishonoure god / excepte I first praye to god and be

leue that he will worke with their doctrine and medicines & so receaue mine health of the hond of God. And euen so when I praye to man / to helpe me at mine nede / I synne excepte I complayne first to god & shew him my nede & desyre him to moue one or a nother to helpe me / and then when I am holpe / thanke him and receaue it of his hande / in as moch as he moued the herte of him that holpe me and gaue him wherewith and a commaundement to doo it. M. More. Christ is not dishonoured because that they which here preach him truly / shall sitte and iudge with him. Tindale. That to be true the scripture testifieth / but what is that to youre purpose that they which be deed can heare vs and helpe vs? How be it / if master More shuld describe vs those setes /I am sure he wold paynte them aftir the facion of my lorde cardenales holy cheyar / as he doeth God aftir the similitude of worldely tirantes and not accordinge to his awne worde. For they that be worldely & fleshly minded can but fleshly imagen of god all to gether like vn to the similitude of worldely thinges. Master More. The apostles and saintes were prayd so when they were aliue and god not dishonoured. Tindale. What helpeth that your carnall purpose . I haue answered you vn to that and manye thynges moo in the obedience and other places agenst which ye replye not / but kepe youre tune and vn to al thynge singe kokow / kokow / we be the church and can not erre. The appostles had gods word for all that they did and ye none. And yet many dishonoured god and christ for theyr false trust and confidence which they had in the appostles as thou maist se by paul to the corinthi.

Then he breaketh forth in to open blasphemy

and sayth that it behoueth vs to praye vn to saintes and that god will else not heare vs / for oure presumptuouse malapertenesse. So it is now presumptuous malapertenesse to trust in gods worde and to beleue that god is true. Paul teacheth vs to bebolde to goo vn to god and sheweth vs good cause in Christe / whi we so maye and that god wold so haue vs. Nether is there any cause to kepe vs backe / saue that we loue him not ner trust him. Yf a man saye / oure synne shuld kepe vs backe. I saye if we repent & beleue in Christ / Christ hath taken them awaye and therfore thorow him we maye be bolde. And Christ saide at his last soper Ihon .xvj. I saye not that I will praye for you vnto my father / for my father loueth you. As who shulde saye / be not afrayed ner stonde with out the dores as a dastard: but be bold and goo in to my father youre selues in my name / and shew youre complayntes / for he now loueth you / because ye loue my doctrine. And Paul sayth Ephe. ij. we haue al an open waye in thorow him / and are now no more forennars or straungers but of the howshold of god. Of god therfore we be bold as of a most louinge and mercifull father / aboue all the mercy of fathers. And of our sauioure Iesus we be bold / as of a thynge that is oure awne and moare oure awne then oure awne skynnes / and a thynge that is so soft and gentle / that lade we him neuer so moch with oure synnes / he can not be angre ner cast them from off his backe / so we repent and wyll mend. But Master More hath a nother doctrine to driue vs from god and to make vs tremble and be afferde of him.

He likeneth god to worldly tirantes / at who

me no man maye come / saue a few flaterars whych ministre vn to them all voluptuousnesse and sarue their lustes at all poyntes. Which flaterars must first be corrupte with gyftes / yer a man may come at the kinge. Then he saith / a man maye praye to euery deed man. That me thinketh shuld be agenst the popes doctrine and profite also. For he will haue no man prayed to vntyll he haue canvesed him / I wold saye / canonised him / and tyll god or at the lest waye the deuell haue shewed miracles for him.

Then he bringeth how one that was deed and in the inuisible purgatory holpe a nother that was aliue and in the visible purgatory. This is a straunge case / that a man there maye helpe a nother and not him selfe. And a moare straunge case that god heareth a man here for him selfe / beinge in his awne purgatory and helpeth him cleane out / or easeth him if it be to sore. But and he be in the popes purgatory god will not heare him for him selfe / and that because the pope might haue somewhat to deliuer him. And the straungest case of all is that the pope is allmyghty there and god can do there nought at all as the pope can not here in this purgatori. But because this is not gods worde ner like godis doctrine / I thinke it no damnable synne to beleue it poetrie.

Then how ye maye praye for them and to them / tyll they be canonised: and when they be canonised / but to them only / for then ye be sure that they be in heuen. By what token? I maye be as sure by the canonisynge / as I am that all the bisshopes which the pope confirmeth / be holy men / and all the doctours that he maketh wel lerned / and that all the prestes which he annoyn

teth haue the holy gost. If ye saye / because of the miracles / then doo men wronge to praye for kinge henry of windesore at cambryge and Eton. For he / as men saye doeth miracles. And also if the miracles certifie vs / what nedeth to by the popis canonisynge?

ix.

In the .ix. he putteth no ieopardy to praye to him that is damned and to steke vpp a candle to him ner I trow vn to the deuell therto / if he might haue a vauntage by him.

Then he maketh no ieopardie to doo and beleue whatsoeuer an open multitude called godes church doeth and beleueth. For god will haue an open church that can not erre. For saith he / when the Israhelites fell to Idolatrie / the true church remayned in Hierusalem amonge the Iewes. First I saye / if a man had no beter vnderstondinge then M. Mores doctrine / he coud not know whether were the true church / the Iewes or the Israelites. For the Israelites were in numbre . v. tymes moo then the Iewes and worsheped god / though as present in the image of a calfe / as the Iewes for the most part / present in the arcke of testimonie. And secondarily he saith false. For the Iewes were faullen in to open Idolatrie a thousand tymes worse then the Israelites / even in their very temple / as it appereth by open stories and bi the Prophetes: so that for their open Idolatrie / whych they wold for no preachynge of the prophetes amende / their prestes therto resistynge the prophetes and coragynge the people in their wekednesse / god sent them captiue out of the lande. Ye and the people erred in folowynge the scribes and phareses and the

open multitude called Gods church / at the comynge of Christ / as it is to se in the gospell / contrary vn to Master Mores deceytfull poetrye. And againe / god reserued him a litle flocke euer in Israel and had euer prophetes there / some tyme openly and some tyme in persecucion / that euery man must hide him selfe and kepe his faith secret: and euen in the houses of the euell kynges both of Iewri and also of Israel he had good people / and that amonge the hie officers / but secretly / as Nycodemus amonge the phareses. So that the very church was euery where oftimes in captiuite and persecucion vnder their brethern / as we be vnder oures in the kingedome of the pope.

Then he putteth no ieopardy to worshupe an vnconsecrated hoste. But with what worshupe men shuld worshepe the consecrated doeth he not teach / nether the vse of that sacrament or any other / ner how ought maie be worsheped but teacheth only that all thynges maye be worsheped / and sheweth not the right worshepe from the false.

Then he noteth Paule .1. Corin. 1. how he exhorteth vs to agre only / but not on the trueth or on the good / but only to agre a greate multitude to gether. O this depe blindenesse. Did not Paul first teach them the true waye? And did he not instructe them anew in the true waye and in the saide epistle rebuke the false confidence that they had in men / the cause of all their dissension and all erroures that were amonge them?

Then he saith / the Iewes had saintes in honoure / as the Patriarkes and Prophetes. We teach to dishonoure none: But the Iewes prayd

to none.

More. Christ rebuked not the Phareses for garnishinge the sepulchres of the prophetes but for that they folowed the condicions of them that slew them. Tindale. Yes & for their false trust in soch werkes as we doo you. And ye Sir thynke that ye deserue heuen in worshepynge the saintes bones / and be as redy to sle them that beleue / teach and liue as the saintes did / as youre fathers were to sle them: besydes that ye worshepe saintes that folowed Christ aftir the ensample of youre holy cardenall / of whom I doute not but that ye wil make a god in processe of tyme also.

Then repeteth he for forgettynge / how Eliseus bones reysed vpp a deed body. That was to confirme his preachinge only. For the Israelites / as weked as they were / nether prayed to him / nether kissed his bones / ner offered ner steked vpp candels before him. Which thynge if they had done in the kingdome of the Iewes / I doute not but that some good kynge wold haue burnt his bones to asshes / as wel as the brasen serpent / that was as greate a relique as deed bones. And Christ shewed miracles at the findynge of the crosse. That was to stablish the faith of Christes deeth & that it shuld be a memory of his deeth / and not that we shuld trust in the wod as we doo. For whych false abuse / the hole lande where Christ did his miracles / is destroyed.

Then he allegeth the woman that was healed / thorow twitchinge of Christes cote / because we shuld worshepe it. When Christ said hir faith hath made hir hole / not in the cote / but in Christe.

And the miracle was shewed / to prouoke to the worshepinge of the preachynge and not of the cote. Though to kepe the cote reuerently in the memoriall of the dede / to prouoke vn to the faith of Christ were not evell of it selfe. And Paule by youre doctrine / sent his napken to heale the seke / that men shuld shrine his sneueled napken / and not to beleue his preachinge.

x.

The .x. chapter of sent walary is mete for the auctor and his worsheple doctrine.

xj.

In the .xj. he iugleth with this misticall terme latria. I answere / god is no vayne name / but signifieth one that is almightie / all mer- cifull / all true and good. Which he that beleueth will goo to god / to his promises and testament and not folow his awne imaginacions / as Master Mores doctrine teacheth.

He saith that bodyly seruice is not latria. No but bodyly seruice done and referred vn to him which is a spirite / is Idololatria.

He trusteth that men know the image from the saint. I axe M. More whi god did hide Moyses body and diuers other. The Iewes wold haue knowen that Moses had not bene god and that Moses bones had not bene Moses. And they knew that the brasen serpent was not god / and that the golden calues were not god / and that wod and stone were not god. But Sir there is euer a false imaginacion by. The world because they can not worshepe god in the spirite / to repent off euell and to loue the lawe and to beleue that he wyll helpe at all nede / therfore runne vn to theyr awne imagynacyons

and thinke that god for soch seruyce as they doo to images / will fulfill their worldly desyres: for godly can they nought desyre. Now God is a spirite and wilbe worsheped in his worde only which is spirituall / and wil haue no bodylye seruice. And the ceremonies of the olde law he set vpp / to signifie his worde only and to kepe the people in minde of his testament. So that he which obserueth any ceremonie of any other purpose is an Idolater / that is / an imageseruer.

And when he saith / if men axe wemen whether it were oure lady of walsingam or Ipsewich that was saluted of Gabriel or that stode by Christ when he henge on the crosse / they will saye nether nother. Then I axe him what meaneth it / that they saye oure lady of walsynggam praye for me oure lady of Ipswich praye for me our lady of wilsdon praye for me / in so moch that some which reken them selues no small foles / make them roules of halfe an houre longe / to praye aftir that maner. And they that so praye / thou maist besure / meane oure lady that stode by the crosse / and hir that was saluted therto.

Then he reherseth many abuses / and how wemen singe songes of ribaudrie in processions in cathedrall churches. Vn to which abhominacions yet our holy church that can not erre / consent with full delectacion. For on the on syde they will not amend the abuse. And on the other syde they haue hired M. More to proue with his sophistrie / that the thynges ought not to be put doune.

Then he bringeth in how the wild Irish and the welch praye / when they goo to stele. And ax

eth whether / because they abuse prayar / we shuld put all prayenge downe. Naye M. More / it is not like. Prayar is gods commaundement / and where faith is / there must prayar nedes be and can not be awaye. How be it / thinges that are but mennes tradicions and all indifferent thinges which we maye be as well with out as with / maye welbe put doune for their dishonouringe of god / thorow the abuse. We haue turned kissinge in the church in to the pax. We haue put done watchinge all night in the church on saintes evens / for the abuse. And Ezechias brake the brasen serpent .iiij. of kinges .xviij. for the abuse. And euen so / soch processions and the multitude of ceremonies and of holidayes to / might as wel be put downe. And the ceremonies that be left wold haue their significacions put to them & the people shuld be taught them. And on the sondayes gods word wolde be truly preached. Which if his holy church wold do / nether the Irish ner yet the welsh wold so praye. By which prayenge and other like blindnesse / Master More maye se / that buzssynge in latine on the holy dayes helpeth not the hertes of the people. And I wondre that M. More can laugh at it and not rather wepe for compassion / to se the soules for which christ shed his bloude / to perish. And yet I beleue that youre holy church wil not refuse at ester to receaue the tithes of all that soch blind people robbe / as wel as they dispence with all false gotten good that is brought them / And will laye the ensample of Abraham and Melchisedec for them.

xij.

In the .xij. he allegeth that S. Hierom and Augustine prayed to sayntes / and concludeth / that if any secte be one better then a nother they be the beste. I answere / though he coude proue that they prayed to saintes / yet coude he not proue him selfe therby of the best secte ner that it were good therfore to praye to saintes. For first the apostles / patriarkes and prophetes were sure to befolowed / which prayed to nonne. And agayne / a good man might erre in many thynges and not be damned / so that his erroure were not directly agenst the promises that are in christes bloude / nether that he held them maliciously. As if I beleued that the soules were in heuen immediatly and that they praid for vs / as we doo one for a nother / and did beleue that they herd all that we spake or thought / and vppon that prayed to some saint / to praye for me / to put him in remembraunce only / as I praye my neyboure / and with out other trust or confidence and though al be false / yet shuld I not be damned / so longe as I had no obstinacie therin / for the faith that I haue in christes bloude shuld swalowe vp that erroure / tyll I were better taught / but master More shuld haue alleged the places where they prayed vn to sayntes.

And then he allegeth agenst him self / that the miracles were wrought by god / to confirme his doctrine and to testifie that the preacher therof was a true mesinger. But the miracles that confirme praienge to saintes / doo not confirme gods doctrine. But mannes imaginacions. For there was neuer man yet that came forth and saide / loo / the soules of the sayntes that be deed

be in heuen in ioye with christe and god wil that ye praye to them. In token wherof / I doo thys or that miracle.

And when he triumpheth a litle after / as though all were wonne saynge / if oure old holy doctoures were false and their doctrine vntrue and their miracles fayned / let them come forth and doo miracles them selues and proue oures fayned. Sir / ye haue no doctours that did miracles to stablish youre worshepynge of images and so forth. Youre doctrine is but the opinion of faithlesse people / which to confirme the deuel hath wrought moch sotilte. And as for the miracles done at sayntes graues and at the presens of reliques / as longe as true miracles endured and vntyll the scripture was autentickly reaceaued / wher done to confirme the preachinge that soch saintes had preached / whyle they were alyue. And therto the miracles which witches doo / we confounde not with other miracles / But with scripture we proue them not of god / but of the deuel / to stablish a false fayth and to leade from god / as youre doctrine doeth. And likewise where we can confunde youre false doctryne wyth autenticke and manifest scripture / there nede we to doo no miracle. We bringe gods testament confirmed wyth miracles for al that we doo / and ye ought to require no moare of vs.

And in like maner do ye firste geue vs autenticke scripture for youre doctrine. If ye haue no scripture come forth and preach youre doctryne and confirme it wyth a myracle. And then if we brynge not autenticke scripture agenst you or confounde youre myracle wyth a greater as Moses dyd the sorserars of Egypte / we wyll beleue you.

And when he speaketh of tryal of miracles what doo ye to trie youre miracles / whether they be true or fayned. And besydes that / gods worde which shuld be the triall / ye refuse and do al that ye can to falsifie it.

And when he speaketh of sectes of heretykes / I answere / that they which ye call heretikes beleue all in one christe / as the scripture teacheth / and ye in all thinge saue christe. And in youre false doctrine of youre awne fayninge with out scripture / ye haue as many sundrie sectes as all Monkes and freres and studentes in diuinite in all youre vniuersites. For first yer ye come to diuinite / ye be all taught to denye the saluacion that is in christe. And none of you teacheth a nother so moch as the articles of youre fayth. But folow all most euery man a sundrie doctoure and in the scripture his awne brayne / framinge it euer after the false opynyons whych he hath professed yer he come at it.

And when he saith that god wold sone vttur fayned miracles. I answere / God hath had at all tymes one or a nother to improue youres wyth gods worde. And I axe whether Mahometes fayned myracles haue not preuayled .viij. hundred yeres. And youre abhominable dedes worse then the turkes testifye that ye loue the trouth lesse then they. And vn to them that loue not the trueth hath god promised by the mouth off paul .ij. Thessalo. ij. to send them aboundaunce and strength of false miracles / to stablysh them in lies and to dysceaue them and leade them out off the waye / so that they can not but perysh / for their vnkyndnesse / that they loued not the trueth / to lyue therafter and to honoure god in thir membres.

And when he saith the heretykes haue no myracles. I answere / they nede not / so longe as they haue autenticke scripture.

And when he sayth God sheweth no miracles for the doctours of the heretikes. No moare he nedeth not / for all they preach / ys the scripture confirmed with miracles / and receaued many hundred yeres agoo. And therefore God nedeth not to shew miracles for them whyle they lyue to strength theyr preachynge. And to shew myracles for them when they be deed / to moue the people to praye to them and to put their trust in them / as ye doo in youres / were to make them Idoles and not sayntes.

And when he speaketh of miracles done in theyr church in tyme of persecucyon. I answere / those were not the miracles of youre church but of them that beleued the scripture and sofered for it / as the heretykes doo now. For ye had neuer persecucyon for youre false doctrine / which ye haue brought in besides the scripture / ner any that died for it: But ye persecute and slee / whosoeuer wyth Gods worde doeth rebuke it. And as for youre awne myracles of whych ye make youre boost / ye haue fayned them so grosly thorow out all youre legendes of sayntes / that ye be now asshamed of them and wold fayne be ryd of them if ye wyst how with honeste / and so wolde ye of a thousand thynges which ye haue fayned. And the cause why heretykes fayne no miracles as ye do / ys that they walke puerly and entend no falshed.

And whi the deuel doeth none for them / ys that they cleue fast to gods worde whych the deuell

hateth and can doo no miracles to further it / But to hindre it / as he doeth with you. Reade the stories of youre popis and cardenales / & se whether the deuell hath not holpe them vn to their hie dignities. And loke whether youre holy bysshopes come any other wyse vn to their promocions / then by seruinge the deuell / in settinge all christendome at variaunce / in sheddynge bloude / in bringynge the comen wealth to tyranny and in teachinge christen princes to rule moare cruelly then did euer any hethen / contrary vn to the doctrine of christe.

And as for the turkes and sarasenes that ye speake of / I answere that they were christen once / at the lest waye for the most parte. And be cause they had no loue vn to the trouth to liue ther aftir as ye haue not / God did send them false miracles to carye them out of the right waye as ye be. And as for the Iewes / whi they byde out / is only because they haue sett vpp their awne rightewesnesse / as ye haue / and therfore can not admitte the rightewesnesse that is in Christes bloude / as ye can not and as ye haue for sworne it.

And when he saith / in that they haue miracles and the heretikes none / it is a sure signe that they be the true church and the heretikes not. Had ye gods word with youre miracles and the heretikes doctrine were with out / then it were true. But now because ye haue miracles with out gods worde / to confirme youre false imaginacions / and they which ye call heretikes haue Gods word confermed with miracles / fyve hundred yeares to gether / it is a sure

signe that they be the true church and ye not / in as moch also as christ saith / that the disceauers shall come with miracles: ye and in his name ther to / as ye doo. For when christ sayth their shall come in my name that shall saye he him selfe is Christe / who is that saue youre pope / that wilbe christes vicar and yet maketh men to beleue in him selfe / in his bolles and calues skinnes and in what soeuer he listeth. And who be those false annoynted that shall come with miracles to disceaue the electe if it were possible / saue youre pope with his gresiamus?

And when he repeteth his miracles / to proue that the old holy doctours were good men in the right beleffe. I answere agayne / that the doctours which planted gods worde watered it with miracles / while they were aliue. And when they were deed God shewed miracles at their graues / to confirme the same / as of Heliseus. And that continued till the scripture was ful receaued and autenticke. But ye can not shew / ner shall / any doctoure which beinge aliue preached youre false doctrine confirminge it with miracles / as god doeth his scripture.

Then saith he / God had in the old testament good men full of miracles / whose liuinge a man might be bold to folow and whose doctrine a man might be bold to beleue be reason of their miracles / and then iugleth sayenge: if god shuld not so now in the new testament haue doctours with miracles to confirme their doctrine and liuinges / but contrary wise shuld bringe to passe or sofre to be brought to passe with false miracles / that his church shuld take ypocrites for saintes / which expounded the scripture falsly / then shuld he disceaue his church and not haue his

spirite present in hys church / to teach them all trouth / as he promised them. I answere / god sofereth not his church to be disceaued: But he sofereth the popes church because they haue no loue vnto the trouth / to liue after the lawes of god / but consent vnto all iniquite / as he sofered the church of Mahomete. Moare ouer the gift of miracles was not all waye amonge the preachers in the olde testament. For Ihon baptist dyd no miracle at all. The miracles were ceased longe yer christe. And as for you in the popes kingdome had neuer man that ether confirmed gods doctrine / or youre awne with myracles. All youre sayntes be first saintes when they be deed and then doo first miracles / to confirme tithes & offerynges & the poetry which ye haue fayned / and not true doctrine. For to confirme what preachynge doeth Saint thomas of canterburie miracles? He preached neuer ner liued any other life then as our cardenall / and for hys mischeue died a mischeuous deeth. And of our cardenall / if we be not diligent / they wyll make a sainte also and make a greater relike of his showe then of the others.

And of youre deed saintes lat vs take one for an ensample. Thomas de aquino is a saynt full of miracles / as freres tell. And hys doctrine was / that our lady was borne in originall sinne. And dunce doynge no miracle at all / because I suppose no man wotteth where he lieth / improueth that with his sophistrie and affirmeth the contrary. And of the contrary hath the pope / for the deuocion of that the graye frires gaue him / ye maye well thynke / made an article of the fayth.

And finally as for the miracles / they ar to make a man astonied and to wonder and to dra

we him to heare the worde ernistly / rather then to write it in his herte. For whosoeuer hath no nother fealynge of the law of god that it is good / then because of miracles / the same shall beleue in Christe / as did Simon Magus and Iudas: and as they that came out of Egipte with Moses / and fell awaye at euery temptacion / & shall haue good werkes like vn to our popes / bisshopes and cardenales. And therfore when the scripture is fully receaued / there is no nede of miracles. In so moch that they which wyll not beleue Moses and the prophetes when the scripture is receaved / the same wilbe no true beleuers by the reason of miracles / though one arose from deeth to life to preach vn to them by the testimonie of Christe.

And agayne / how doeth S. Hierom / Augustine / Bede and many other old doctoures that were before the pope was cropt vpp in to the consciences of men and had sent forth his damnable sectes / to preach him vnder the name of christe / as christ prophisied it shuld be / expounde this texte / thou arte Peter and vppon this rocke I wyll byld my church / and this texte / Peter fede my shepe / and all power is geuen me in heuen & in erth / and innumerable soch textes cleane contrary vnto al those new old holy doctours that haue made the pope a god? They knew of no power that man shuld haue in the kyngdome of Christ / then to preach Christ truly. They knew of no power that the pope shuld haue to send to purgatory or to deliuer thence / nether of any pardons ner of any soch confession as they preach & teach / nether were many that are articles with you / articles of their faith. They al preached forgeuenesse of synnes thorow repentaunce towar

de the lawe and faith in oure sauioure Christe / as all the scripture playnly doeth and can no notherwise be taken / and as al the hertes of as many as loue the law of god / doo fele / as surely as the fingre feleth the fire hote.

¶An answere vnto Master Mores thirde boke

In his third boke he procedith forth as before to proue that the opinions which the popish teach with out scripture are of equal auctorite with the scripture. He axeth what iff there had neuer bene scripture written? I answere / god careth for his electe and therfore hath prouided them of scripture / to trie all thynges and to defende them from all false prophetes. And I saye morouer that if there had bene no scripture written / that god for his mercy and fatherly loue and care toward his electe / must haue prouided / that there shulde neuer haue bene heresies or agenst all tymes when sectes shulde arise / haue stered vpp preachers to confunde the heresies with miracles . Take this ensample / the grekes haue the scripture and serue god therin moch moare diligently then we. Now latt vs geue that there were no scripture / but that we receaued all our faith by the auctoryte of oure elders / and the grekes by the auctorite of their elders. When I shall dispute with a greke aboute the articles of the faith which my elders taught me and his elders denye / as eareconfession / the holy pardons of the pope and all his power that he hath aboue other bisshopes & many other thynges besyde the scripture which we hold for articles of oure faith and they denye. If there be no nother proffe of ether parte / then to saye / my elders which can not erre so affirme and that he shuld answere / his elders whych can not erre so denie / what reason is it / that I shuld leaue the auctorite of my elders and goo and beleue his / or that he shuld leaue the auctorite of his elders and come and beleue myne? no

ne at all verely. But the one partie must shew a miracle or else we must referre oure causes vnto autenticke scripture receaued in olde tyme & confirmed with miracles and therwith trie the controuersie of our elders.

And when he axeth whether there were no true faith from Adam to Noe. I answere / that god partely wrote their faith in their sacrifices / and partly the patriarkes were full of miracles as ye maye se in the Bible.

And when More / to vtter his darkenesse & blinde ignorauncie sayth / that they whych were ouerwhelmed with Noyes floude / had a good faith / and bringeth for him Nicolaus de Lira. I answere / that Nicolaus de Lira delirat. For it is impossible to haue a faith to be saued by excepte a man consent vn to gods law with all his hert and all his soule / that it is rightwysse / holy / good and to be kepte of all men / and there vppon repent that he hath broken it / and sorow that his flesh moueth vn to the contrary / and then come and beleue that god for his mercy wyll forgeue him all that he hath done agenst the lawe / and will helpe him to tame his flesh / and sofre his weakenesse in the meane season / till he be waxed stronger: which faith if they that perished in Noyes floud had had / they coude not but haue mended their liuinges and had not hardened their hertes thorow vnbeleffe and prouoked the wrath of god and waxed worse and worse an hundred and .xx. yeres which god gaue them to repent / vn tyll god coude no lenger sofre them / but whashed their filthinesses awaye with the flode (as he doeth the popes same abhominacions with like invndacions of water) and destroyed them vtterly.

And when he axeth whether Abraham beleued no moare then is written of him. I axe him how he wyll proue that there was no writynge in Abrahams tyme and that Abraham wrot not. And agayne / as for Abrahams person / he receaued his faith of god / whych to confirme vn to other / miracles were shewed dayly.

And when he fayneth forth / that they beleued only because they knew their olders coude not erre. How coude they know that with out miracles or writynge confirmed with miracles / moare then the turcke knoweth that his elders so many hundred yeres in so greate a multitude can not erre and teach false doctrine to damne the beleuers. And the contrary doeth Master More se in all the byble / how aftir all was receaued in scripture confirmed with miracles and though miracles ceased not / but were shewed dayly / yet the elders erred and fell to Idolatrie an hundred for one that bode in the right waye and led the younger in to erroure with them so sore / that god to saue the yonger / was faine to destroye the elders and to begynne his testament afresh with the new generacion.

He seith also that the most part were al waye Idolaters for all the scripture and true myracles therto / and beleued the false miracles of the deuel / because his doctrine was moare agreable vnto their carnall vnderstondynge / then the doctrine of gods spirite / as it now goeth with the pope: did not the scribes / phareses / and prestes whych were the elders erre?

And when he axeth who taught the church to know the true scripture from false bokes. I

answere / true miracles that confunded the false / gaue auctorite vn to the true scripture. And therby haue we euer sens iudged al other bokes and doctrine.

And by that we know that youre legendes be corrupte with lyes. As Erasmus hath improued many false bokes whych ye haue fayned & put forth in the name of S. Hierom / Augustine / Ciprian / Deonise and of other / partly with auctentick stories and partely by the stile and latine and like euident tokens.

And when Master More sayth vn to them that beleue nought but the scripture / he wyll proue with the scripture / that we be bound to beleue the church in thynges where fore they haue no scripture. Because god hath promised in the scripture / that the holy gost shall teach his church all trouth. Naye / that texte will not proue it. For the first church taught nought but they confirmed it with miracles which coude not be done but of god / tyll the scripture was autentickly receaued. And the church folowynge teacheth nought that they will haue beleued as an article of the faith / but that whych the scripture proueth and maynteneth. As S. Augustine protesteth of his workes that men shuld compare them vn to the scripture and therby iudge them and cast awaye whatsoeuer the scripture dyd not alowe. And therfore they that wilbe beleued with out scripture are false ypocrites and not Christes church. For though I know that that mesinger whych Christe sendeth / can not lye / yet in a companye where many lyars be / I can not know whych is he / with out a token of scripture or of miracle.

And when he saith / the scripture selfe maketh vs not to beleue the scripture but the church teacheth vs to know the scripture: for a man might reade it and not beleue it. And so I saye / that a man might heare you preach and yet beleue you not also. And I saye therto / that youre church teacheth not to know the scripture: but hideth it in the latine from the comen people. And from them that vnderstond latine they hide the true sence with a thousand false gloses.

And I saye morouer that the scripture is the cause why men beleue the scripture / as well as a preacher is the cause why men beleue his preachinge. For as he that first told in Englonde that the Rodes was taken / was the cause whi some beleued it / euen so might writynge sent from those parties be the cause that some men which red it beleued it. Master More wyll saye / that letter had his auctorite of the man that sent it / and so hath the scripture his auctorite of the church. Naye / the scripture hath hir auctorite of him that sent it / that is to wete of god / which thynge the miracles did testifie / and not of the man that brought it. He wyll saye / thou knowest the scripture by their shewenge. I graunt at the begynnynge I doo.

Then wyll he saye / why shuld ye not beleue them / in all their other doctrine besydes the scripture and in all their exposicions of the scripture / as well as ye beleue them / when they tell you that soch and soch bokes ar the scripture. May they not shew you a false boke? yes / and therfore at the begynnynge I beleue all a like. Euery lye that they tell out of their awne braynes we

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.

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

will of god / can not know what doctrine is of god and what not Ihon .vij. I fynde in the scripture Hieremie .xxxj. and hebre. viij. that all the childern of god / which only are the true members of his church haue euery one of them the lawe of god written in their hertes: so that if theyr were no law to compell / they wolde yet naturally out of their awne hertes kepe the lawe of god: ye and agenst uiolence compellynge to the contrary. And I se that they whych wilbe the church (and to proue it haue not so great trust in the scripture as in their sophistrie and in the swerd which they haue sett vpp in all landes to kepe them with violence in the rowme) are so ferre off from hauinge the lawes of god written in their hertes / that they nether by gods lawe ner mans refrayne from their open outwarde weked lyuinge. Loke in the chronicles what bloud yt hath cost englond to attempte to brynge them vnder the law. Ye and se what busynes the realme hath had / to kepe the prelates wythyn the realme from takinge the benefyces with them and lyenge at Rome / and yet scacely brought yt to passe / for all that the pope hath the stinte of euery bysshoperyke and of euery greate abbey therto as offt as any is voyde / yer a newe be admitted to the rowme. And I se them bonde vn to their awne wyll and both to doo and too consent vn to other to doo all that God hath forboden. I se them of all people moost uaynegloryous. I se them walke after their fleshly birth. I se them so ferre off from the image of chryste / that not only they wyll not dye for their flocke after hys ensample / but also / yer they wold lose one towne / or vylage / any pollynge or pryuilege whych they haue falsly gotten / bryngyn

ge them selues in to good pastures wyth wyles and shuttynge their flocke without / they wold cast a waye an hundred thousande off them in one daye and begger theyr realmes / ye and interdyte them and brynge in straunge nacyons / though yt were the turke / to conquere them and sle them vppe / so moch as the innocent in the cradell. And I se that there other doctrine is for their wauntage only and that therwyth they haue gotten all that they haue.

And I fynde in the scripture that the Iewes before the cominge of christe knew that those bokes were the scripture by the scribes and the phareses. And yet as many as beleued their other doctrine and many exposicions of the scripture were dysceaued / as ye se / and how chryst delyuered them out of erroure. And I se agayne (whych ys no small myracle) that the mercyfull care of god to kepe the scripture to be a testimonye vnto hys electe / ys so greate / that no men be moare gelous ouer the bokes / to kepe them and shew them / and to allege / that they be the scripture of god and true / then they which when yt is reed in their eares haue no power to beleue yt / as the Iewes and the popishe. And therfore because they nether can beleue yt false / nether consent that yt ys true as yt soundeth playnly in theyr eares in that yt ys so contrary vnto their fleshly wysdome / from whych they can not departe / they seke a thousand gloses to turne yt in to a nother sens / to make it agre vn to theyr beestlynesse / and where yt wyll receaue no soch gloses / theyr they thynke that no man vnderstondeth yt.

Then in the end of the chapter master More cometh vn to his wise conclusion and prouith nothinge saue sheweth his ignoraunce / as in all thynge. He saith we beleue the doctrine of the scripture without scripture / as for an ensample / the popis pardons / because only that the church so teacheth / though no scripture confermeth it. Whi so? because saith he the holy gost by inspiracion / if I doo my deuoure and captiuat myne vnderstondynge / teacheth me to beleue the church concerninge Gods word taught by the church and grauen in mens hertes with out scripture / as wel as he teacheth vs to beleue wordes written in the scripture. Marke where he is now. Afore he saith / the scripture causeth vs not to beleue the scripture / for a man maye read it and beleue it not. And moch more the precher maketh vs not to beleue the preacher / for a man maye heare him and beleue him not also. As we se the appostles covde not cause all men to beleue them. For though the scripture be an outward instrument and the preacher also to moue men to beleue / yet the chefe and principall cause why a man beleueth or beleueth not is within. That is / the spirite of god teacheth hir chyldern to beleue and the deuell blyndeth his childern and kepeth them in vnbeleue and maketh them to consent vn to lies and thynke good euell and euell good. As the actes of the appostles saye in many places there beleued as many as were ordeyned vn to euerlastynge life. And christ saith Ihon . viij. they that be of god heare gods worde. And vn to the weked Iewes he saith ye can not beleue because ye be not of god. And in the same place saith he / ye be of youre father the deuell and his will ye will doo / & he bode not in the trouth /

and therfore will not soffre his childern to consent to the trueth. And Ihon in the tenth saith christ / al that came before me / be theves and murtherars / but my shepe hearde not their voyces. That is / all that preach any saluacion saue in christ murther the soules. How be it christes shepe coude not consent to their lies / as the rest can not but beleue lies / so that there is euer a remanaunt kepte by grace. And of this I haue sene diuers ensamples. I haue knowen as holy men as might be / as the world counteth holinesse / which at the houre of deeth had no trust in god at all / but cryed cast holiwater / light the holy candell / and so forth / sore lamentynge that they must dye. And I haue knowen other which were dispiced / as men that cared not for their diuine seruice / which at deeth haue fallen so flatt vppon the bloude of christ as is possible and haue preached vn to other mightyly as it had bene an appostle of our sauioure and conforted them with comforte of the life to come and haue died so gladly / that they wold haue receaued no worldes good / to byde still in the flesh. And thus is M. More faulen vppon predestinacion and is compelled with violence of scripture to confesse that which he hateth and studieth to make appere false / to stablish frewill with all not so moch of ignoraunce I feare as for lucres sake and to gett honoure / promocion / dignite and money by helpe of oure mitred monsters. Take ensample of balam the false prophete which gaue councel and sought meanes / thorow like blind couetousnesse / to make the trueth and prophisie which God had shewed him / false. He had the knowlege of the trouth but with out loue therto and therfore for vauntage became enimie vn to the trouth /

but what came of hym?

But M. More peperith his conclusion lest men shuld fele that taste sayenge if we endeuoure our selues & captiue oure vnderstondinge to beleue. O how betleblinde is fleshlye reason! the wil hath none operacion at all in the workynge of faith in my soule / no more then the child hath in the begetinge of his father. For saith paule it is the gift of god and not of vs. My witte must conclude good or bad yer my will can loue or hate. My witt must shew me a true cause or an apparent cause whi / yer my will haue any workinge at all. And of that peperinge it well appereth what the popis fayth ys: euen a blind imaginacion of theyr natural witte / wrought with out the light of the spirite of god / agreinge vnto their voluptious lustes in which their bestly wil so deliteth that he wyll not lett there wittes attende vnto any other lernynge for vnquiettynge hym selfe and sterynge from his pleasure and delectacion.

And thus we be as ferre a sunder as euer we were and his mightie argumentes proue not the value of a podynge pricke. M. More feleth in his hert by inspiracion and with his endeuerynge him selfe and captiuatynge hys vnderstondynge to beleue it / that there is a purgatory as whot as hell. Where in if a sily soule were appoynted by god / to lye a thousand yeres / to purge him wyth all / the pope for the value of a grote shall commaunde him thence full purged in the twinkelinge of an eye / and by as good reason if he were goyng thence / kepe him there still. He felith by inspiracion and in captiuatinge his wittes that the pope can worke wonders with a calfes skyn / that he can commaunde one to eate fleshe though he be neuer so lustie / and that a nother

eate none in payne of damnacion / though he shulde die for lacke of it: and that he can forgeue synne and not the payne / and as moch and as litle of the payne or all yf he luste / and yet can nether helpe hym to loue the law or to beleue or to hate the flesh / seinge he preacheth not. And soch thynges innumerable M. More feleth true / and therfore beleueth that the pope ys the true church.

And I cleane contrary fele that there ys no soch worldely and fleshely imagined purgatory. For I fele that the soules be purged only by the worde of god and doctrine of christe / as it is written Ihon .xv. ye be cleane thorow the worde / saith christ to his appostles . And I fele agayne that he which is cleane thorow the doctryne / nedeth not but to washe his fete only / for hys heed and handes ar cleane al redye Ihon .xiij. that is / he must tame his flesh and kepe it vnder for his soule is cleane all redy thorow the doctrine. I fele also that bodyly payne doeth but purge the body only: in so moch that the payne not only purgeth not the soule / but maketh yt moare foule / excepte that there be kinde lerninge by / to purge the soule: so that the moare a man beteth his sonne / the worse he is / excepte he teach hym louingly and shew hym kindnesse besydes / partely to kepe hym from desperation and partely that he fall not in to hate of his father and of hys commaundement therto /and thynke that hys father is a tirant and his law but tyranny.

Master More feleth with his good endeuoure and inspiracion to gether / that a man may haue the best faith coupled with the worst life and wyth consentinge to sinne. And I fele that it is impossible to beleue truly excepte a man repent / and that yt ys

impossible to trust in the mercy that is in christ or to fele it but that a man must immediatly loue god and his commaundementes / and therfore disagre and disconsent vnto the flesh and be at bate therwith and fight agenst it. And I fele that euery soule that loueth the law and hateth his flesh and beleueth in christes bloude / hath hys synnes which he committed and payne whych he desarued in hatynge the law and consentynge vnto hys flesh / forgeuen hym / by that faith. And I fele that the frailtie of the flesh agenst which a beleuinge soule fighteth to subdue yt / ys also forgeuen and not rekened or imputed for sinne all the tyme of our curynge: as a kind father and mother rekene not or impute the impossibilite of their younge childern to consent vnto their law / and as when the childern be off age and consent / then they reken not ner impute the impossibilite of the flesh to folowe it immediatly / but take al a worth and loue them no lesse / but rather moare tenderly then their old and perfecte childern that doo their commaundementes / so longe as they goo to scole and lerne soch thynges as their fathers & mothers set them to.

And I beleue that euery soule that repenteth / beleueth and loueth the law / is thorow that fayth a membre of christes church and pure with out spott or wrincle / as paul affirmeth. Eph. v. And yt ys an artycle of my beleffe that chrystes electe church ys holy and pure with out synne and euery membir of the same / thorow faith in christe and that they be in the full fauoure of god. And I fele that the vnclennesse off the soule ys but the consent vnto sinne and vnto the flesh. And therfore I fele that euery soule that beleueth and consenteth vnto the lawe and here in

this life hateth his flesh and the lustes therof and doeth his best to driue sinne out of his flesh and for hate of the sinne gladly departeth from hys flesh / when he is deed (and the lustes of the flesh slayne with deeth) nedeth not as it were bodyly tormentynge to be purged of that wherof he is quite all redy. And therfore if ought remayne / it is but to be taught and not to be beten. And I fele that eueri soule that bereth frute in christ shalbe purged of the father to bere moare frute daye by daye / as it is written Ihon .xv. not in the popis purgatory where no man felith it / but here in this life soch frute as is vn to his neyboures profitt / so that he which hath his hope in christ purgeth him selfe here / as Christ is pure .1. Ihon .iij. and that euer yet the bloud of Ihesus only doeth purge vs of all oure synnes for the imparfectenesse of oure workes. And I fele that the forgeuenesse of synnes is to remitte mercyfully the payne that I haue deserued. And I do beleue that the payne that I here sofre in my flesh / is to kepe the body vnder and to serue my neyboure and not to make satisfaccion vn to god for the fore synnes.

And therfore when the pope describeth god aftir his couetous complexion / and when Master More felith by inspiracion and captiuattinge his wittes vn to the pope / that god forgeueth the euerlastynge payne and wyll yet punish me a thousand yeres in the popis purgatory / that leuen sauereth not in my mouth. I vnderstond my fathers wordes as they sounde and aftir the most mercifull maner and not aftir the popes leuen & M. Mores captiuinge his wittes / to beleue that euery poetes fabell is a true story. There is no father here that punisheth his sonne to purge

him / when he is purged all redy and hath vtterly forsaken synne and euell and hath submitted him selfe vn to his fathers doctrine. For to punish a man that hath forsaken synne of his awne accorde / is not to purge him / but to satisfie the lust of a tirant. Nether ought it to be called purgatory / but a Iayle of tormentynge and a satisfactory. And when the pope saith it is done to satisfye the rightewesnesse as a iudge. I saye we that beleue haue no iudge of him / but a father / nether shall we come in to iudgement as Christ hath promised vs / but are receaued vnder grace mercy and forgeuenesse. Shew the pope a litle money and god is so mercyfull that there is no purgatory. And why is not the fire out as well / if I offer for me the bloud of Christe? If Christ hath deserued al for me / who gaue the pope might to kepe parte of his deseruynges from me & to by and sell Christes merites and to make marchaundice ouer vs with fayned wordes. And thus as M. More feleth that the pope is holy church / I fele that he is antichriste. And as my felynge can be no proffe to him / no moare can his with all his captiuatinge his wittes to beleue phantasyes be vn to me. Wherfore if he haue no nother probacion to proue that the pope is holy church / then that his hert so agreeth vn to his lernynge / he ought of no right to compel with swerde vn to his secte. How be it there are ever .ij. maner people that wil cleaue vnto god a fleshli & a spiritual. The spiritual which be of god shal heare gods worde & the childern of the trueth shall consent vn to the trueth. And contrary / the fleshlye and childern of falshed and of the deuel whose hertes be full of lyes / shall naturally consent vn to lies (as younge childern though they

haue eate them selfes as good as deed with frute / yet wyll not ner can beleue him that telleth them that soch frute is nought: but him that prayseth them wyll they heare and eate them selues starke deed / because their hertes befull of lyes & they iudge all thynges as they appere vn to the eyes). And the fleshly minded / assone as he beleueth of god as moch as the deuel doeth / he hath ynough / and goeth to & serueth god with bodily seruice as he before serued his Idoles / and aftir his awne imaginacion & not in the sprite / in louinge his lawes & beleuinge his promises or longynge for them: no if he might euer liue in the flesh he wolde neuer desyre them. And god must doo for him agayne / not what god hath promised / but what he lusteth. And his brother that serueth god in the spirite acordynge to gods word / him wyll the carnall beest persecute. So that he whych wyll godly liue must sofre persecucion vn to the worldes ende / acordynge vn to the doctrine of christe & of his apostles & acordyng vn to the ensamples that are gonne before.

And finally I haue better reasons for my felynge that the pope is antichrist then M. More hath for his endeuorynge him selfe & captiuinge his wittes that he is the true church. For the church that was the true mesinger of god / hath euer shewed a signe & a bage therof / ether a present miracle or autenticke scripture / in so moch that Moses when he was sent / axed how shall they beleue me and god gaue him a signe / as euer before & sens. Nether was there any other cause of the writynge of the new and last and euerlastinge testament / then that when miracles ceased / we might haue wherewith to defende oure selues agenst false doctrine and heresies. Whych we coude

not doo / if we were bounde to beleue that were no where written. And agayne / if the pope coude not erre in his doctrine / he coude not synne of purpose and profession / abhominably and openly aboue the turkes and all the hethen that euer were / and defende it so malyciouslye as he hath .viij. hundred yeres longe and wyll not be reformed / and maketh them his saintes & his defenders that synne as he doeth. He persecuteth as the carnall church euer did. When the scripture is a waye / he proueth his doctrine with the scripture and assone as the scripture cometh to light he runneth a waye vnto his sophistrie and vnto his swerde. We se also by stories how youre confession / penaunce and pardons ar vpp come and whence youre purgatory is spronge. And youre falshed in the sacramentes we se by open scripture. And all youre workes we rebuke with the scripture and therewith proue that the false beleffe that ye couple to them / maye not stonde with the true fayth that is in oure sauioure Iesus.

ij.

In the ende of the seconde chapter he bringeth in Euticus that fell out at a window Actes .xx. whom saith he s. Paulis merites did recouer. Verely Paule durst not so saye / but that Christes merites did it. Peter sayth Actes .iij. ye men of Israel why gase ye and stare vppon vs / as though we by our power and godlynesse had made this man goo. Naye / the name of Iesus and fayth that is in him / hath geuen him strength and made him sounde: And euen here / it was the name of Iesus thorow paules faith that did that miracle and not Paules merites / though he were neuer so holy.

iij.

In the .iij. chapter he sayth that bilneyes iudges which he yet nameth not for feare of sclaunderynge them / were indifferent. Naye / they that take rewardes be not indifferent. For rewardes and giftes blynde the eyes of the seinge and peruerte the wordes of the righteous Deute. xvij. Now all that be shoren take greate rewardes to defende pilgremages / purgatory and prayenge vn to sayntes: even the third parte I trow of all christendome. For all they haue they haue receaued in the name of purgatory & of saintes / and on that fundacion be all their bisshoprikes / abbeyes / coleges & cathedral churches bylte. If they shalbe indifferent iudges / they must be made seruauntes and doo saruice as their dutie is. And when they haue done a quarters saruice / then geue them wages as right is / vnto every man that laboureth in christes heruest a sufficient liuynge and no moare / and that in the name of his laboure and not of sayntes and so forth. And then they shalbe moare indifferent iudges / when there cometh no vauntage to iudge moare on one syde then a nother.

iiij.

In the ende of the fourth he sayth the man toke an oth secretly and was dismissed with secret penaunce. O ypocrites / why dare ye not doo it openly?

v.

In the .v. the mesinger axeth him whether he were present. And he denyeth and sayth euer he hearde saye. Alas sir whi take you brybes to defende that you knowe not / why suffre you not them that were present and to whom the mater perteyneth / to lye for them selues?

Then he iesteth out the mater with wilken and simken / as he doeth Hunne and euery thinge / because men shuld not consydre their falshed ernestly. Wherin be hold his sotle conveyaunce. He axeth what if simken wold haue sworne that he saw men make those printes. Where vnto Master More answereth vnder the name of / quod he / that he wold swere / that besydes the losse of the wager / he had lost his honestye & his soule therto. Beholde this mannes gravite / how coude you that doo when the case is possible. You shulde haue put him to his proues and bydde him brynge recorde.

Then saith he the church receaueth no man conuicte of heresie vn to mercy / but of mercy receaueth him to open shame. Of soch mercy / god geue them plentye that are so mercyfull.

Then he sheweth how mercyfull they were to receaue the man to penaunce that abode styll in periury and deedly synne. O shamelesse ypocrites how can ye receaue in to the congregacion of christe an open obstinat synner that repenteth not / when ye are commaunded of christ to cast all soch out? And agayne o scribes and phareses / by what ensample of christe and of his doctrine can ye put a man that repenteth vn to open shame and to that thinge where by euer aftir he is had in derision amonge his brethern of whom he ought to be loued and not mocked. Ye might enioyne honest thinges / to tame his flesh / as prayer and fastynge and not that whych shuld be to him shame euer aftir and soch as ye youre selues wold not doo.

vij.

In the .vij. chapter he maketh moch to doo aboute sweringe and that for a sotle purpose. Notwithstondinge / the trueth is / that no iudge ought to make a man swere agenst his wyll for many inconuenientes. If a man receaue an office he that putteth him in the rowme ought to charge him to doo it truly and maye & happly ought to take an othe of him. If a man offer him selfe to beare wittenesse / the iudge maye and of some haply ought to take an oth of them: but to compell a man to beare wittenesse ought he not. And Morouer if a iudge put a man to an othe that he shall answere vn to all that he shalbe demaunded off/ he ought to refuse. How be it if he haue sworn / and then the weked iudge axe him of thynges hurtefull vn to his neyboure and agenst the loue that is in Christe / then he must repent that he hath sworn / but not synne agayne and to fulfyll his othe. For it is agenst gods commaundement / that a man shuld hurte his neyboure that hath not deserued it.

viij.

Vn to church / prest / charite / grace / confession and penaunce is answered him in the begynnynge of the boke. And when he sayth Tindale was confederatt with Luther that is not trueth.

ix.

Then his .ix. chapter is there nothynge moare folishe. For if he wold haue any wyse man to beleue that my translacion wold destroye the masse any other wyse then the latine or greke texte / he shuld haue alleged the place and howe.

xj.

In the .xj. chapter Master More will not defende the liuinge of our spiritualtie / because it is so open that he can not. And as litle shuld he be able to defende their lies / iff the light were abrode that men might se. And as he can not deny them abhominable / so can he not deny them obstinat and indurat therin / for they haue bene oft rebuked with gods worde / but in vayne. And of soch the texte is playne that they can not vnderstonde the scripture. And yet M. More wyll receaue rewardes to dispute agenst the heresies of some soch as be cast out of Christes church by soch holy patriarkes / whose liuenges he him silfe can not prayse. As holy Iudas / though the prelates of his church that is the pharises were neuer so abhominable / yet because Christes doctrine was condemned of them as of gods church that coude not erre / and all that beleued on him excomunicat / he was bold to saye. Quid vultis mihi dare et ego tradam eum vobis? That is / what will you geue me and I will deliuer him vn to you?

xij.

In the .xij. he hath one conclusion / that the prayars of an evel preest profite not. Which though be true / yet the contrary is beleued amonge a greate mayny / in all quarters of englonde / so blynd be the people and wotte not what prayar meaneth. I haue hearde men of no small reputacion saye yer this in greate audience / that it maketh no mater whether the prest were good or bad so he toke money to praye as they sealden praye with out / for he coude not hurte the prayer were he neuer so noughty.

And when he saith that the euell preest hurteth vs not so moch with his lyuynge / as he pro

fiteth vs with ministrynge the sacramentes . O worldlye wisdome / if a man lead me thorow a ieoperdous place by daye / he can not hurte me so greatly as by night. The turke seith that murther / thefte / extorcion / oppression / and adultery be synne. But when he leadith me by the darkenesse of sacramentes with out significacion / I can not but ketch harme and put mi trust and confidence in that which is nether god ner his worde. As for an ensample / what trust put the people in anoylynge & how crie they for it / with no nother knowlege then that the oyle saueth them / vn to their damnacion and denyenge of Christes bloude?

And when he saith the preest offereth or sacrificeth Christes body. I answere / Christ was offered once for all as it is to se in the epistle to the Hebrues. As the prest sleeth Christ / breaketh his body and shedith his bloude / so he sacrificeth him and offereth him. Now the preest sleeth him not actually ner breaketh his body actually ner shedith his bloude actually nether scorgeth him and so forth / thorow out al his passion: but representeth his sleinge / his body breakynge and bloudshedynge for my synnes and all the rest of his passion and playeth it before myne eyes only. Which significacion of the masse / because the people vnderstonde not / therfore they receaue no forgeuenesse of their synnes therby / and therto can not but ketch hurte in their soules / thorow a false faith as it well appeareth / how euery man cometh therto for a sundrye imaginacion / all ignoraunt of the true waye.

Let no man begyle you with his iuglynge sophistrie. Oure offeringe of Christ is to beleue in him / and to come with a repentinge herte vn

to the remembraunce of his passion and to desyre god the father for the breakynge of Christes body on the crosse and shedynge of his bloude and for his deeth and all his passions / to be mercyfull vn to vs and to forgeue vs acordynge vn to his testament and promise. And so we receaue forgeuenesse of oure synnes. And other offerynge or sacrifisinge of Christ is there now none. Walke in the open light and felynge & lett not youre selues be led with iuglynge wordes as mules and asses in whych there is none vnderstondinge.

M. Deacons were had in price in the olde tyme. T. For the deacons then toke the care of all the pore and sofered none to goo a beggynge / but prouided a lyuynge for euery one of them. Where now they that shulde be deacons make them selues prestes and robbe the pore of landes / rentes / offerynges and all that was geuen them / deuourynge all them selues and the pore dienge for hongre.

M. prestes be dispised because of the multitude. T. if there were but one in the worlde as men saye of the fenix / yet if he lyued abhominably / he coude not but be dispised.

M. a man maye haue a good faith coupled with all maner synne. T. a good faith puteth awaye al synne / how then can alwaye synne dwell with a good faith? I dare saye / that Master More durst affirme / that a man might loue god and hate his neyboure both at tonce / and yet S. Ihon in his epistle wyll saye that he sayeth vntrulye . But Master More meaneth of the best fayth that euer he felte. By al lyklyhod he knoweth of no nother but soch as maye stonde with all wekednesse / nother in him selfe ner in

his prelates. Wherfore in as moch as their faith maye stond with all that Christ hateth / I am sure he loketh but for small thankes of god for his defendynge of them. And therfore he playeth suerly to take his rewarde here of oure holy patriarkes.

M. few durst be prestes in the old tyme. T. then they knew the charge and fered god. But now they know the vauntage & dread him not.

M. if the lawes of the church were executed which tyndale and Luther wold haue burnt / it wolde be better. T. iff the testament of oure sauioure might be knowen for blinde wretches & couetous tirantes / it wold write the law of god in all mens hertes that beleued it / and then shuld men naturally and with out compulsion kepe all honestie. And agayne / though the popis law coude helpe / is not yet no law as good as a lawe vnexecuted?

xiij.

In the .xiij. he rageth and fareth exceadynge foule with him selfe. There he biteth / sucketh / gnaweth / towseth / and mowseth tindale. There he weneth that he hath wonne his spores and that it is not possible to answere him. And yet there / because he there most stondeth in his awne conseyte / I doute not vn to them that be lerned in Christe to proue him moste ignoraunt of all and cleane wyth out vnderstondynge of godly thynges. And I saye yet / that as no woman ought to rule a mans office / where a man is present / by the ordir of nature / & as a younge man ought not to be chosen / to ministre in the church / where an olde mete for the rowme maye be had / by the ordir of nature / euen so it was Pauls meaninge / to preferre the maried before the vnma

ried / for the inconuenientes that might chaunce by the reason of vnchastite / which inconuenientes Mastre More mighte se with sorow of herte (if he had as greate loue to Christ as to other thinges) to happen dayly vn to the shame of Christes doctrine / amonge prestes / freres and monkes / partly with open whores / partly with their sodomitrie wherof they cast ech other in the teeth dayly in euery abbey / for the least displeasure / that one doeth to a nother. M. More might se what occasions of vnchastite begeuen vn to the curates euery where by the reason of their office and dayly conuersacion with the maried.

And when he sayth neuer man coude finde that exposicion tyll now / there he sayth vntrue. For S. Hierom him silfe saith that he knew them that so expounded the texte / and rebuked them of Rome because they wold not admitte in to the clargye them that had had two wyues / the one before baptim and the other aftir sayenge: if a man had kylled .xx. men before his baptym / they wold not haue forboden him / and why then shuld that which is no synne at all be a lett vn to him. But the god of Rome wold not heare him. For sathan began then to worke his misteries of wekednesse.

And when he sayth / he that hath .x. wiues hath one wife. I saye that one is taken by the vse of speakynge for one only. As when I saye / I am content to geue the one / meanynge one only. And vnto him that hath no helpe / is there one helpe / to loke for no helpe / where one helpe is taken for one only / and many places else.

And when master More saith / he that hath had .ij. wiues one after a nother maye not be preest / and that if a prestes wife dye he maye not

haue a nother if nede be / or that if he were made preest hauynge no wife / he might not aftir marie iff he burnt / I desyre a reason of him. Yf he saye / it hath bene so the vse: then saye I an hore is better then a wife / for that hath bene the vse of oure holy father many hundred yeres. But I affirme vn to Master More the contrary. And I saye first with Paule / that the kyngdome of god is not meate and drynke / and by the same reason nether husbonde or wife / but the kepinge of the commaundementes and to loue euery man his neyboure as him silfe. And therfore as meate and drynke ware ordeyned for mans necessite / and as a man maye eate & drynke at all nedes in all degrees / so ferre as it letteth him not to kepe the commaundementes and to loue his neyboure as him selfe: even so was the wife created for the mans necessite / and therfore maye a man vse hir at all his nede in all degrees / as ferre as she letteth him not to kepe gods law which is no thinge else by Paules lernynge / then that a man loue his neyboure as him selfe. Now I desyre a reason of master Mores doctrine / what doeth my seconde wife or my third hinder me to loue my neyboure as mi selfe and to doo him seruice agenst I come to be preeste? What let is youre seconde wife to you to serue oure holy father the pope moare then youre first wold haue bene? And in like maner if my first wife dye / when I am preest / why maye I not loue my neyboure and doo him as good seruice with the seconde as with the firste? And agayne / if I be made prest hauinge no wife and aftir burne / & therfore marie / why maye I not loue my neyboure and serue him with that wife / as well as he that brought a wife with him?

It was not for nought that paul prophesyed that some shuld departe from the fayth / and attende vnto disceueable spirites and deuelysh doctryne forbiddynge to mary and to eate meates which god hath created to be receaued with thankes of them that know the trouth / to bye dyspensacyons to vse lawfull mete and vnlawfull wyves.

If I axe Master More whi he that hath the seconde wife or hath had .ij. wives may not be a prest / or whi if a prestes first wyfe die / he maye not mary the seconde / he wyll answere be cause the prest must represent the misteries or secret properties and vnion of christe the only husbonde of his only wife the church or congregacion that beleueth in him only. That is / as I haue in other places sayde / the scripture describeth vs in matrimonie the misteries and secret benefites which God the father hath hyd in christ for all them that be chosen and ordeyned to beleue & put their trustes in hym to be saued. As when a man taketh a wife he geueth hir him selfe / his honoure / hys riches and all that he hath and maketh her of equall degre vn to him selfe: if he be kinge and she before a beggers doughter / yet she is not the lesse quene and in honoure a boue all other / if he be emproure she ys empresse and honoured of men as the emproure and partetaker of all. Euen so yf a man repent and come & beleue in christ to be saued from the damnacyon of the synne of which he repenteth / christ ys hys awne good immediatly: christes deeth / payne / prayar / passion / fastynge and all his merites are for that mans synnes a full satisfaccyon and a sacrifice of might and power to absolue hym a pena et a culpa: christes enheretaunce / hys lo

ue and fauoure that he hath with god his father are that mans by and by / and the man by that mariage is pure as christ and cleane wyth out synne / and honourable / glorious / well beloued and in fauoure thorow the grace of that mariage. And because that the prest must represent vs thys significacion / is the cause whi a preest maye not haue the seconde wife saye they / whych popish reason hath disceaued many wise / as who can be but disceaued in some thinge / if he receaue all hys doctrine by the auctorite of hys elders / excepte he haue an occasion as we haue to runne to Moses and the prophetes and there heare and se with oure awne eyes and beleue no lenger by the reason of oure forefathers / when we se them so shamfully begild them selues and to begile vs in a thousande thinges whych the turkes se.

Now to oure purpose / iff thys doctryne be true / then must euery preest haue a wyfe or. haue had a wife. For he that neuer had wife can not represent vs this. And againe he that hath an hore or a nother mans wyfe / hath lost this propirte and therfore ought to be put downe.

And agayne / the seconde mariage then of no man is or can be a sacrament by that doctryne. And yet I will describe you the mariage off christ as well by hys mariage that hath had .ix. wiues and hath now the tenth / as by his that hath now the firste.

O wil they saye / his wife was no virgin or he when they were maried. Sir the significacyon stondeth not in the virginite but in the actual wedlocke. We were no virgens when we came to christ but comen hores beleuinge in a thousand Idoles.

And in the seconde mariage or tenth and ye will / the man hath but one wife and all his is hirs / and his other wiues be in a lande where is no husbonde or wife. I saye therfore with Paul that this is deuellish doctrine and hath a similitude of godlynesse with it but the power is a waye. The myst of it blindeth the eyes of the simple and begyleth them / that they can not se a thousande abhominacions wrought vnder that clocke.

And therfore I saye still / that the apostles meaninge was that he shuld haue a wife / if haply his age were not the gretter / and that by one wife he excludeth them that had two and them that were defamed with other saue their awne wiues / and wolde haue them to be soch as were knowen of vertuouse liuynge / for to doo reuerence and honoure vn to the doctrine of Christe. As it appereth by the wedowes whych he excludeth before .lx. yeres for feare of vnchastite and admitteth yet none of that age excepte she were well knowen of chast / honeste and godly behauoure / and that to honoure gods worde with all / than whych the pope hath nothynge moare vile. And when Master More to mocke / bringeth forth the texte of the wedowe / that she must be the wife of one man. I answere for all his iestynge / that Paul excludeth not hir that had .x. husbandes one aftir a nother / but hir that had .ij. husbandes attonce. And when More laugheth at it / as though it had neuer bene the gyse. I wold to god for his mercy that it were not the gyse this daye / and then I am sure his wrath wold not be so greate as it is. Paul meaneth only that he wold haue no diffamed woman chosen wedowe for dishonourynge the worde of god

and the congregacion of Christ / and therfore excludeth comen wemen and soch as were dyffamed besydes their husbandes and haply the deuorced therto. And that I proue by the same doctrine of Paule / that the kyngdome of god is no soch busynes but the kepynge of gods commandementes only and to loue one a nother. Now loke on the thynge and on the office of the wedowe. It was but to wayte on the sicke and pore people and to washe straungers fete. Now the wedowes of .x. husbandes must haue be founde of the cost of the congregacion / iff they were destitute of frendes / as all other pore were / though in tyme passed they haue bene diffamed persons.

But vnder .lx. wold Paul let none ministre for feare of occasions of vnchastite / and therto none but soch as were well knowen of honeste liuynge and of good reporte. Now in as moch as the wedow of. x. husbandes must be founde of the comen cost at hir nede / what vnclennesse is in hir by the reason of hir seconde husbonde / that she is not good ynough to be a seruaunte vn to the pore people / to dresse their meate / to wash their clothes / to make their beddes and so forth and to wash straungers fete / that came out of one congregacion vn to a nother a boute busynesse / and to doo all maner seruice of loue vn to her pore brethern and sisters. To haue had the seconde husbande is no shame amonge the hethen: it is no shame amonge the christen for when the husbonde is deed / the wife is fre to mary to whom she wyll in the lorde / and by as good reason the husbande / and of right who moare fre then the preeste? And therfore they shame not our doctrine ner oure congregacion /

ner dishonoure god amonge the hethen or weake Christen. Now when we haue a playne rule that he whych loueth his neyboure as him selfe kepeth all the lawes of god / lett him tell me for what cause of loue towarde his neyboure / a wedowe of two lawfull husbandes maye not doo seruice vn to the pore people.

Why maye not a wedowe of .l. doo seruice vn to the pore? paule whych knitteth no snares ner leadeth vs blinde ner teacheth vs wyth out a reason geuynge of his doctrine / answereth / for feare of occasions of euell / lest she be tempted or tempte other: And then if she be taken in misdoenge / the doctrine of Christ be euell spoken of therto and the weake offended.

And when Master More mocketh wyth my reason that I wolde haue euery preest to haue a wife because fewe men can liue chaste / I answere / that if he loued the honoure of Christ and his neyboure as he doeth his awne couetousnesse / he shuld finde that a good argumente . Paul maketh the same and moch moare sclenderly then I after youre sophistrie. For he disputeth thus / some younge wedowes do dishonest the congregacion of Christe and his doctrine / therfore shall no younge wedow at all ministre in the comune seruice therof: But shall all be maried and bere childern and serue their husbandes. And it is a fer lesse rebuke to the doctrine of Christ and his congregacion / that a woman shuld doo amisse / then the bisshope or preest. I am not so mad / to thinke that there coude no prest at all liue chaste. Nether am I so folish to thynke that there be not as many wemen that coude liue chast at .1. as prestes at .xxiiij. And yet though of a thousande wedowes of .1. yere olde

.ix. hundred .xc. and .ix. coude lyue chast / Paul because he knoweth not that one / wyll lett none at all ministre in the comen seruice amonge occasion of vnchastite. Christes appostles consydered all infirmities and all that might hindre the doctrine of Christe / and therfore did their beste to preuent all occasions. Wherfore as fish is no better then flesh / ner flesh better then fish in the kyngdome of Christ / euen so virginite wedlocke and wedowed are none better then other to be saued by in their awne nature or to please god with all / but with whatsoeuer I maye best serue my brethern / that is euer best acordinge vn to the tyme and facion of the worlde. In persecucion it is good for euery man to liue chast can he / and namely for the preacher. In peace when a man maye liue quietly and abyde in one place / a wife is a sure thynge to cutt of occasions.

Then he wold make it seme that prestes wiues were the occasions of heresies in almanye. Naye / they fell first to heresies and then toke wiues / as ye fell first to the popis holy doctrine and then toke whores.

M. the church byndeth no man to chastite. T. of a trueth / for it geueth licence to who soeuer wyll / to kepe hores / and permitteth to abuse mens wiues and sofereth sodomitrie / and doeth but only forbid matrimonie.

And when he sayth / chastite was allmoste receaued by generall custome / before the law was made: one lye. And good fathers did but geue their aduise therto: a nother lye. And it was ratified and receaued wyth the consent of all christendome: the third lye.

They dyd well to chose a poete to be their

defender. First it was attempted in generall counsell and resisted by holy fathers whych yet them selues were neuer maried / sayenge that men might not knitte a snare for their weake brethern / agenst the doctrine of Christ and his appostles. Nether coude it be brought to passe / vntyll the pope had gott the emproures swerde out of his hande. The grekes which were the one halfe of christendome then I suppose / wold neuer admitte it.

Now godly loue wold neuer sofre them to consent that we shuld be bound vn to the burthen which they them selues coude not beare as M. More in a nother place affermith that they dyd. And agayne / we haue manyfest stories that it was brought in with violence of swerde and that all the prestes of germany were compelled to put awaye their wiues. And we finde that whersoeuer the pope raygneth / he came in with disceauinge the kynge of the contre and then with his swerde compelled the reste. The pope came but now late in to wales to raygne there ouer the bisshopes and prestes / and that with the swerd of the kinge of Englonde.

And yet though all the clergie of christendome had graunted it / all the church had not made it ner yet the tenth parte of the church. The laye people be as well of the church as the prestes. Nether can all the prestes in the world of ryght make any lawe wherin their parte lyeth with out their consent. Now it perteyneth vn to the comen people and most of all vn to the weakest / that their prestes be endued with all vertu and honestie. And the chastite of his wife / doughter and seruaunt perteyneth vn to euery particular man / whych we se by experience defiled

dayly / by the vnchaste chastite of the spiritualtye.

Wherfore if the parishes or any one parish / after they had sene the experience what inconuenientes come of their chastite / wold haue no curat excepte he had a wife to cutt of occasions / as Paul when he had sene the proffe / wold haue no younge wedowes ministre / who saue a tirant / shuld be agenst them?

Morouer the generall counsels of the spiritualtye ar of no nother maner sens the pope was a god then the generall parlamentes of the temperaltie. Where no man dare saye his mynde frely and liberally for feare of some one and of his flaterars.

And loke in what captiuite the parlamentes be vnder the priuatt counsels of kynges / so are the generall counsels vnder the pope and his cardenales. And this is the maner of both. Some one two or three wilie foxes that haue all other in subieccion / as ye haue sene in my lorde cardenall / imagen / not what ought to be / but what they lust to haue & conceaue in their awne braynes and goo with child / some tyme a yere .ij. iij. iiij. v. vj. or .vij. and some tyme .xx. and a boue / castynge / canvesynge and compasynge for the birth agenst oportunite: openinge the mater priuely vnder an oth a litle and a litle vn to certayne secretaries whose parte is therin / as they finde men of actiuite and of corage / prepared to sel soul and body for promocion.

And the mater in the meane tyme is turmoyled and tossed amonge them selues: and persuacions and sotle reasons ar forged to blinde the right waye and to begyle mens wittes. And

whom they feare to haue aduersaries able to resiste them / for soch meanes ar sought / to brynge them in vn to their partie or to conuey them out of the waye. And when oportunite is come / they call a counsell or parlament vnder a contrary pretence. And a masse of the holy gost / whom they desyre as ferre awaye as were possible / is songe and a goodly sermon is made / to blere mens eyes with all. And then sodenly other men vnprouided / the mater is opened / aftir the most sotle maner. And many are begyled with sotle argumentes and craftie persuasions. And they that hold harde agenst them ar called asyde and resoned with aparte and handeled aftir a facion / and partly entised with fayre promises and partly feared with cruell threatenynges / and so some ar ouercome with syluer sylogismoses and other for feare of threateninges are dreuen vnto silence ./ And if any be founde at the last / that wyll not obeye their falshed and tiranny / they rayle on him and ieste him out of countenaunce and call him opinatiue / selfeminded and obstinat / and bere him in hand that the deuell is in him that he so cleueth vn to his awne witte / though he speake no sillable then gods worde / and is axed whether he wilbe wyser then other men. And in the spiritualtye they excomunicat him & make an heretike of him. And this to betrue in the clargies chastite is as clere as the daye by manifest chronicles / in so moch that the prelates of Rome / were a brewenge it a boue an hundred yeres and I wott not how longe lenger / yer they coude brynge it to passe / and yet in vayne till they had gotte the emproures swerde to proue that it was most expedient so to be. And for what entent? to brynge all vnder the pope / and

that the prelates of all landes might as the olde maner was / come and wayte on the pope at Rome / where he prepared them hores ynow.

And that his sworen prelates in euery lande / might the moare conueniently wayte in kynges courtes / to ministre the comen welth vn to the popis pleasure and profite. For had the clargie kepte their wiues / they coude neuer haue come vn to this aboue where they now be / and to these pluralities / vnions and totquottes. For their is no laye man though he were neuer so evell disposed / that coude for his wife and childern haue leyser to contriue soch mischeue and to runne from contre to contre / to lerne falshed and sotilte / as our spiritualtye doo / which with out feare of god and shame of man / kepe whores whersoeuer they come. And thus ye se that the clargies chastite perteyneth as moch vn to the temporalte as vn to the spiritualte .

And a nother is this / no power amonge them that professe the trouth / maye bynd where god lowseth / saue only where loue and my neybours necessite requireth it of me. Nether can any power now bynd them to come / but they may frely kepe or breake / as the thynge is hurtfull or expedient. Nether can there be any bonde where loue and necessite requireth the contrary. So that this law / loue thy neyboure / to helpe him as thou woldest be holpe / must interpret all mans lawes.

As if I had sworn younge or vnwysely that I wold liue chaste and all the world had bound me / if afterward I burnt and coude not ouercome the passion / I ought to mary.

For I must condicyon my vowe and shew

a cause of it therto. I maye not vow for the chastite it selfe as though it were sacrifice to please god in it selfe / for that is the Idolatrie of hethen. I must therfore vowe to doo my neyboure seruice (which in that case he maye not require) or to geue my selfe moare quietly to prayer & studie (which is not possible as longe as I burne & the mynd wyll not be quiet) or that I maye the better kepe the lawes of god whych if I burne I stond thorow my chastite in moare ieoperdie to breake and to hurte my neyboure and to shame the doctrine of christe. And in like maner / If I had forsworen fleshe & all the world had bound me / yet if necessite require it of me / to saue my life or my health / I ought to breake it. And agayne though I had sworn chastite / and the comen wealth or the necessite of a nother required the contrary / I must breake it. But on the one syde / of all that euer burnt in the popis chastite / he neuer gaue prest licence to take wife / but to kepe hores only. And on the other syde / all that vow any vow / doo it for the thynge it selfe as though it were as I said seruice or sacrifice to god that had delite in the dede / as younge childern haue in apples / and that for that dede they shall haue an hier rowme in heuen then their neyboures / which is the Idolatrie of the hethen / when he ought to bestow his vow vppon his neyboure to brynge him to heuen and not to envye him and to seke therby an hier rowme not carynge whether his neyboure come thither or no. And finally to burne and not to wyll vse the naturall remedye that god hath made / is but to tempte god / as in all other thynges. But and if god haue brought the in to a strayte and haue therto taken the naturall remedye from

the / then to resiste and to crie vn to God for helpe and to sofre / is a signe that thou louest gods lawes. And to loue Gods law is to besure that thou art Gods child electe to mercie. For in all his childern only / he writeth that token.

And then he saith / euery man hath his choyce whether he wilbe preest or no. But what nettes and snares doeth antichrist laye for them? First his false doctrine / where with the elders begyled / compell their childern and sacrifice them / to burne in the popis chastite with no nother mynde / then those old Idolaters sacrificed their childern vn to the false god Moloch: so that they thinke / by the merites of their childerns burninge / after the popes false doctrine / to please god and to gett heuen / cleane ignoraunt of the testament made in christes bloude.

Then what a multitude ar blinded and drawen in to the nett / with the bayte of promocion / honoure / dignite / pleasures / fredome and liberte to synne and to doo al mischeue vnpunished / thinges which all evell that feare not god doo desyre?

And what a numbre brought vpp ydely vn to .xx. and a boue / then put their heedes in his halter / because they haue no nother craft to gett their liuinges & not because they can liue chaste.

Also some liue chast at .xxiiij. which same burne at .xxx. And that to be true dayly experience teacheth and good naturall causes therbe.

And then loke on the appostles lerninge & ordinaunce. When one or .ij. younge wedowes had broken there chastite / he wold neuer after let any moo be chosen of the same age. How cometh it then that the pope for so many hundred thousandes that miscary / wil nether breake the

ordinaunce or mitigat it / or let any goo backe / but if any burne / sendeth them vn to the shame of christes doctrine and offendinge and hurte off his church and neuer vn to the lawfull remedie of mariage.

And when Master More calleth it heresie / to thinke that the maried were as pleasant to god as the vnmaried / he is surelye an heretyke that thynketh the contrary. Christes kingdome is nether meat ner drinke ner husband ner wife ner wedow ner virgin / but the kepynge off the commaundementes and seruinge of a mans neyboure louingely by the doctrine of S. paule. Where not to eate helpeth me to kepe the commaundementes better then to eate / there yt ys better not to eate then to eate. And where too eate helpeth me to kepe the commaundementes and to doo my dutie vn to my neyboure / there it is better to eate then not to eate. And in like case where to be with out a wife helpeth moare to kepe the commaundementes and to serue a mans neyboure / there yt is better to be vnmaried then maried / and where a wife helpeth too kepe the commaundementes better then to bewith out / there it is better to haue a wife then to be with out. That herte only whych is readye to do or lett vndone all thynges for his neyboures sake / is a plesaunt thynge in the syght of god.

And when he wyll haue the prestes to liue chaste / for reuerence off the sacramentes yt ys deuellish doctrine hauinge the similitude of godlynesse / but the pith and mary is awaye. If he meane water / oyle salt and soch like / then is the

wife with hir body and all hir vses in the lawes of god / incomparable purer and holyer. If he meane the sacrament of christes body / I answere / that the handes defile not the man ner ought that goeth thorow the handes be they neuer so vnwashe / by the testimonie of christe / and moch lesse can they then defile christe.

Morouer the prest twitcheth not christes natural body with his handes by youre awne doctrine / ner seith it with his eyes / ner breaketh yt with his fingers ner eateth it wyth hys mouth ner chammeth yt wyth hys teeth ner drinketh his bloude with his lippes / for christe is impassible. But he that repenteth towarde the law of god / and at the sight of the sacrament or off the breakinge / felynge / eatynge / chamminge or drinkinge / calleth to remembraunce the deeth of christe / his body breakynge and bloudshedynge for our synnes and all hys passion / the same eateth our sauioures body and drinketh his bloude thorow faith only and receaueth forgeuenesse of all his synnes therby / and other not. And all that haue not this doctrine of the sacrament come therto in vayne. And therfore there is no moare cause that he which sayeth the masse shuld lyue chast then he that heareth it / or he that ministreth the sacrament / then he that receaueth it. It is to me greate maruell that vnlawfull whoredome couetousnesse and extorsion can not defyle their handes / as well as lawfull matrimonie. Cursed therfore be their deuellish doctrine with false apperinge godlinesse the frute and power awaye / out of the hertes of all christen men.

And when he bringeth the ensample of the hethen / I praise him. For the hethen because they

coude not vnderstond god spiritually / to serue him in the sprite to beleue in him and to loue his lawes / therfore they turned his glorie vn to an image and sarued him after their awne imaginacion with bodyly seruice as the hole kingdome of the pope doeth / hauinge lesse power to serue him in spirite than the turkes. For when the hethen made an image of the axes or feuers and sacrificed therto / they knew that the image was not the feuers / but vnder the similitude of the ymage / they worsheped that power of god which plaged them with the feuers / wyth bodyly seruice / as the pope doeth aboue al the Idolaters that euer were in the worlde. As when we paynte saint Micael weyenge the soules and steke vpp a candell to flater him and to make him fauourable vn to vs / and regarde not the testament of christ ner the lawes of god / because we haue no power to beleue ner to loue the trueth. And euen so to referre virginite vn to the person of god / to please him therwith is false sacrifice and hethenish Idolatrie. For the onely seruice of god is to beleue in christ and to loue the lawe. Where fore thou must referre thi wedlocke / thi virginite and all thi wother deades vn to the kepinge of the lawe and seruinge thy neyboure only. And then when thou lokest with a louinge herte / on the law that saith breake not wedlocke / kepe no whore and so forth / and findest thi body weake and thine office soch that thou must haue conuersacion with mens wiues / doughters and seruauntes / then it is better to haue a wife then to bewith out. And agayne if thou se seruice to bedone that thou canst not so wel do with a wife as with out / then if thou haue power to bewith out it is best so to be / and in soch like. And else the

one is as good as the other and no difference. And to take a wife for pleasure / is as good as to absteyne for displeasure.

And when Mastre More seith no nother cause / why it is not best that oure spiritualtie were all gelded / then for losse of merite in resistynge / besydes that that imaginacion is playne Idolatrie / I hold M. More begylde / iff all we reade of gelded men be true and the experience we se in other bestes. For then the gelded lust in their flesh as moch as the vngelded. Which if be true / then the gelded / in that he taketh soch greate payne in geldynge / not to minysh his lustes but if lustes ouercome him / yet that he haue not were with to hurte his neyboure / deserueth moare then the vngelded. And then it were best that we ate and dronke and made oure flesh stronge that we burned / to deserue in resistynge / as some of youre holy sayntes haue layd virgens in their beddes / to kendle their corage / that they might after quench their hete in colde water / to deserue the merite of holy marters.

And when he saith / the prestes of the olde law absteyned from their wiues when they serued in the temple. Many thynges were forboden them / to kepe them in bonde and seruile feare and for other purposes. And yet I trow he findeth it not in the texte that they were forboden their wiues. And when he imageneth so be cause zacharias / when his course was out / gatt him whom to his howse I thynke it was better for him to go to his howse / then to send for his howse to him he was also olde and his wife to. But and if they were forboden / it was but for a tyme / to geue them to prayar / as we might doo right well and as well as they. But I read that

they were forboden to drinke wine & stronge drinke / when they ministred: of which oures powre in with out measure.

M. More christ liued chast and exhorteth vn to chastite. Tindale. we be not al of christes complexion / nether exhorteth he to other chastite then wedlocke / saue at a tyme to serue oure neyboures. Now the popis chastite is not to serue a mans neyboure / but to runne to riotte and to carie a waye with him the liuynge of the pore and of the true preacher / even the tythes of .v. or .vj. parishes and to go and ether dwell by a stues or to carye a stewes with him / or to corrupte other mennes wiues.

Pannutius a man that neuer proued mariage is praysed in the stories / for resistynge soch doctrine with gods worde in a generall counsel before the pope was a god. And now M. More a man that hath proued it twise is magnified for defendynge it with sophistrie. And ageyne me semeth that it is agreate ouer sight of M. More to thinke that christ though he were neuer maried wold not moare accepte the seruice of a maried man that wold moare saye trouth for him then they that abhorre wedlocke: in as moch as the spiritualte accepte his humble saruyce & rewarde his merites with so hye honoure / because he can better fayne for them / then any of their vnchaste / I wold saye awne chast people / though he be bigamus and past the grace of his necke verse.

And finally / if M. More loke so moch on the pleasure that is in mariage / why setteth he not his eyes on the thankes geuynge for that pleasure and on the pacience of other displeasures.

xiiij.

M. Wicleffe was the occasion of the vttur subuersion of the realme of Bohem / both in faith and good liuynge and of the losse of many a thousand liues. T. the rule of their faith ar christes promises / and the rule of their liuynge gods lawe. And as for losse of liues / it is trouth that the pope slew I thynke an hundred thousande of them because of their faith and that they wold no lenger serue him. As he slew in englonde many a thousande / and slew the true kynge and sett vpp a false vn to the effusion of all the noble bloude and murtherynge vpp of the cominaltie / because he shulde be his defender.

M. The constitucion of the bisshopes is not that the scripture shall not be in englysh / but that no man maye translate it by his awne auctorite or reade it / vntill they had approued it. T. if no translation shalbe had vntill they geue licence or till they approue it / it shall neuer be had. And so it is al one in effecte to saye there shalbe none at all in englysh / and to saye / tyl we admitte it / seinge they be so maliciouse that they wil none admitte / but fayne al the cauellacions they can / to proue it were not expedient. So that if it be not had spite of their hertes it shal neuer be had. And therto / they haue done their best to haue had it enacted by parlament / that it shuld not be in englysh.

xv.

He iesteth out hunnes deeth with his poetrie where with he bylte vtopia. Many greate lordes came to baynardes castell (but all namelesse ) to examen the cause (as the

credible prelates so wel lerned / so holy and so indifferent which examined bilney and Arture / be also all namelesse).

M. Horsey toke his pardon / because yt is not good / to refuse gods pardon and the kynges. T. Gods pardon can no man haue excepte he knowlege him selfe a synner. And euen so he that receaueth the kynges yeldeth him selfe giltie / And morouer it is not possible that he which putteth his trust in god / shulde for feare off the xij. men or of his iudges / receaue pardon for that he neuer was fautie vn to the dishonouringe of our sauioure Iesus / but wold haue denied it rather vn to the deeth.

And therto / iff the mater were so clere as ye iest it out / then I am sure the kynges graces both curtesie and wysdome / wolde have charged the iudges to haue examined the euidence layed agenst him diligently and so to haue quitte him with moare honestie then to geue him pardon of that he neuer treaspased in / and to haue rid the spiritualtye out of hate and all suspycion.

Then saith he hunne was sore susspecte of heresie and conuicte. And after he saith hunne was an heretike in dede and in perell so to be proued. And then how was he conuicte? I herde saye / that he was first conuicte / when he was deed and then they did wronge to burne him / til they had spoken with him / to wete wether he wolde abiure or no.

M. the bisshope of london / was wyse / vertuous and conynge. T. For all those .iij. yet he wold haue made the old deane Colet of paules an heretyke / for translatynge the Pater noster in englyshe / had not the bysshope of canterbury holpe the deane.

xvj.

The messinger axeth hym / if there be an olde lawfull translacion before wicleffes / how happeneth it that it is in so few mens handes / seinge so many desyre it? He answereth the printer dare not print it and then hange on a doutful triall / whether it were translated sens or before. For if it were translated sens / it must be first approued.

What maye not Master More saye by auctorite of his poetrie? there is a lawfull translacion that noman knoweth which is as moch as no lawfull translacion. Whi mighte not the bisshopes shew which were that lawful translacion and lat it be printed? Naye if that might haue bene obteyned of them with large money it had be printed ye maye besure longe yer this. But sir answere me here vn to / how happeneth that ye defendars translate not one youre selues / to cease the murmoure of the people / and put to youre awne gloses / to preuent heretikes? ye wold nodoute haue done it longe sens / if ye coude haue made youre gloses agre with the texte in euery place. And what can you saye to this / how that besydes they haue done their best to disanull all translatynge by parlament / they haue disputed before the kinges grace / that is it perelous and not mete and so concluded that it shal not be / vnder a pretence of deferrynge it of certayne yeres. Where Master More was their speciall orator / to fayne lyes for their purpose.

M. nothinge discorageth the clergie so moch as that they of the worst sorte most calleth after it. T. it might wel be / phareses full of holynesse longe not after it / but publicans that hongre after mercie myght sore desyre it. How be it / it is

in very dede a suspecte thinge and a greate signe of an heretike to require it.

Then he iugleth wyth allegories. Syr / Moses deliuered them al that he had receaued of god and that in the mother tonge / in which all that had the hert therto studied & not the prestes only as thou mayst se in the scripture. And the apostles kepte nothinge behinde / as paul testified actes .xx. how he had shewed them all the counsell of god and had kepte nought backe. Shuld the laye people lesse herken vnto the exposicions of the prelates in doutfull places / if the texte were in their handes when they preached?

M. the Iewes geue greate reuerence vnto the bible & we sit on it. T. the pope putteth it vnder his fete & treadeth on it / in token that he is lorde ouer it that it shulde sarue him / & he not it. M. God hath ordeyned the ordinaries for chefe phisicions. T. they be lawiers ordeined of the pope / & can no moare skill of the scripture than they that neuer sawe it: ye and haue professed a contrary doctrine. They be right hangemen to murther whosoeuer desireth for the doctrine that god hath geuen to be the ordinary of our faith and liuinge .

And when he maketh so greate difficulte and hardnesse in paules pistles. I saie / it is impossyble to vnderstond ether peter or paul or ought at al in the scripture / for him that denieth the iustifienge of faith in christes bloude. And agayne it is impossible to vnderstonde in the scripture moare then a turke for whosoeuer hath not the law of god written in his herte to fulfil it. Of which pointe and of true faith to / I feare me that you are voyde and empte with all youre spiritualtie / whose defender ye haue taken vppon you to be / for to mocke out the trouth for lucre and vauntage.

¶An answere vnto Master Mores fourth boke

Christes church hath the true doctrine all redy / and the selfe same that S. Paul wold not geue an angel audience vn to the contrary. T. but the popis church wil not heare that doctrine. M. confirmed with soch a multitude of miracles and so moch bloud of marters / & comen consent of al christendome. T. who shewed a miracle to confirme his preachynge of eareconfession & pardons with like pedelery ? or who shed his bloude for them? I can shew you many thousandes that ye haue slayne for preachynge the contrary. And againe grecia the one halfe of christendome consenteth not vn to them / which grekes if soch thinges had come from the apostles shulde haue had them ere ye. M. the spiritualte be not so tender eared / but that they maye heare their sinnes rebuked. T. they consent not vn to the waye of trueth / but sinne of malice & of profession. And therfore as they haue no power to repent / euen so can they not but persecute both him that rebuketh them & his doctrine to / after the ensamples of the phareses & al tirantes that begonne before / namely if that preacher twich any grounde wherby they shuldbe reformed or by what meanes they maynetene their misheue.

ij. chapter

M. A freres liuinge that hath maried a nunne maketh it easye to know that his doctrine is not good. T. that profession of etherother is playne idolatrie / & disceauinge of a mans soule & robbynge him of his good / & taken vppon them ignorauntly therto. Wherfore when they become vn to the knowlege of the trouth / they ought no lenger therin to abide. But the popis forbiddinge matrimonie & to eate of meates created of god for mannes vse which is deuellish doctrine by paulis prophesie / his geuenge licence to hold whores / his continuall occupienge of pri

nces in shedynge of christen bloude / his robbynge of the pore thorow out christendom of al that was geuen to mayntene them / his settynge vpp in rome a stues not of wemen only / but of the male kynd also agenst nature and a thousand abhominacions to grosse for a turke / are tokens good ynough that he is the right antichrist and his doctrine spronge of the devell.

M. in penaunce marten saith there neadeth no contricion ner satisfaction. T. call it repentaunce and then it is contricion of it selfe. And as for mendesmakynge with worldely thinges / that doo to thi brother whom thou hast offended / & vn to god offer the repentaunce of thine herte and the satisfaccion of christes bloude.

M. tyndale saith that the confessoure vttureth the confessions of them that be rich. But yet we se that both rich and pore kepe hores openly with out payenge peny. T. if they be very rich they be sofered / because they maye be good defenders of the spiritualtie / and if they be very pore / because they haue no money to paye or else they fine with one or other secretly.

M. vppon that lye tindale bildeth the destruction of the sacrament of penaunce. T. sacrament is a signe signifienge what I shuld doo or beleue or both. As baptim is the signe of repentaunce signifienge that I must repent of euel and beleue to be saued therfrom by the bloude of christe. Now Sir in youre penaunce describe vs which is the signe and the outwarde sacrament & what is the thynge that I must do or beleue. And then we will enserch whether it maye be a sacrament or no.

M. tindale sayth that confession is the worst inuencion that euer was. T. as ye facion it me

ane I / & of that filthy priapish confession which ye spew in the eare wherwithe ye exclude the forgeuenesse that is in christes bloude for al that repent and beleue therin / and make the people beleue that their sinnes be neuer forgeuen vntyll they be schryuen vn to the preste / and then for no nother cause saue that they haue there told them and for the holy dedes to come which the confessoure hath enioyned them moare profitable ofte tymes for him selfe then any man else.

M. neuer man had grace to spie that before tyndale. T. yes very many. For many nacions neuer receaued it. And the grekes when they had proued it and sawe the bawdery that folowed of it / put it downe agayne. For which cause and to know al secretes and to leade the consciences captiue / the pope falsly maynteneth it.

M. what frute wold then come of penaunce? T. of youre iugglynge terme penaunce I can not affirme. But of repentaunce wold come this frute / that noman that had it / shuld synne willyngely / but euery man shuld continually fight agenst his fleshe.

M. He teacheth that the sacrament hath no vertu at all / but the faith only. T. the faith of a repentynge soule in Christes bloude doeth iustifie only. And the sacrament stondeth in as good sted as a lyuely preacher. And as the preacher iustifyeth me not / but my fayth in the doctryne: euen so the signe iustifieth not / but the faith in the promise which the sacrament signifieth and preacheth. And to preach is al the vertue of the sacrament. And where the sacramentes preach not / there they haue no vertue at all. And sir we teach not as ye doo / to beleue in the sacrament or in holy church / but to beleue the sacrament

and holy church.

M. He teacheth that fayth sufficeth vn to saluacion with out good werkes. T. the scripture sayth / that assone as a man repenteth of evel and beleueth in Christes bloude / he obteyneth mercye imediatly / because he shuld loue god and of that loue doo good werkes / & that he tarieth not in synne styll tyll he haue done good werkes / & then is first forgeuen for his werkessake / as the pope beareth his in hande / excludynge the vertue of christes bloude. For a man must be first reconsyled vn to god by Christ and in gods fauoure / yer his werkes can be good & pleasaunt in the sight of god. But we saye not as some damnablye lye on vs / that we shuld doo euell to be iustified by fayth / as thou maist se in the third of the romanes how they said of the appostles for like preachinge.

M. He calleth it sacrilege to please god with good werkes. T. to refer the werke vn to the person of god to by out thy synne therwith / is to make an Idole of god or a creature. But if thou referre thy werke vn to thy neyboures profitt or tamynge of thine awne flesh / then thou pleasest god therwith.

M. Item that a man can doo no good werke. T. it is false. But he sayth a man can doo no good werke tyll he beleue that his synnes be forgeuen him in Christe and tyll he loue gods law and haue obtayned grace to worke with. And then saith he that we can not doo oure werkes so perfectely / by the reason of our corrupte flesh but that there is some imperfectenesse therin / as in the werkes of them that be not their craftes master. Whych is yet not rekened / because they doo their good willes and be scolars and

goo to scole to lerne to doo better.

M. Item that the good and rightewesse man synneth all waye in doynge well. T. in all his werkes there lacketh some what and is a faute vntyll he doo them wyth as greate loue vn to his neyboure as Christ did for him and as longe as there is moare resistence in his flesh then was in Christes / or lesse hope in god: and then no lenger.

M. Item that no synne damneth a man saue vnbeleffe. T. whatsoeuer a man hath done / if he repent and beleue in Christe / it is him forgeuen. And so it foloweth that no synne damneth saue there where there is no beleffe.

M. Item that we haue no frewyll to doo ought therwith / though the grace of god be ioyned therto / and that god doeth all in vs both good and bad and we doo but sofre as waxe doeth of the werke man. T. first when he affermeth that we saye / our wyll is not fre to doo good and to helpe to compell the membres / when god hath geuen vs grace to loue his lawes / is false. But we saye that we haue no frewyll to captiuat oure wittes and vnderstondynge / for to beleue the pope in what soeuer he saith with out reason geuinge / when we find in the scripture contrary testimonie / and se in him so greate falshed and dedes so abhominable and therto all the signes by whych the scripture teacheth vs to know antichriste.

And we affirme that we haue no frewyll to preuent god & his grace & before grace prepare oure selues therto / nether can we consent vn to god before grace become. For vntill god haue preuented vs & powred the spirite of his grace in to our

soules / to loue his lawes / and hath grauen them in oure hertes by the outwarde mynistracyon of his true preacher and inwarde workynge off his spirite or by insperacion only / we know not god as he is to be knowen ner fele the goodnesse or any swetnesse in his law. How then can we consent therto? Saith not the texte / that we can doo no good while we be euell and they which seke glorie and to clime in honoure a boue theyr brethern can not beleue the trueth/ and that hores theues murtherars extorcionars and such like haue no parte in the kyngdome of god and christe ner any felynge therof? And who shall take those diseases from them? God only thorow his mercie / for they can not put of that complexion of them selues / vntyll they be taught to beleue and to fele that yt ys damnable and to consent vnto the contrary liuynge.

And vnto the seconde part I answere / that in respecte of god we doo but sofre only and receaue power to doo all oure dedes whether we doo good or bad / as christ answered Pilat / that he coude haue no power agenst him except it were geuen him from a boue and no moare coude Iudas nether. But in respecte of the thinge wherin or wherwith we worke and sheade out agayne the power that we haue receaued / we worke actually. As the axe doeth nothinge in respecte of the hand that heweth / saue receaue: but in respecte of the tre that is cutte / it worketh actually and powreth out againe the power that it hath receaued.

M. Item that god is auctor of good & euell: as wel of the euel will of Iudas in betrayenge christe / as of the goodwill of christ in soferynge his passion.T. the power where wyth we doo

good and euell is of god and the will is of god. As the power which the murtherar abvseth and wherwith he killeth a man vnrightwesly is off God and the will where with he willeth it. But the wekednesse of his will and crokednesse or frowardnesse where with he sleeth vnrightwesly / to auenge him selfe and to satisfie his awne lustes / and the cause whi he knoweth not the law of god and consenteth not to it / which law shuld haue informed his will and corrected the crokednesse therof and haue taught hym to vse hys will and his power right / is his blindnesses faute only and not gods. Which blindnesse the deuell hath poysoned him with.

M. Item matrimonie is no sacrament. T. Matrimonie is a similitude of the kyngdome of heuen / as are many thynges mo / like as it appereth by christ in the gospell.But who institute it to be a sacrament ? Or who at hys mariage was taught the sygnificacion of it? Who was euer bounde to receaue yt in the name of a sacrament. I wold to christes bloude that ye wold make a sacrament of yt vn to all men and wemen that be maried and vn to all other / and wold at euery mariage teach the people to know the benefyte off christ thorow the similitude off matrimonye. And I affirme that in the popis church there ys no sacrament. For where no significacion is / there ys no sacrament. A signe ys no sygne vn to him that vnderstondeth nought therby: as a speche is no speche vn to hym that vnderstondeth it not. I wold too christes passyon that ye wold let them be sacramentes whych christ institute and ordeyned for sacramentes . And then yff ye make of youre awne braynes .v. hundred therto I wolde not

be so greatly greued / though I wold not geue my consent vnto so greate a multitude / partely for the bondage / and specially lest we shuld in time to come / the significacions of them lost / fall in to Idolatrie agayne and make holy werkes of them / after the ensample off the blyndnesse wherin we be nowe / but I wold haue the worde euer liuely preached out of the playne texte.

M. Item that all holy orders be but mennes inuencion. T. the office of an apostle / bisshope / prest / deacon / and wedowe / are of god: But as concerninge the shauinge / the oylenge and dyuersite of rayment and many degrees sens added therto / proue that they be not mens tradycions. But and ye wyll make sacramentes of the oylynge / shauynge / sherynge / and garmentes / put theyr significacions vn to them and let the kynges grace compell them to kepe them and I admitte them for sacramentes / and vntyll that tyme I hold them for the false signes of ypocrites.

M. Item that euery man and woman is a prest and maye consecrat the body of christe. T. in bodyly seruice if the officer appoynted be awaye / euery other person not only maye / but also is bounde to helpe at nede / euen so moch as his neyboures dogge. How moch moare then ought men to assiste one a nother in the health of their soules / at all tymes of nede? yf the man be awaye / the woman maye and is bounde to baptise in tyme of nede / by the lawe of loue / which offyce perteyneth vnto the prest only. Yf she be lady ouer the greatest ordeined by god / that she maie baptise / why shulde she not haue power also ouer the lesse / to ministre the ceremonies which the po

[06]pe hath added to / as his oyle / his salt / his spitell / his candel and cresomcloth? And whi might she not praye all the prayars / except that Idole the pope be greater then the very god? yf wemen had brought a child to church and while the prest and other men taried the childe were in ieoperdy / might they not baptise him in the font / if there were no nother water by? And if other water were by / yet if that holpe better one mite / loue requireth to baptise him therein. And then why might not wemen twich all their other oyle? If a woman lerned in christe were dreuen vn to an Ile where christ was neuer preached / might she not there preach and teach to ministre the sacramentes and make officers? The case is possible / shew then what shuld let that she might not? loue thy neyboure as thy selfe doeth compel. Nay / she maye not consecrat. Whi? If the pope loued vs as well as christ / he wold finde no faulte therwyth / though a woman at nede ministred that sacrament yf yt be so necessary as ye make it. In bodily welth / he that wold haue me one ace lesse then hym selfe / loueth me not as wel as him selfe how moch moare ought we to loue one another in thynges pertaynynge vn to the soule?

M. Item that the host ys no sacryfyce. T. christ is no moare kylled. It is therfore the sacrament signe and memoriall of that sacrifice where wyth chryste offered hys body for oure synnes and commaunded saynge / thys doo in the remembraunce off me. We be not holpe with any visible dede that the prest there doeth / saue in that it putteth vs in remembraunce of christes deeth

and passion for oure synnes. As the garmentes and straunge holy gestures / helpe vs not / but in that they putt vs in remembraunce of thinges that Christ sofered for vs in his passion. Euen so the shewenge breakynge and eatynge of the host / the shewenge and drinkynge of the cuppe of Christes bloude / and the wordes and the consecracion / helpe vs not a pinne ner ar gods serues / saue only in that they stere op oure repentynge faith to call to mynde the deeth and passion of christ for our synnes. And therfore to call it a sacrifice / is but abused speach / as when we call one that is new come home to breakefast & sett a capon before him and saye / this is youre wellcome home / meanynge yet by that speach / that it is but a signe of the loue of mine herte which reioyseth and is glad that he is come home saffe and sounde. And euen so is this but the memoriall of the very sacrifice of christ once done for all. And if ye wold no nother wyse meane / ye shall haue my good wyll to call it so styll / or iff ye can shewe me a reason of some other meaninge. And therfore I wold that it had bene called (as it in dede is and as it was commaunded to be) Christes memoriall / though that I doute not but that it was called masse of this Ebrue worde Misach / whych signifieth a pensiongeuynge / because that at euery masse men gaue euery man a porcion accordynge vn to his power vn to the sustentacion of the pore. Which offerynge yet remayneth. But to a false vse and profyt of them that haue to moch / as all other thynges are peruerted.

Fynally it is the same thynge that it was when Christ institute it / at his last soper. If it were then the very sacrificinge of Christes bo

dy / and had that same vertue and power wyth it that his very passion after wrought / whi was he sacrificed so cruelly on the morow and not hold excused therwith / seinge he was there verely sacrificed?

M. Item that there remayneth bred and wine in the sacrament. T. improue it. What is that that is broken and that the prest eateth with his teth / ayre only? if a child were fed with no nother fode he shuld wax haply as longe as his father. Where of then shuld his body / his flesh and bones growe? where of shuld that come (wyth reuerence I speake it) that he pisseth and soforth? all by miracle wyll they saye.

O what wonderfull miracles must we fayne to saue antichristes doctrine / I might with as good reason saye that the hoste is nether rounde ner white / But that as my mouth is disceaued in the tast of bred / euen so myne eyes ar in the syght of roundnesse and so is there nothynge at all. Whych all are but the disputacions of men with corrupte myndes with out spirite to iudge. Neuer the later when the prest hath once rehersed the testament of our sauioure theron / I loke not on bred and wine / but on the body of Christ broken and bloud shed for my synnes / and by that fayth am I saued from the damnacion of my synnes. Nether come I to masse for any other purpose then to fett forgeuenesse for Christes deethes sake / ner for any other purpose saye I confiteor and knowlege my synnes at the begynnynge of masse. And iff ye haue other doctrine teach vs a reason & lead vs in light and we wyll folowe. Christ sayth Ihon .vj. it is the spirite that quikeneth / the flesh profiteth nothynge at all / the wordes whych I speake sayth he / ar spirite and life. That is / the

fleshly eatynge and drinkynge of Christes body and bloud profit not / as his carnall presens profited not / by the reason of his presens only as ye se by Iudas and the phareses and the sowdiours that twiched him / and how his bodyly presens did lett the disciples to vnderstonde spiritually. But to eate and drinke in the spirite / that is / to herken vn to his wordes and with a repentynge hert to beleue in his deeth / bryngeth vs all that Christ can doo for vs.

M. Item that the masse auayleth no man but the preest. T. if ye speake of the prayars / his prayars helpe vs as moch as oures him. If ye speake of the sacrament / it helpeth as many as be present as moch as him / if moued therby they beleue in Christes deeth as well as he. If they be absent / the sacrament profiteth them as moch as a sermon made in the church helpeth them that be in the feldes. And how profiteth it the soules of the deed tell me vn to whom it is no signe?

If ye meane the carnall eatynge and drinkynge / then it profiteth the prest only / for he eateth and drinketh vpp all allone and geueth no man parte with him.

M. Item that a man shuld not be howseled tyll he laye a dyenge. T. That is to shamelesse a lye.

M. Item that men and wemen shuld not spare to twich it. T. a perelous case. Why? because the pope hath not oyled them. Neverthelesse Christ hath annoynted them with his spirite & with his bloude. But wot ye why? The pope thynketh if they shuld be to busy in handelynge it / they wold beleue that there were bred /and for that cause to strength their feythes / he hath imagened lytle prety thinne manchetes that shynne

thorowe and seme moare like to be made of paper or fine parchement then of wheten floure. Aboute which was no smal question in oxforde of late dayes / whether it were bred or none: some affirminge that the floure with longe lyenge in water was turned to starch & had lost his nature. M. Item that the sacrament shuld not be worsheped. T. It is the sacrament of Christes body & bloud. And Christ calleth it the new & euer lastynge testament in his bloude & commaunded that we shuld so doo in the remembraunce of him / that his body was broken & his bloud shed for our synnes. And Paule commaundeth therby to shew or preach the lordes deeth. They saye not praye to it / nether put any fayth therin. For I maye not beleue in the sacrament / but I must beleue the sacrament / that it is a true signe and it true that is signified therby (which is the onlye worshuppynge of the sacrament / if ye geue it other worshuppe ye playnlye dishonoure it). As I maye not beleue in Christes church / but beleue christes church / that the doctrine which they preach of christe is true. If ye haue any other doctrine / teach vs a reason and lead vs in light / and we wyll folow.

M. Item that a christen is not bounde to kepe any lawe made by man or any at all. T. you saye vntrulye: a Christen man is bounde to obey tiranny / if it be not agenst his faith ner the lawe of god / vntyll god delyuer him therof. But he is no christen man that byndeth hym to any thynge saue that whych loue and his neyboures necessite requireth of them.

And when a law made / is no lenger profitable / christen rulars ought to breake it. But now adayes when tyrantes haue gotten the

simpell people vnder / they compell them to serue their lustes and wily tiranny / with out respecte of any comen welth. Whych wily tiranny / because the trueth rebuketh it / is the cause why they persecute it / lest the comen people seynge how good they shulde be and felynge how weked they are / shuld wythdraw their neckes from their vnrightwesse yocke. As ye haue ensample in Herode / in the scribes and Phareses and in many other.

M. Item that there is no purgatory. T. beleue in Christ and thou shalt shortely finde purgatoryes ynow / as ye now make other fele.

M. Item that all soules lye and slepe tyll domes daye. T. and ye in puttynge them in heuen hell and purgatory / destroye the argumentes wherewith Christ and paule proue the resurreccion. What god doeth with them / that shall we know when we come to them. The true fayth putteth the resurreccion which we be warned to lokefore euery houre. The hethen philosophoures denyenge that / did put that the soules did euer liue. And the pope ioyneth the spirituall doctrine of christe and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers to gether / thynges so contrary that they can not agre / no moare then the spirite and the flesh do in a Christen man. And because the fleshly mynded pope consenteth vn to hethen doctrine / ther fore he corrupteth the scripture to stablish it. Moses sayth in Deute. / the secret thynges perteyne vn to the lorde / and the thynges that be opened pertayne vn to vs / that we doo all that is written in the boke. Wherfore Sir if we loued the lawes of god and wold occupye our selues to fulfill them / and wolde on the other syde be meke and lett god alone with his secretes and

sofre him to be wiser then we / we shuld make none article of the faith of this or that. And agayne / if the soules be in heuen / tell me whi they be not in as good case as the angelles be? And then what cause is there of the resurreccion?

M. Item no man shall praye to sayntes. T. when ye speake with saintes that be departed / it is not euell to put them in remembraunce to praye for you. M. whi doo they not heare vs? T. if they loue you so feruently and be so greate with god / whi certifie they you not / that they so doo? M. so they doo in that we fele oure peticions graunted. T. God saued the old Idolatres with worldly saluacion and gaue them their peticions / which they yet axed of their Idoles / as ye se thorow out al the old testament. God heareth the crowes / foules / beestes and wormes of the erth / as the texte saith / men and beestes doeth god saue / which bestes yet praye not to god. The Iewes and turkes doeth god saue in this worlde and geueth them their worldly peticions. Which yet worshepe not god / as his godly nature is to be worsheped but aftir their awne imaginacion: not in the spirite with faith hope and loue / but with bodyly seruice as the pope doeth. As the popish serue S. Appoline for the toth ache and ar healed: euen so the Iewes and turkes be healed and pray not to hir / but serue god aftir a nother maner for the same disease. So that God doeth saue in this worlde all that kepe the worldely lawes worldly / that is to wite / outwarde in the body for bodyly rewarde and not in the herte of loue that springeth out of the mercy that God hath geuen vs in christe which same / though they be turkes / if they breake the worldly lawes / he rebuketh them / as the ni

niuites and punisheth them diuersly. And if they knowlege their synne and mende / he healeth them agayne. But and if they harden and synne as beestes and will not amend / he destroyeth them vtterly / as the sodomites. And yet all soch haue no parte in the life to come.

But with his childern in whose hertes he writeth the faith of his sonne Iesus & the loue of his lawes / he goeth other wise to werke his lawes in their wil: & their peticions are his honoure and their neyboures welth: and that he will prouide them of al thinges necessarie vn to this life and gouern them that their hertes be not ouercome of euell. And he heareth them vnto his honoure and their euerlastynge saluacion / and purgeth them and teacheth them thinges wherof the popish and all they whose hertes the god of this world hath blynded to serue god with workes haue no fealynge.

And when he saith that the emproure and that counsell which decreed that images for the abuse shuld be put out of the church / were heretikes / it is moch easier so to saye than so to proue. Vnderstond there fore / that images were not yet receaved in the church in the tyme of S. Hierom / at the least waye generally / whether in some one place or no I can not tell. For .s. Hierome reherseth of one Epiphanius a bisshope in the contre of Cipirce and that the most perfecte of al the bisshopes of his tyme / how that the sayd Epiphanius and the bisshope of Ierusalem went to gether to bethel / and by the waye they entred

in to a church for to praye and there found a vayle hangynge before the dore and an image paynted theron / as it had bene of christ or some saint. For the bisshope was so moued therwith / because saith Saint Hierom / that it was contrary to the scripture / that he cutte it and counseled to bury some dede therin and sent a nother cloth to hange in the sted. And aftirward when they ware crepte in a litle and litle: there was no worshepynge of them / at the least waye generally vntyll the tyme of S. Gregory.

In so moch that when Cirenus the bisshope of Masilia offended with the supersticiousnesse of the people burnt them / Saynt Gregory wrote that he shuld not destroy the images / but teach only that the people shuld not worshepe them. But when it was so ferre come that the people worsheped them with a false faith (as we now know no nother vse) and were no longer memorials only / then the bisshopes of grece and the emproure gathered them to gether / to prouide a remedye agenst that misheue and concluded that they shuld be put doune for the abuse / thinkynge it so most expedient / hauinge for them / first the ensample of God whom a man maye boldely folowe / which commaunded in the beginnynge of all his preceptes / that there shuld be no image vsed to worshepe or pray before / not for the image it selfe / but for the wekenesse of his people: and hauinge agayne before theyr eyes / that the people were fallen vn to Idolatrie and imageseruinge by the reason of them.

Now answere me / by what reason canst thou

make an heretike of him / that concludeth nought agenst god / but worketh with god and putteth that blocke out of the waye / where at his brother the price of christes bloud stombleth and loseth his soule. They put not doune the images for hate of god and of his saintes / no moare then Ezechias brake the brasen serpent for enuye of the greate miracle that was wrought by it / or in spite of god that commaunded it to be kepte for a memoriall. But to kepe the people in the true faith only. Now seinge we maye be all with out images and to put them doune is not agenst Gods commaundement but with it / namely if they be abused / to the dishonoure of god and hurt of oure neybours / where is charite / if thou which knowest the trouth and canst vse thine image well / wilt not yet forbere thine image and sofre it to be put out of the waye / for thy weake brothers sake whom thou seist perish therthorow? ye and what thynge maketh both the turke and the Iew abhorre our faith so moch as our imageseruice? But the pope was then glad to fynde an occasion to picke a quarell with the emproure / to gett the empire in to his awne handes which thynge he brought to passe with the swerd of fraunce and dame so hye that euersens he hath put his awne auctorite in stede of gods worde in euery generall counsell & hath concluded what him liste / as agenst al gods worde and agenst al charite he condemned that blessed dede of that counsell and emproure.

M. they blaspheme our lady and all saintes. T. that is vntrue. We honoure our blessed lady and all holy saintes and folow their faith and liuynge vn to the vttemost of oure power and

submitte our selues to be scolars of the same scole.

M. they maye not abyde salue regina. T. for therin is moch blasphemie vnto our blessed lady / because christ is our hope and life only and not she. And ye in asscribynge vn to hir that she is not / dishonoure god and worshepe hir not.

M. they saye if a woman beinge aliue beleue in god and loue him as moch as our lady / she maye helpe with hir prayars as moch as our lady. T. tel whi not. Christ when it was told him that his mother and his brethern sought him / answered / that his mother / his sisters and his brethern were al they that did his fathers wyll. And vn to the woman that saide to christ / blessed be the wombe that bare the and pappes that gaue the sucke / christ answered / Naye blessed are they that heare the worde of god and kepe it. As paul saith .1. Corin. ix. I haue nought to reioyse though I preach / for necessite lieth vppon me / and wo is me / if I preach not. If I doo it vnwillyngly / an office is committed vn to me / but and if I do it with a good wil / then I haue a rewarde. So now carnall bearynge of christ and carnall geuynge him sucke make not our lady greate. But our blessed ladies greatnesse is hir faith and loue wherin she exceaded other. Wherefore if God gaue his mercy that a nother woman were in those .ij. poyntes equall with hir / whi were she not like greate and hir prayers as moch herde.

M. Item that men shuld not worshepe the holy crosse. T. wyth no false worshepe and supersticious fayth / but as I haue said / to haue it in reuerence for the memoriall of him that died theron.

M. Item Luther hateth the festes of the crosse and of corpus Christi. T. not for enuy of the crosse whych synned not in the deeth of Christ ner of malice towarde the blessed body of christ but for the ydolatrye vsed in those festes.

M. Item that no man or woman is bounde to kepe any vowe. T. lawfull vowes ar to be kepte vntyll necessite breake them. But vnlawfull vowes ar to be broken immediatly.

M. Marten appelled vn to the nexte generall counsell that shuld be gathered in the holy gost / to seke a longe delaye. T. of a trouth that were a longe delaye. For shuld Marten liue / tyll the pope wold gather a counsell in the holy gost or for any godly purpose / he were like to be for euery here of his heed a thousand yeres olde.

Then bryngeth he in the inconstauncie of Marten / because he saith in his later boke / how that he seith further then in his firste. Paraduenture / he is kynne to oure doctours whych when with preachynge agenst pluralities they haue gotte them .iij. or .iiij. benefices / allege the same excuse. But yet to saye the truth the very appostles of Christ lerned not all trouth in one daye. For longe after the ascencion they wist not that the hethen shuld be receaued vn to the faith. How then coude Marten (brought vppe in the blyndnesse of youre secte aboue .xl. yeres) spie out all youre falshed in one daye.

M. Marten offered at wormes before the emproure and all the lordes of germanye / to aby

de by his boke & to dispute / which he might well doo / sith he had his safe conducte that he shuld haue no bodyly harme. T. o mercifull god / how fome ye out youre awne shame? ye can not dispute excepte ye haue a man in youre awne daunger to doo him bodyly harme / to diote him aftir youre facion / to tormente him and to murther him. Yf ye might haue had him at youre pleasure / ye wold haue disputed wyth him: first wyth sophistrie and corruptynge the scripture: then with offerynge him promocions : then with the swerde. So that ye wold haue bene sure / to haue ouercome him with one argument or other.

M. He wold agre on no Iudges. T. What iudges offered ye him / saue blynde bisshopes & cardenales / enimies of all trouth / whose promocions and dignites they feare to be plucked from them / if the trouth came to light / or soch Iudases as they had corrupte with money to mayntene their secte? The appostles might haue admitted as well the hethen bisshopes of Idoles to haue bene their iudges as he them. But he offered you autenticke scripture and the hertes of the whole worlde. Whych .ij. iudges / iff ye had good consciences and trust in god / ye wold not haue refused.

iiij.

The fourth chapter is not the first poetrie that he hath fayned.

V.

In the ende of the fifte he vntrulye reporteth / that Marten saith / no man is bound to kepe any vowe. Lawfull promises are to be kepte and vnlawfull broken.

vj.

In the beginnenge of the . vj. he discrybeth marten aftir the ensample of his awne nature / as in other places he discribeth god aftir the complexion of popes cardenals and worldly tirantes.

M. Marten will abyde but by the scripture only. T. and ye will come at no scripture only: And as for the old doctours ye wyll heare as litle / saue where it pleaseth you / for all youre crienge / old holy fathers. For tel me this / whi haue ye in englonde condemned the vnion of doctours but because ye wold not haue youre falshed disclosed by the doctrine of them.

M. they saye / that a christen man is discharged of al lawes spirituall and temperall saue the gospell.T. ye iugle / we saye that no christen man ought to bynde his brother violently / vn to any lawe wher of he coude not geue a reason out of christes doctrine and out of the lawe of loue. And on the other syde we saye / that a christen man is called to sofre wronge and tiranny (though no man ought to bynde him) vntill god rid vs therof: so fer yet as the tiranny is not directly agenst the law of god and faith of Christe / and no further.

M. marten was the cause of the destruccion of the vplondish people of germanie. T. that is false for then he coude not haue escaped him selfe. Marten was as moch the cause of their confusion / as Christ of the destruccion of Ierusalem. The duke elector of saxon cam from the warre of those vplondish people and other dukes with him / in to Wittenberge where Marten is / with .xv. hundred men of armes / so that Marten if he had bene gyltie / coude not

haue gonne quite. And therto all the dukes and lordes that cleaue vn to the worde of god thys daye / were no lesse combred with their comen people then other men.

Then after the lowdest maner he setteth out the cruelnesse of the emproures soudioures whych they vsed at Rome: but he maketh no mencion of the treason which holy church wrought secretly / were with the men off warre were so set on fire.

viij.

M. what good dede will he do / that beleueth marten / how that we haue no frewill to do any good with the helpe of grace?T. O poete with out shame.

M. what harme shal he care to forbere / that beleueth luther / how god alone / with out oure will worketh all the misheue that they doo.T. O naturall sonne of the father of all lies.

M. what shall he care / how longe he liue in synne that beleueth luther / that he shall after thys life / fele nether good ner evell in bodye ner soule vntyll the daye of dome?T. Christ and hys appostles taught no nother / but warned to loke for christes cominge agayne euery houre. Which cominge agayne / because ye beleue will neuer be therfore haue ye fained that other marchaundice.

M. Martens bokes be open / if ye will not beleue vs. T. Naye / ye haue shutt them vpp and therfore be bold to saie what ye liste.

M. they liue as they teach and teach as they liue. T. but nether teach ner liue as other lye on them.

ix.

M. though the turke offer pleasures vn to the receauers and deeth vn to the refusers of his

secte (as the pope doeth) yet he sofereth none to breake their promises of chastite dedicat to god (though haply they vse no soch vowes / and as the pope wyll not excepte it be for monye) but luther teacheth to breake holy vowes.T. luther teacheth that vnlawfull vowes grounded on a false fayth vnto the dyshonourynge of god are to be broken and no nother. And agayne constrayned seruice pleaseth not God. And thridly youre pope geueth licence and his blessynge to breake all lawfull vowes / but with the most vnlawfull of all will ye not dispence.

Then he bringeth forth the ensample of the hethen / to confirme the popis chastite. And no wronge / for the same false imaginacion that the hethen had in theirs / hath the pope in hys. Vnderstonde therfore / If thou vow ane indifferent thynge / to please god in hys awne person / he receaueth not thyne Idolatrie: for hys pleasure and honoure is / that thou shuldest be as he hath made the / and shulde receaue all soch thynges of hys hand and vse them as ferforth as they were nedfull and geue him thankes and be bounde to him: and not that thou shuldest be as thou haddest made thy selfe / and that he shulde receaue soch thynges off the to be bounde to the / to thanke the and rewarde the. And agayne / thou must geue me a reason of thy vow out off the worde of God. Morouer when thou vowest lawfully thou maist not do it precyselye / but all waye excepte / yf thyne awne or thy neyboures necessite required the contrary. As yf thou haddest vowed neuer to eate flesh or drinke wine or stronge drinke / to tame thi flesh / and thou after warde fellest in disease so that thy body in that behalfe were to tame or that there coud no no

ther sustinaunce be gotten. Then thou must interpret soch cases excepte / though thou madest no mencion of them / at the makinge of thi vow. Some man wold saye / other shifte might be made: what then? If other drinke as whote as wine & of the same operacion / and other meate of the same power and vertue as flesh is / must be had / whi shuldest thou forswere wine or fleshe / seinge it is now no lenger for the taminge of thy bodi. And so forth of al wother / as I haue aboue declared.

And when he bringeth in the apostles / marters / confessoures and .xv. hundred yeres / it is cleane contrary. For they had no soch false imaginacion of chastite or of any other worke: but they vsed it to serue their neyboure and to avoyde trouble in time of persecucion and to be eased of that burthen that was to heuy for their weake shulders and not to compell god to thanke them for the liberte for which they be bound to thanke him.

x.

In the tenth he inveyeth and rayleth agenst that which nether he ner any fleshly mynded papiste can vnderstonde / as they haue no power to consent vnto the lawes of god. Which herein appereth / that they compell their brethern which be as good as they to do & beleue what they lust and not what god commaundeth. He affirmeth that marten saith how that we do no synne oure selues wyth oure awne wylle / but that god synneth in vs and vseth vs as a deed instrument and forseth vs ther vn to and damneth vs / not for oure awne deedes but for hys / and for hys awne pleasure / as he compelleth vn to synne for hys pleasure or rather he for hys pleasure synneth in vs. I saye / that a man synneth voluntaryly.

But the power of the will and of the dede is off god and euery will and deed are good in the nature of the dede and the euelnesse is a lacke that there is / as the eye / though it be blinde is good in nature in that it is soch a member created for soch a good vse: but it is called euell for lacke of sighte. And so are oure dedes euell because we lacke knowlege and loue to referre them vn to the glorie of God.

Which lacke cometh of the deuell that blyndeth vs with lustes and occasions that we can not se the goodnesse and rightwysnesse of the law of god and the meanes how to fulfill it. For coud we se it and the waye to doo it we shuld loue it naturally as a chyld doeth a fayre apple. For as a child when a man sheweth him a fayre apple and wyll not geue it hym wepeth / so shuld we naturaly morne when the members wold not come forwarde to fulfyll the law acordynge to the desyre of oure hertes. For paule saith .ij. Cor. iiij. if our gospell be hid / it is hyd vnto them that perish / amonge which the God of this world hath blinded the wittes of the vnbeleuers / that the light of the glorious gospell of christ shuld not shyne to them. And christ saith that the briddes eate vpp the seed sowen vppon the waye and interpreteth by the seed the worde / and by the foules / the deuell. So that the deuel blindeth vs with falshed and lies which ys our worldly wisdome / and therwith stoppethout the true light of gods wisdome / which blindnes is the euellnesse of all our dedes.

And on the other syde / that a nother man loueth the lawes of God and vseth the power that he hath of God well / and referreth his wyll and hys dedes vn to the honoure off God / cometh off the mercy off God which hath oppened hys

wittes and shewed him light to se the goodnesse and rightwysnesse of the law of god and the waye that is in Christ to fulfill it. Wherby he loueth it naturally & trusteth to doo it. Why doeth god open one mans eyes and not a nothers? Paul Roma. ix. forbiddeth to aske that why. For it is to depe for mans capacite. God we se is honoured therby and his mercy sette out & the moare sene in the vesels of mercy. But the popish can sofre god to haue no secret hid to him selfe. They haue serched to come to the botome of his botomlesse wisdome / and because they can not attayne to that secrete and be to proude to let it alone / and to graunt them selues ignoraunt with the appostle that knew no nother then Gods glorye in the electe / they goo and sett vpp frewyll with the hethen philosophers & saye that a mans frewyll is the cause why god choseth one & not a nother / contrary vn to all the scripture.

Paul saith it cometh not of the will ner of the dede / but of the mercy of god. And they saye that euery man hath at the least waye power in his frewyll / to deserue that power shuld be geuen him of god to kepe the lawe. But the scripture testifieth that Christ hath deserued for the electe euen then when they hated god / that there eyes shuld be opened to se the goodnesse of the lawe of God and the waye to fulfill it / and forgeuenesse of al that is passed where by they be drawen to loue it and to hate synne.

I axe the popish one question whether the wyll can preuent a mans wytte and make the witt se the rightwesnesse of the law and the waye to fulfil it in christ? If I must first se the reason why yer I can loue how shall I wyth my wyll doo that good thynge that I know not of? how

shall I thanke god for the mercy that is layed vpp for me in christ / yer I beleue it? For I must beleue the mercy yer I can loue the worke. Now faith cometh not of oure frewyl / but is the gyft of god geuen vs by grace yer therbe any wyl in our hertes to doo the lawe of god. And whi god geueth it not euery man I can geue no rekeninge of his iudgementes. But well I wott / I neuer deserued it ner prepared my selfe vn to it / but ran a nother waye cleane contrary in my blyndenesse / and sought not that waye / but he sought me and found me out and shewed it me and therwith drew me to him. And I bow the knees of myne herte vn to god nyght and daye / that he wyll shew it all other men. And I sofre all that I can to be a seruant to open theyr eyes.

For well I wott they can not se of them selues before God haue preuented them wyth his grace. For Paul sayth Philip. 1. he that began a good werke in you shall continue or bringe it vn to a full ende / so that God must begynne to worke in vs. And Philip. ij. God it is that worketh both the willynge and also bryngynge to passe. And it must nedes be / for god must open mine eyes & shew me some what & make me se the goodnesse of it / to draw me to him / yer I can loue / consent or haue any actuall wyll to come. And when I am willynge / he must assiste me and helpe to tame my flesh / & to ouercome the occasions of the worlde & the power of the fendes.

God therfore hath a speciall care for his electe / in so moch that he wyll shorten the weked dayes for their sakes in which no man / if they shuld continue / might endure. And Paul sofereth all for the electe .ij. Timothe .ij. And gods sure fundacion stondeth sayth Paul / god knoweth his. So

that refuse the trouth who shall / god wyll kepe a numbre of his mercye / & call them out of blyndnesse / to testifie the trueth vn to the rest / that their damnacion maye be with out excuse.

The turcke / the Iew and the popish bild vppon frewyll and asscribe their iustifienge vn to their workes. The turke when he hath synned / runeth to the purifienges or ceremonies of Mahomete / and the Iew to the ceremonies of Moses / and the pope vn to his awne ceremonies / to fette forgeuenesse of their synnes. And the christen goeth thorow repentaunce towarde the lawe / vn to the faith that is in Christes bloude.

And the pope saith that the ceremonies of Moyses iustified not / compelled with the wordes of Paul. And how then shuld his iustifie? Moses sacramentes were but signes of promises of fayth / by whych fayth the beleuers ar iustified / and euen so be Christes also. And now because the Iewes haue put out the significacions of their sacramentes and put their trust in the workes of them / therfore they be Idolaters / and so is the pope for like purpose. The pope sayth that Christ dyed not for vs but for the sacramentes / to geue them power to iustifie. O Antichriste.

xj.

His . xj. chapter is as true as his storie of vtopia and all his other poetrie. He meaneth doctoure Ferman person of hony lane. Whom after they had handelled after their secret maner and disputed wyth secretly and had made him swere that he shuld not vtter how he was dealte wyth / as they haue made many other / then they contriued a maner of dispicions had

with him / with soch opposicions / answerynges & argumentes as shuld serue only to sett forth their purpose. As master More thorow out all his boke maketh / quod he / to dispute and moue questions after soch a maner as he can soyle them or make them appere soyled / and maketh him graunte where he listeth and at the last to be concluded and led wother Master More wyll haue him. Wherfore I wyll not reherse all the argumentes / for it were to longe / and is also not to be beleued that he so made them or so disputed with them / but that they added and pulled awaye and fayned as they liste as their gise is. But I wyll declare in light that which Master More ruffeleth vpp in darkenesse / that ye maye se their falshed.

First if ye were not false ypocrites / why had ye not disputed openly with him / that the world might haue hearde and born recorde / that that whych ye now saye of him were true? what cause is there that the laye people might not as well haue hearde his wordes of his awne mouth / as reade them of youre wrytynge / excepte ye were iuglynge spirites that walke in darkenesse?

When Master More saith the church teacheth that men shuld not trust in their workes / it is false if he mene the popis church. For they teach a man to trust in domme ceremonyes and sacramentes / in penaunce and all maner workes that come them to profite / whych yet helpe not vnto repentaunce ner to fayth ner to loue a mans neyboure .

Master More declareth the meaninge of no sentence he describeth the propir significacion of no worde ner the difference of the significa

cions of any terme / but runneth forth confusedly in vnknowen wordes and general termes. And were one worde hath many significacions he maketh a man some time beleue that manye thinges are but one thynge / and some time he leadeth from one significacion vn to a nother and mocketh a mans wittes. As he iugleth with thys terme church / makynge vs in the begynnynge vnderstonde all that beleue and in the conclusyon the prestes only. He telleth not the office of the lawe / he describeth not his penaunce ner the vertue therof or vse / he declareth no sacrament / ner what they meane ner the vse ner wherin the frute off confession stondeth / ner whence the power of the absolucion cometh / ner wherein it resteth / ner what iustifienge meaneth / ner the ordir ner sheweth any diuersite of faithes / as though all faithes were one faith and one thinge.

Marke therfore / the waye towarde iustifienge or forgeuenesse of sinne / is the lawe. God causeth the lawe to be preached vn to vs and wryteth yt in oure hertes and maketh vs by good reasons fele that the lawe is good and ought to be kept and that they which kepe it not are worthy to be damned. And on the other syde I fele that there ys no power in me / to kepe the lawe where vppon it wold shortly folow that I shud dyspeare / if I were not shortly holpe.

But God which hath begon to cure me and hath layde that corosy vn to my sores / goeth forth in hys cure / and setteth hys sonne Iesus before me and all hys passyons and deeth / and saith to me: thys is my dere sonne / and he hath prayed for the and hath sofred all thys for the / and for hys sake I wil forgeue the al that thou hast done agenst thys good lawe / and I wyll heale

thy flesh and teach the to kepe thys lawe / if thou wilt lerne. And wyll beare wyth the and take al a worth that thou doest / tyll thou canst doo better. And in the meane season / not wythstondynge thy wekenesse / I wyll yet loue the no lesse then I doo the angels in heauen / so thou wylt be delygent to lerne. And I wyll assiste the and kepe the and defende the and be thy shilde and care for the.

And the herte here begynneth to mollyfye and wax softe and to receaue health and beleueth the mercy of God and in beleuynge is saued from feare of euerlastynge deeth and made sure off euerlastynge lyfe / and then beinge ouercome wyth thys kindnesse / begynneth too loue agayne and to submitte hyr selfe vn to the lawe of God to lerne them and to walke in them.

Note now the ordyr / first God geueth me light to se the goodnesse and ryghtwysnesse off the lawe and mine awne synne and vnryghtwesnesse. Out of whych knowlege springeth repentaunce.

Now repentaunce teacheth me not that the law ys good / and I euell / but a lyght that the spyryte off God hath geuen me / out off whych lyght repentaunce springeth.

Then the same spirite worketh in myne herte trust and confidence to beleue the mercye of God and hys trueth / that he wyll doo as he hath promised. Whych beleffe saueth me. And immediatly out of that trust springeth loue towarde the lawe of god agayne. And what soeuer a man werketh of any other loue then thys it pleaseth not God / ner is that loue Godly. Now loue doeth not receaue thys mercy but

fayth only / out of which fayth loue springeth / by which loue I power out agayne vppon my neyboure that goodnesse wych I haue receaued of God by fayth. Here of ye se that I can not be iustified wyth out repentaunce and yet repentaunce iustyfieth me not. And here of ye se that I can not haue a faith to be iustified and saued / excepte loue springe therof immediatly / and yet loue iustifieth me not before God. For my naturall loue to god agayne doeth not make me first se and fele the kyndnesse of God in christ / but fayth thorow preachinge. For we loue not God first / to compel him to loue agayne: but he loued vs first and gaue hys sonne for vs / that we might se loue and loue agayne / sayth sent Ihon in hys first epistle . Whych loue of God to vs warde we receaue by Christ thorow fayth saith Paule. And thys ensample haue I sett out for them in dyuers places / but their blinde popysh eyes haue no power too se it / couetousnesse hath so blinded them. And when we saye fayth only iustifyeth vs / that ys to saye / receaueth the mercye wherewyth God iustifyeth vs and forgeueth vs / we meane not fayth whych hath noo repentaunce and fayth whych hath no loue vn to the lawes off God agayne and vn to good werkes / as wyked ypocrytes falsly belie vs.

For how then shulde we sofre as we doo all mysery / too call the blynde and ygnoraunte vn to repentaunce and good werkes / whych now doo but consent vn to all euell and studye mischeue all daye longe / for al theyr preachynge their iustifyenge of good workes. Let Master Moore ymproue thys wyth hys sophystrye and sett forth hys awne doctryne that we maye

se the reason of yt and walke in light.

Herof ye se what faith it is that iustifyeth vs. The faith in christes bloude of a repentinge herte towarde the lawe doeth iustifie vs onli and not all maner faythes. Ye must vnderstond therfore / that ye maye se to come out of Mores blinde mase / how that there be many faithes and that all faythes be not one fayth / though they be all called with on generall name. There is a story fayth with out felynge in the herte / where with I maye beleue the hole story of the byble and yet not sett myne herte ernestly therto / takynge yt for the fode of my soule / too lerne to beleue and trust God / to loue him / dreade him and feare him by the doctrine and ensamples therof / but to seme lerned and to know the story / to dispute and make marchaundice / after as we haue ensamples ynowe. And the faith wherwith a man doeth miracles / is a nother gyft then the fayth of a repentinge herte to be saued thorow christes bloude / and the one no kynne too the other though Master More wold haue them so appere. Nether is the deuels fayth and popis faith (where wyth they beleue that there ys a god and that chryst ys and all the story off the byble and maye yet stonde wyth all wekednesse and full consent too euell) kynne vnto the fayth of them that hate evell and repent off their mysdedes and knowlege their synnes and be fled with ful hope and truste off mercye vn to the bloude off Christ.

And when he sayth / yf fayth certyfye oure hertes that we be in the fauoure off God and oure synnes forgeuen and become good yer we doo good werkes / as the tre must be first good

yer it bringe forth good frute / by christes doctrine then we make good workes but a shadowe where with a man is neuer the better. Naie Sir we make good werkes / frutes where by oure neyboure is the better and wherby God is honoured and oure flesh tamed. And we make of them sure tokens where by we know that our faith is no fayned imaginacion and deed opinion made with captiuynge oure wyttes after the popis tradicions / but a lyuely thinge wrought by the holygoste.

And when he disputeth / if they that haue faith / haue loue vn to the law and purpose to fulfill it / then fayth alone iustifieth not / how will he proue that argument? he iugleth with this worde alone: and wold make the people beleue that we said / how a bare faith that is with out all other companye / of repentaunce / loue and other vertues / ye and with out gods spirite to / did iustifie vs / so that we shuld not care to doo good. But the scripture so taketh not alone ner we so meane / as Master More knoweth well ynough. When an horse bereth a sadell and a man therin / we maye well saye / that the horse only and alone bereth the sadell / and is not holpe of the man in beringe therof. But he wold make men vnderstonde that we ment / the horse bare the sadell emptie and no man therin: let him marke this to se his ignoraunce / which wold god were not coupled with malice. Euery man that hath witte / hath a will to and then by master mores argument / witte only geueth not the light of vnderstondynge . Now the conclusion is false and the contrary true. For the witte with out helpe of the will geueth the light of the vnderstondynge / nether doeth the will worke

at all / vntyll the wytt haue determined thys or that to be good or bad. Now what is faith saue a spirituall lyght of vnderstondinge and an inwarde knowlege or felynge of marcie. Out of whych knowlege loue doeth springe. But loue brought me not that knowlege / for I knew yt yer I loued. So that loue in the processe off nature to dyspute from the cause to the effecte helpeth not at all to the felynge that God is mercifull to me no moare than the louynge herte and kynd behavoure of an obedyent wyfe to hir husbonde / maketh hyr se hys loue and kyndenesse to hir / for many soch haue vnkynde husbandes. But by hys kynde dedes to hir doeth she se his loue. Euen so my loue & dedes make me not se Gods loue to me in the processe of nature: but hys kynde dedes to me / in that he gaue his sonne for me maketh me se his loue and to loue agayne.

Oure loue and good werkes make not god first loue vs / and chaunge hym from hate to loue / as the Turke / Iew and vayne popish meane but hys loue and dedes make vs loue and chaunge vs from hate to loue. For he loued vs when we were euell and hys enimies as testifieth Paul in dyuers places and chose vs to make vs good and to shew vs loue and to draw vs to hym / that we shuld loue agayne.

The father loueth hys chyld / when yt hath no power to doo good and when yt must be sofered to runne after the awne lustes wyth out lawe / and neuer loueth yt better then then / to make yt better and too shewe yt loue / to loue agayne. Yf he coude se what ys wrytten in the fyrst pistle of Ihon / though al the other scripture were layed aparte / he shuld se all thys.

And ye must vnderstonde / that we some tyme dispute forwarde / from the cause to the effecte and some tyme backwarde from the effecte to the cause / and must beware that we be not therwith begyled / we saye somer is come and therfore all is grene / and dispute forwarde. For somer is the cause of the grenesse. We saye the trees be grene / and therfore somer is come / and dispute backwarde from the effecte to the cause / For the grenetrees make not somer / but maketh somer knowen. So we dispute backwarde / the man doeth good dedes and profitable vn to his neyboure / he must therfore loue god: he loueth god / he must therfore haue a true fayth and se mercye.

And yet my workes make not my loue ner my loue my fayth ner my fayth Gods mercye: But contrary / Gods mercye maketh my fayth and my fayth my loue and my loue my workes. And if the pope coude se mercy and worke of loue to his neyboure and not sell his workes to god for heuen after Master Mores doctrine / we neded not so sotle disputynge of fayth.

And when Master More allegeth Paul to the Corinthians / to proue that fayth maye be wyth out loue / he proueth nothynge / but iugleth only. He sayth it is euident by the wordes of Paul / that a man maye haue a fayth to doo miracles wyth out loue and maye geue all his good in almes with out loue / and geue his body to burne for the name of Christe / and all with out charite. Well I wyll not stycke wyth him: he maye so doo wyth out charite and wyth out fayth therto. Then a man maye haue fayth wyth out fayth. Ye verely because there be many differences of fayth / as I haue sayde /

and not all faythes one faith / as master More iugleth. We read in the workes of S. Cipriane / that there were marters that sofred marterdom for the name of christ al the yere longe / and were tormented and healed agayne and then brought forth afreshe. Which marters beleued / as ye doo / that the payne of their marterdome shuld be a deseruinge and merite ynough / not only to deserue heuen for them selues / but to make satisfaccion for the synnes of other men therto / and gaue pardons of their merites after the ensample of the popis doctrine and forgaue the synnes of other men which had openly denyed christe / and wrote vn to Cipriane / that he shuld receaue those men that had denied christe in to the congregacion agayne / at the satisfaccion of their merites. For which pride Cipriane wrote to them & called them the deuels marters and not Gods. Those marters had a faith without faith. For had they beleued that all mercy is geuen for christes bloudeshedynge / they whold haue sent other men thither / and wold haue sofered their awne marterdom for loue of their neyboures only / to sarue them and to testifie the trueth of god in oure sauioure Iesu / vnto the worlde / to saue at the least waye some / that is to wete / the electe / for whose sake Paule sofereth al thinge and not to winne heuen. Yf I worke for a worldely purpose / I get no rewarde in heuen: euen so if I worke for heuen or an hier place in heuen I gett there no rewarde. But I must doo my worke for the loue of my neyboure / because he is my brother and the price of Christes bloude and because christe hath deserued it and dysyreth it of me / and then my rewarde is greate in heuen.

And all they whych beleue that their synnes be forgeuen them and they receaued as the scripture testifieth / vn to the enheritaunce of heuen for Christes merites / the same loue christ & their brethern for his sake and doo all thynge for their sakes only / not once thynkinge of heuen / when they worke / but on their bretherns neade. When they sofre them selues aboue might / then they comforte their soule with the remembraunce of heuen / that this wrechednesse shall haue an ende and we shall haue a thousandfold pleasures and rewardes in heuen / not for the merites of oure deseruynges but geuen vs frely for Christes. And he that hath that loue hath the right faith. And he that hath that faith hath the right loue. For I can not loue my neyboure for Christes sake / excepte I first beleue that I haue receaued soch mercy of Christe. Ner can I beleue that I haue receaued soch mercy of Christ / but that I must loue my neyboure for his sake / seinge that he so instantly desyreth me.

And when he allegeth S. Iames / it is answered him in the mammon / and S. Augustine answereth him. And saynt Iames expoundeth him selfe. For he saith in the first chapter / God whych begatt vs of his awne wyll with the worde of trueth / which-worde of trueth is his promises of mercye and forgeuenesse in oure sauioure Iesus / by whych he begatt vs / gaue vs life & made vs a new creature thorow a fast fayth. And Iames goeth and rebuketh the opinion & false fayth of them that thynke it ynough to be saued by / iff they beleue that there is but one god and that Christ was borne of a virgen and a thousand thynges whych a man may beleue. And yet not beleue in Christe / to be saued from

sinne thorow him. And that Iames speaketh of a nother fayth then at the begynnynge appereth by his ensample. The deuelles haue fayth saith he: ye but the deuels haue no fayth that can repent of euell or to beleue in Christ / to be saued thorow him / or that can loue god and worke his will of loue. Now Paul speaketh of a faith that is in Christes bloude to be saued therby / which worketh immediatly thorow loue of the benefite receaued.

And Iames at the beginninge speaketh of a faith that bydeth trienge sayenge / the trienge of youre fayth worketh or causeth paciens. But the faith of the deuels wyll byde no trienge / for they wyll not worke gods wyll because they loue him not. And in like maner is it of the fayth of them that repent not or that thynke them selues with out synne. For except a man fele out of what daunger Christ hath delyuered him / he can not loue the worke. And therfore Iames saith right / that no soch faith that wyll not worke can iustifie a man.

And when Paul saith faith only iustifieth: and Iames / that a man is iustified by werkes and not by fayth only / there is greate difference betwene Pauls only and Iameses only. For Paules only is to be vnderstonde / that fayth iustifieth in the hert and before god / wyth out helpe of werkes / ye and yer I can worke. For I must receaue life thorow fayth to worke wyth / yer I can worke. But Iames only is this wise to be vnderstonde / that faith doeth not so iustifie / that no thynge iustifieth saue fayth / For dedes doo iustifie also. But fayth iustifieth in the herte and before god / and the dedes before the world only and maketh the other sene as ye maye se by the scripture.

For Paul saith Roma. iiij. if Abraham haue workes / he hath wherof to reioce / but not before god. For if Abraham had receaued those promises of deseruynge / then had it bene Abrahams prayse and not gods / as thou maist se in the texte: nether had god shewed Abraham mercy and grace / but had only geuen him his dutie and deseruinge. But in that Abraham receaued all the mercie that was shewed him / frely thorow fayth / out of the deseruinges of the seed that was promised him / as thou maist se by Genesis and by the gospell of Ihon / where Christ testifieth that Abraham saw his daye and reioysed / and of that ioye nodoute wrought / it is gods prayse / and the glory of his mercye. And the same maist thou se by Iames / when he saith Abraham offered his sonne / and so was the scripture fulfilled / that Abraham beleued / and it was rekened him for rightwysnesse and he was therby made gods frende.

How was it fulfilled? before god? Naye / it was fulfilled before god manye yeres before / & he was gods frende many yeres before / euen from the first appoynttment that was made betwene god and him. Abraham receaued promises of all mercie and beleued and trusted god & went & wrought out of that faith. But it was fulfilled before vs which can not se the herte / as Iames sayth / I wyll shew the my fayth out of my workes / and as the angell said to Abraham / now I know that thou dreadest god. Not but that he knew it before / but for vs spake he that / whych can se nought in Abraham moare then in other men / saue by his workes.

And what workes ment Iames? verely the wor

kes of mercye . As if a brother or a sister lacke rayment or sustinaunce and ye be not moued to compassion ner fele their diseases / whate fayth haue ye then? No faith (be sure) that feleth the mercye that is in Christe. For they that fele that / be mercifull ageyne and thankefull.

But loke on the werkes of oure spiritualtie which wyll not only be iustified with werkes before the world / but also before god. They haue had all christendome to rule this .viij. hundred yeres / and as they only be annoynted in the heed / so haue they only bene kynge and emproure and haue had al power in their handes and haue bene the doers only and the Ieders of those shadowes that haue had the name of princes / and haue led them whother they wolde and haue brethed in to their braynes what they listed. And they haue wrought the world out of peace and vnite and euery man out of his wellfare and are become alone well at ease / only fre / only at liberte / only haue all thynge and only do nought therfore / only laye on other mennes backes and beare nought them selues. And the good werkes of them that wrought out of faith and gaue their goodes and landes to finde the pore / them deuoure they also alone. And what workes preach they? Only that ar to them profitable and wherby they raigne in mens consciences as god: to offer / to geue to be prayed for and to be deliuered out of purgatory and to redeme youre synne of them / and to worshepe ceremonies and to be shryuen and so forth.

And when Master More is come to him selfe & sayth the first fayth and the first iustifienge is geuen vs with out oure deseruinge. God be thanked / and I wold fayne that he wold de

scribe me what he meaneth by the seconde iustifienge. I know no moare to doo / then when I haue receaued all mercy and all forgeuenesse of Christ frely / to goo and powre out the same vppon my neyghboure.

M. Dauid lost not his faith / when he committed adultery. T. No / and therfore he coude not continue in synne / but repented assone as his faulte was told him. But was he not reconsyled by fayth only / and not by dedes? sayd he not haue mercy on me lorde for thy greate mercye and for the multitude of thy mercies put awaye my synne.

And agayne / make me heare ioye & gladnesse / that the bones which thou hast broken maye reioyse. That is latt me heare thy voyce that my synne is forgeuen and then I am saffe and wyll reioyse . And afterward he knowlegeth that god delyteth not in sacrifices for synnes / but that a troubled spirite and a broken herte is that whych god requireth. And when the peace was made / he prayeth boldly and familiarly to god / that he wold be good to Sion and Ierusalem / and sayth that then last of all when god hath forgeuen vs of mercy / and hath done vs good for our euell / we shall offer sacrifice of thankes to him agayne. So that our dedes are but thankesgeuynge. When we haue sinned / we goo with a repentynge herte vn to Christes bloude / and there wash it of thorow faith. And oure dedes are but thankes geuenge to god to helpe oure neyboures at their nede / for which oure neyboures and ech of them owe vs as moch agayne at oure nede. So that the testament of forgeuenesse of synnes / is bylt vppon faith in christes bloude and not on workes.

Master More wyll runne to the pope for forgeuenesse a pena & culpa.

By what merites doeth the pope that? by Christes. And Christ hath promised all his merites to them that repent & beleue and not geuen them vn to the pope to sell. And in youre absolucions ye oft absolue wyth out ioynynge of penaunce. He must haue a purpose to doo good werkes wyll ye saye. That condicion is sett before him to doo / out of the mercy that he hath receaued & not to receaue mercie out of them. But the popish can not repent out of the hert.

And therfore can not fele the mercie that faith bryngeth / & therfore can not be mercifull to their neyboures to doo their werkes for their sakes. But they fayne them a sorow for their synne in whych they euer continue and so morne for them in the mornynge that they laugh in them yer middaye agayne. And then they imagen them popish dedes / to make satisfaccion to God and make an Idole of him.

And fynally that good workes / as to geue almes and soch like / iustifie not of them selues / is manifeste. For as the good which are taught of god doo them well / of very loue to god and Christ and of their neybours for Christes sake / even so the euell doo them of vayne glorie and a false faith wykedly / as we haue ensamples in the phareses / so that a man must be good yer he can doo good. And so is it of the purpose to doo them: Ones purpose is good and a nothers evell: so that we must be good yer a good purpose come. How then / to loue the law of god and to consent therto and to haue it written in thine hert and to professe it / so that thou art ready of thyne awne accorde to doo it and wyth out compultion / is to be righteous: that I graunt and that loue maye be called rightwysnesse before God

passiue and the life and quickenesse of the soule passiue. And soferforth as a man loueth the law of god / so ferforth he is righteous / and so moch as he lacketh of loue toward his neiboure after the ensample of Christe / so moch he lacketh of rightwysnesse. And that thynge whych maketh a man loue the lawe of god / doth make a man righteous and iustifieth him effectiuely and actually and maketh him alyue as a worke man & cause efficient. Now what is it that maketh a man to love? verely not the dedes / for they folow and springe of loue / if they be good. Nether the preachynge of the law / for that quickeneth not the herte Gala. iij. but causeth wrath Rom. iiij. and vttereth the synne only Romanorum .iij. And therfore sayth Paule that rightewysnesse spryngeth not out of the dedes of the law in to the herte / as the Iewes and the pope meane: but contrary the dedes of the law sprynge out of the rightwysnesse of the hert if they be good. As when a father pronounceth the law / that the child shall goo to scole / it saith naye. For that killeth his hert and all his lustes / so that he hath no power to loue it. But what maketh his herte aliue to loue it? verely fayre promises of loue and kindnesse / that it shall haue a gentle scolemaster and shall playe ynough and shall haue many gaye thynges and so forth. Even so the preachynge of fayth doth worke loue in oure soules and make them aliue and draw our hertes to God. The mercye that we haue in Christ doeth make vs loue only and only bryngeth the spirite of life in to our soules.

And therfore saith Paul / we be iustified by fayth and by grace with out dedes: that is / yer

the dedes come. For faith only bringeth / the spirite of life and deliuereth our soules from feare of damnacion / which is in the law and euer maketh peace betwene god and vs / as oft as there is any variaunce betwene vs. And finally when the peace is made betwene god and vs and all forgeuen thorow faith in Christes bloude / and we begynne to loue the lawe / we were neuer the nere excepte faith went with vs / to supplye out the lacke of full loue / in that we haue promises / that that litle we haue is take aworth & accepted tyll moare come. And agayne when our frailtie hath ouerthrowen vs and feare of damnacion invadeth our consciences / we were vtterly lost / if fayth were not bye to helpe vs vpp agayne / in that we are promised that when soeuer we repent of euell and come to the right waye agayne / it shalbe forgeuen for Christes sake. For when we be fallen / there is no testament made in werkes to come / that they shal saue vs. And therfore the werkes of repentaunce or of the sacramentes can neuer quiet our consciences and deliuer vs from feare of damnacion. And last of all in temptacions tribulacion and aduersites / we perished dayly excepte fayth went with vs to deliuer vs / in that we haue promises / that god wyll assiste us / cloth vs / fede vs and fight for vs and rid vs out of the handes of oure enimies. And thus the rightewysse liueth euer bye faith / even from faith to faith / that is / as sone as he is deliuered out of one temptacion a nother is sett before him to feighte agenst and to ouercome thorow fayth. The scripture sayth / blessed is the man whose transgression is forgeuen & his synnes hid / and vn to whom the lorde rekeneth not vnrightwysnesse. So that the only right-

wysnesse of him that can but synne and hath nought of hym selfe to make amendes / is the forgeuenesse of sinne / which faith only bringeth. And as forforth as we be vnryghtwese / faith only iustifieth vs actiuely and else nothinge on our partie. And as ferforth as we haue synned / be in sinne or do synne or shall synne / so ferforth must fayth in christes bloud iustifie vs only and else nothynge. To loue / is to be rightwesse so ferforth as thou louest / but not to make rightwesse / ner to make peace. To beleue in christes bloud with a repentinge hert is to make rightwesse and the only makynge of peace and satisfaccion to godwarde. And thus because termes be darke to them that be not experte and excercysed / we all waye sett out our meanynge wyth clere ensamples / reportynge our selues vn to the hertes and consciences of all men.

M. the blasphemous wordes of luther seme to signifie / that both saynt Ihon baptiste & oure ladie were synners. T. Ihon baptiste sayde too christ .Mat .iij. I had nede to be baptised of the and comest thou to me? wherof did Ihon confesse that he had nede to be washed and purged by chryste / off hys holynesse and good dedes? when Ihon sayd / behold the lambe off god that taketh a waye the synne of the worlde / he was not off that sorte ner had any synnes to be taken awaie at any time / ner any parte in christes bloude whych dyed for synners only. Ihon came too restore all thynge sayth christ. That is / he came to enterpret the law of God truly and to proue all flesh synners / too send them to Christe / as paul doeth in the begynnynge off the Romans. Whych law if Master More coude vnderstonde how spirituall yt ys and what yt requireth off

vs / he wolde not so dyspute. And yf there were no imperfectenesse in oure ladies dedes / whi did christ rebuke hyr Ihon .ij. when he ought rather to haue honoured hys mother / and why did he make hir seke him .iij. dayes. Chrisostimus dare saye / that our lady was now & then taken wyth a litle vayne glorie. She loked for the promises off hym that shulde come and blesse hyr / from what? She beleued to be saued by christ / from what? Thys I graunt / that our lady / Ihon baptiste / Isaac / Iacob / Ioseph / Moses and many lyke / dyd neuer consent too synne / to folow it: But had the holy gost from the bygynnynge.

Neuer the later whyle they folowed the spirite and wrought theyr best / yet chaunces met them by the waye and temptacyons / that made theyr werkes come some tymes vnperfectely too passe / as a potter that hath hys craft neuer so well / meteth a chaunce now and then / that maketh hym facyon a pott amisse. So that I thinke the perfectest of them all as we haue ensamples off some / were compelled to saye wyth Paull / that good that I wold / I doo not and that euell that I wolde nott / that I doo. I wolde not sweere on a boke that yf our lady had bene let slipp as woother were and as harde apposed wyth as present deeth before hyr eyes / that she wolde not haue denyed some thynges that she knewe true. Ye but she was preserved by grace that she was not. No but though she were kepte by grace from the outwarde dede / yet yf theyr were soch wekenesse in hyr flesh / she had synne. And the grace was / that she knew it and was meke too beleue in chryst / too haue yt forgeuen hyr and too be preserued that yt shulde not bud forth. Ihon the euangelyst / when he was as

holy as euer was Ihon the baptyst said / yf we saye we haue no synne / we dysceaue oure selues.

Then he compareth faith and dedes too gether and wyll that fayth shulde stonde in no beter seruice off ryght then dedes. Yes / for the dedes be examined by the law / and therfore yt ys not ynough too doo them only / or to doo them wyth loue: but I must doo them wyth as greate loue as christ dyd for me / and as I receaue a good dede at my nede. But fayth ys vnder no lawe / and therfore be she neuer so feble / she shal receaue acordynge too the trueth off the promyser.

M. what thynge coude we axe god of ryght because we beleue hym? T. verely all that he promyseth / maye we be bold to axe of right and dutye and by good obligation.

M. Ferman said that all workes be good ynough in them that god hath chosen. T. I am sure yt ys vntrue / for their best be not good ynough / though God forgeueth them their euell of hys mercye / at the repentaunce of theyr hertes.

Then he endeth in hys scole doctryne contrary vn to all the scripture / that god remitteth not the synne of his chosen people / because that he hath chosen them or of hys mercye / but off a towardnesse that ys moare in one then in another sayenge God sawe before that Peter shuld repent and Iudas wolde dyspeare / and therfore chose Peter. If God chose Peter because he dyd repent / why chose he not Iudas to / which repented as moch as he and knowleged hys synne and brought the money agayne? O thys

blyndenesse / as god had wrought nothynge in the repentaunce of peter. Sayd not christ before / that peter shuld faull. And sayd he not that he had prayed for hym that he shulde be holpe vpp agayne? Christ prayed a stronge prayer for peter to helpe hym vpp agayne and sofred a stronge deeth therto. And before his deeth he committed them vn to hys father saynge I haue kepte them in thy name & I departe / kepe them now from euell. Peter had a good hert too god and loued his lawe and beleued in christe and had the spirite of god in him which neuer left him for all his faull. Peter sinned of no malice / but of frailtie & soden feare of deeth. And the goodnesse of God wrought hys repentaunce and all the meanes by whych he was brought vpp agayne at christes requeste. And Iudas was neuer good ner came to christ for loue of his doctrine / but of couetousnesse / ner dyd euer beleue in christe.

Iudas was by nature and birth (as we all be) heyre of the wrath of god / in whom the deuel wrought hys will and blynded hys hert with ignoraunce. In which ignoraunce and blyndnesse he grue / as he grue in age and fell deper and deper therin / and therby wrought all hys wekednesse and the deuels wyll and perished therin. From whych ygnoraunce god purged peter off hys mercye and gaue hym light and hys spirite too gouern hym / and not of any towardnesse that was in peter off his awne byrth: but for the mercy that we haue in the birth of chrystes deeth.

And how wil M. More proue that god choseth not off hys goodnesse but off oure towardnesse?

what good towardnesse can he haue and endeuoure that is all to gether blynde and caried awaye at the wyll of the deuell / tyll the deuell be cast out? Ar we not robbed of all towardnesse in Adam and be by nature made the childern of synne / so that we synne naturally and to synne is our nature? So that as now / though we wold doo well / the flesh yet synneth naturally nether ceaseth to synne / but so ferforth as it is kepte vnder with violence: euen so once our hertes synned as naturally wyth full lust and consent vn to the flesh / the deuel possessynge our hertes and kepynge out the light of grace. What good towardnesse and endeuoure can we haue to hate synne / as longe as we loue it? what good towardnesse can we haue vnto the wyll of god / whyle we hate it and be ignoraunte therof. Can the wyll desyre that the witte seith not? Can the will longe for and sigh for that the wytt knoweth not of? Can a man take thought for that losse that he wotteth not of? what good endeuoure can the turkes childern / the Iewes childern and the popis infantes haue / when they be taught all falshed only wyth lyke persuasions of worldly reason / to be all iustified with werkes? It is not therfore as Paul sayth / of the runnynge or willynge but of the mercye of god / that a man is called and chosen to grace.

The first grace / the first fayth and the first iustifienge is geuen vs frely sayth Master More. Whych I wold fayne wete how it wyll stond with his other doctrine / and whether he meane any other thynge by chosynge then to haue gods spirite geuen me and fayth to se the mercie that is layd vpp for me and to haue my synnes forgeuen with out all deseruynge and preparynge

of my selfe God did not se only that the thefe that was saued at christes deeth / shuld come thither / but god chose him to shew his mercie vn to vs that shuld aftir beleue / and prouided actually and wrought for the bringynge of him thither that daye / to make him se and to receaue the mercie that was layed vpp for him in store / before the world was made.

xij.

In the .xij. in chafinge him selfe to hepe lye vppon lye / he vttereth his feleable blindnesse. For he haxeth this question wherefore serueth exhortacions vn to fayth / if the hearers haue not libertye of their frewyll / by which to gether with gods grace a man may laboure to submitte the rebellion of reason vn to the obedience of faith and credence of the worde of God. Whereof ye se / that besydes his graunt that reason rebelleth agenst faith / contrary to the doctrine of his first boke / he will that the will shall compell the witte to beleue.

Which is as moch to saye that the carte must draw the horses and the sonne begett the father / and the auctorite of the church is greater then gods worde. For the will can not teach the witt ner leade hir / but foloweth naturally: so that what soeuer the witt iudgeth good or euell / that the wyll loueth or hateth. If the witte se and leade streight / the will foloweth. If the witt be blinde and lead amisse / the will foloweth cleane out of the waye. I can not loue gods worde before I beleue it / ner hate it / before I iudge it false and vanite.

He might haue wiselier spoken on this maner / where fore serueth the preachynge of faith / if the witt haue no power to draw the will to loue that which the witte iudgeth true and good. If

the will be nought / teach the witt better and the will shall alter and turne to good immediatly. Blindnesse is the cause of all euel and light the cause of al good: so that where the faith is right there the herte can not consent vnto euell / to folowe the lustes of the fleshe / as the popes faith doeth. And this conclusion hath he halfe a dosen tymes in his boke / that the will maye compell the witt and captiuate it / to beleue what a man lusteth. Verelye it is like that his wittes be in captiuite and for vauntage tangled with oure holy fathers sophistrie.

His doctrine is aftir his awne felynge and as the profession of his herte is. For the popish haue yelded them selues / to folowe the lustes of their fleshe / and compell their witte to absteyne from lokynge on the trouth lest she shuld vnquiet them and draw them out of the podell of their filthie voluptuousnesse. As a carte that is ouer laden goinge vp an hill draweth the horses backe / and in a tough mire maketh them stonde styll. And then the carter the deuel which driueth them is euer by and whistelleth vn to them and biddeth them captiuatt their vnderstondynge vn to profitable doctrine for which they shall haue no persecucion but shall raigne and be kynges and enioye the pleasures of the worlde at their awne will.

xiij.

In the .xiij. he saith that the clergie burneth no man. As though the pope had not first found the lawe / & as though al his preachers babied not that in euery sermon / burne these heretikes burn them

for we haue no nother argument too conuince them and as though they comppelled not both kinge and emproure to swere that they shall so doo / yer they croune them.

Then he bryngeth in prouisions of Kynge Henry the . v. Of whom I axe M. More whether he were ryght heyre vn to englonde or held he the lande wyth the swerde as an hethen tyraunte / agenst all ryght. Whom the prelates / lest he shulde haue had leyser too herken vn to the trouth / sent in to fraunce / too occupie hys mynde in warre / and led him at their wil. And I axe whether his father slew not his lege kinge and true enheretoure vnto the croune and was therfore set vpp of the bisshops a false kinge to maynetene theyr falsehed? And I axe whether after that weked dede / folowed not the destruccion of the comenaltie and quenchynge of all the noble bloude.

xiiij.

In the .xiiij. he affirmeth that Marten luther saieth it is not lawfull to resiste the turke. I wondre that he shameth not so to lye seynge that marten hath written a singular tretice for the contrarye / besydes that in many other workes he proueth it laufull / if he invade vs.

xvj.

In the .xvj. he allegeth counsels. I axe whether counsels haue auctorite to make articles of the faith with out gods worde / ye and of thynges improued by gods worde?

He allegeth Augustine / Hierom and Cipriane. Let him put their workes in english and S. prosperus with them. Whi damned they the vnion of doctoures / but be cause the doctours are agenst them.

And when he allegeth marters / lett him shew one and take the calfe for his laboure.

And in the end he biddeth bewarre of them that liue well in any wise. As though they whych liue euell can not teach amisse. And if that be true then they be of the surest syde.

M. when Tindale was apposed of his doctrine / yer he went ouer se/ he said and sware / he ment no harme. T. he sware not nether was there any man that required an oth of him: but he now swereth by him whom he trusteth to be saued by / that he neuer ment or yet meaneth any other harme then to sofre all that god hath prepared to be leyd on his backe / for to brynge his brothern vn to the light of our sauiour Ihesus which the pope thorow falshed and corruptynge soch poetes as ye are (ready vn to all thynge for vauntage) leadeth in the darkenesse of deeth.

M. Tyndale doeth know how that S. Augustine & S. Hierom doo proue with holy scripture that confession is of necessite vn to saluacion. T. that is false if ye meane eareconfession. Whi allege ye not the places where? But ye knowe by S. Hierom and other stories and by the conuersation with Erasmus / how it come vpp and that the vse was once ferre other then now.

M. I meruell that Tyndale denieth purgatory / excepte he entende to goo too hell. T. he entendeth to purge here vn to the vttermost of his power and hopeth that deeth wyll ende and fynish his purgacion. And if there be any other purgynge / he wyll committe it to god and take it as he findeth it / when he cometh at it / & in the meane tyme take no thought therfore / but for this that is present where with all sayntes were purged & were taught so to be. And Tyndale

maruelith what secret pilles they take to purge them selues which not only wil not purge here with the crosse of christe / but also bye out their purgatory there of the pope / for a grote or .vj. pens.

xviij.

M. the clergie doeth nothynge vn to the heretikes but as the holy doctours did. T. yes ye put them in youre presones and diote them and handle them after youre facion as temporall tirauntes / and dispute with them secretly & wil not come at light. And ye sle them for rebukynge you with Gods worde / and so did not the old holy doctours. If a man sle his father / ye care not. But if any man twich one of you though he haue neuer so greate an occasyon geuen hym / ye curse him / and yf he wyll not submitte him selfe vn to youre punishement / ye leaue him vn to the temporall power whom ye haue hyred with the spoyle of his goodes to be youre hangman / so that he must lose hys lyfe / for geuinge one of you but a blow on the cheke.

M. Saynt paul gaue .ij. heretikes vn to the deuell whych tormented their flesh which was no small punishment and haply he slew them.T. O expounder of the scripture like hugo charensys which expoundeth hereticum hominem deuita / take the heretike out of his life. We reade of no payne that he had whom the Corinthians excomunicat and gaue to sathan / to sle hys flesh / saue that he was asshamed of hym selfe and repented / when he saw hys offence so ernistly taken and so abhorred. But ye because ye haue no power to delyuer them to sathan to blynde theyr myndes / ye deliuer them to the fyre to destroy their flesh / that no moare is sene of them after then the asshes.

The table of the boke
    A.
  • Abiure / whi manye abiure and faulle. Note 114
  • Abraham 134
  • Accusars 104
  • Albe / what it signifieth 73
  • Allegoryes can proue nothynge. 92
  • Alone fayth iustefyeth. 198
  • Altare / and what it signifieth 73
  • Amice / and what it signifieth 73
  • Answeres vn to M. Mores first boke 79
  • Antichrist / a sure token that the pope ys antychryst 100
  • Apostles lefte nothynge vnwriten that is of necessite to be beleued. 24
  • Appearaunce of godlinesse 104
  • Argumentes that the pope ys not the true church of christ 38
  • Argumentes wherwith the pope wold proue hym silfe the church are solued. 39
  • Austynes auctoryte whych sayth / I had not beleued the gospell excepte the auctorite of the church moued me / is expounded. 47
  • Austyne complayned in hys tyme that the condicyon of Iewes was more easye then oures for the multitude of ceremonyes. 74
    B.
  • Balam the false prophete 14, 22, 140
  • Baptyse / why wemen baptyse 96
  • Bartholomewe. Note the storye. 91
  • Bysshopes / why they were so called 16
  • Bysshopes / & elders or prestes were all one thynge in the apostles tyme. 16
  • Bodelye excercyse must be referred vnto the tamynge of my flesh onlye. 80
  • Brasen serpent 66
  • Breed remayneth in the sacramente. 179
    C.
  • Candels / and what they signifie 73, 81
  • Canonisinge 121
  • Ceremonyes / how they sprange emonge vs 68
  • Ceremonies of the masse 73
  • Ceremonies are the cause of oure depe ignoraunce in the scripture. 74
  • Christen man or true membre of christes church sinneth not and how yet he is a synner. 30
  • Christen man can not erre / and how he maye yet erre. 31
  • Christen / how farre a christen man is bounde to suffre 188
  • Christes benefites towardes vs are figured by matrimonye. 154
  • Christes memoriall 178
  • Church is vsed in thre significacions. 10–12
  • Church in his thirde significacion is taken two maner of wayes. 12
  • Church / whether it were before the gospell or the gospell before the church 23
  • Church / whate the verye church is 28
  • Church / whether it can erre 28
  • Church hath a double interpretacion. 52
  • Church / the church must shewe a reason of their doctryne. 97
  • Church is taken two maner of wayes. 105
  • Church is double. 112
  • Chrisostomus 208
  • Churlysh 104
  • Circumcysion 64
  • Cirenus burnt the images. 184
  • Ciprian rebuked the false martyrs that trusted in their awne merites. 200
  • Clargye hurte no heretikes. 214
  • Colet deane of poules shulde haue bene condem
  • ned of heresye for translatinge the pater noster in to englysh. 168
  • Consecrate 177
  • Confession / eareconfession destroyeth the benefite of christes bloude. 172
  • Confirmacion / and why it was institute. Note 71
  • Congregacion is better to be vsed then church and why he so translated it in the new testament. 13
  • Corporescloth what it signifyeth 73
  • Covetous 103
  • Covetousnesse 51 Counsels 115
  • Counsell / a generall counsell gathered in Grecia by the emperoures consent dyd put doune all images. 184
  • Counsels generall are in captivite. 159
  • Crosse 186
    D.
  • Dauid 35
  • Dauid lost not his faith in committinge advoutrye. 204
  • Deacons 151
  • Dishonoure what it is to dishonoure God / christ a rular or a mannes neyghboure 56
  • Disobedient 103
  • Dunce 46, 131
    E.
  • Elder is rather to be vsed then preast and why in the new testament he translated it senior. 15
  • Elders or preastes and bisshopes were all one thynge in the appostles tyme. 16
  • Elders / why they were so called 16
  • Eleccion and the maner and ordre of it 33
  • Elias 89
  • Epiphanius bisshope of cipresse did cutte an image in peces. Note 183
  • Erasmus hath improved manye workes which were falselie ascribed to holye doctoures. 135
  • Euticus was raysed from deeth by S. Paules merites sayeth Master More. 146
  • Ezechias brake the brasen serpent. 125, 184
    F.
  • Fayth / what fayth saveth 28
  • Faith and synne can not stonde to gether. 30
  • Faith is ever assayled and fought withall. 32
  • Faith / there are two maner of faithes an historicall faith and a felinge faith. 48
  • Faith that dependeth of a nother mannes mouth is weake. 50
  • Faith / hope and love or charite are thre sisters inseperable in this life. 94
  • Faith is double. 113
  • Faith that saueth 134
  • Faith 173
  • Faith cometh not of oure frewyl. 192
  • Faith that iustefyeth 197
  • Faith alone iustefyeth. Note 198
  • Faith / David lost not his faith in committinge advoutrye. 204
  • Fayth / the ryghtwyse man lyveth by faith. 206
  • Faith is vnder no lawe. 209
  • Faithfull / a faithfull man or true membre of christes church sinneth not: and how yet he is a sinner. 30
  • Faithfull man can not erre / and how he maye yet erre. 31
  • False faith proved by a sure token. 82
  • False worshepinge 59, 65
  • Fanon what it signifyeth 73
  • Fastynge to tame the flesh 67
  • Father careth most for the yongest. 88
  • Favoure he vsed in his translacyon & not grace and why. 20
  • Ferman / doctoure fermans handelinge 194
  • First frutes what they signified 64
  • Flappe on the amice & what it signifieth 73
  • Flappes on the albe & what they signifye 73
  • Flesh / the new life doth tame the flesh and serue her neyghboure. 111
  • Frewyll / the choyse of a mannes wyll doth naturallye folowe the iudgement of a mannes witte / whether he iudge right or wronge. 34
  • Frewyll is made fre by grace. 174
  • Frewyll can not preuent grace nether prepare vs vnto it. Note 175
  • Friars serve god with their awne invencions one in white a nother in grey. 105
    G.
  • God dwelleth not in any place. 62
  • God dwelleth in the temple & how. 86
  • God seketh vs and we not him. Note 112
  • Gospell / S. Ioans gospell 60
  • Gregorye 184
  • Grekes 133
    H.
  • Handes / what the castinge abrode of the preestes handes signifieth 73
  • Headye and prone to all mischefe 104
  • Heliseus healed Naaman / and his bones raysed vpp a deed man. 83
  • Heretikes be faullen out of the mist. 114
  • Hyeminded and proude 103
  • Hierome 183
  • Holidaye 66
  • Holye straunge gestures 85
  • Holye water / what it signifyeth 70
  • Honouringe and what the worde meaneth 55
  • Honoure / what it is to honoure god / what to honoure rulars and what to honoure a mannes neyghboure 55–56
  • Horsye was giltye of hunnes deeth. 168
  • Hunne was slayne preuelye in preson. 168
    I.
  • Idolatrye or imageseruice whence it springeth 63
  • Idolatrye / a sure token of Idolatrie. Antistrephon in morum 82
  • Iewes thynke they can not erre. 52
  • Images 57
  • Images 183
  • Image / Epiphanius did cut an image. 183
  • Images / Cirenus burnt images. 184
  • Images / a generall counsell gathered in grecia by the emperours consent did put doune all images for the abuse. 184
  • Ipswych / the mayde of ipswych 89
  • Iudas 14, 149, 210
  • Iudases parte is also played in the masse. 74
  • Iudges 146
  • Iustefyinge / and the ordre therof 195
    K.
  • Kent / the mayde of kent 90
  • Kynge henrye of windsore 121
  • Kynge henrye the fifte 212
  • Kinge Ihon 11
  • Kinge willyam 11
  • Knowlege / he vsed not confession and why. 21
    L.
  • Latria 123
  • Lecherye 50
  • Love / he vsed in his translation loue rather then charite and why. 19
  • Lovers of them selues 103
  • Lovinge lustes 104
    M.
  • Marten Luther appelled. 186
  • Martens inconstaunce 186
  • Marten offered to dispute. Note 186, 187
  • Marten wold not receyve their iudges. 187
  • Marten wyl abyde but by scripture only. 187
  • Marters / the pope hath no marters. 112
  • Marters that sofered al a yere longe 200
  • Masse with the ceremonies are declared. 73
  • Masse 95
  • Masse 179
  • Master More destroyeth the resurrexion. 117
  • Master More dryveth vs from god. 119
  • Master More is agenst the popes profite. 120
  • Master More condemneth the latyn texte of heresye. 15
  • Master More feleth. 141
  • Matrimonye 176
  • Mercye wayteth ever on the electe. 34
  • Michael wayeth the soules. 165
  • Miracles 83, 131
  • Miracles / how to know true miracles and how to knowe the false 90
  • Miracles / the cause of false miracles 128
  • Moses bodye was hid of god. 124
    N.
  • Noe and Noes floude 133
    O.
  • Officers / a true officer in the sight of god 57
  • Orders 177
  • Orestes / was the sonne of Agamemnon kynge of Grecia / which slewe his awne mother because she conspired with Egistus vn to the deeth of agamemnon and after he fell mad / and vsed
  • daylye to goo in to the place where men were wont to playe stage playes and there wolde he laugh and be as merye as though he had sene all the sporte in the worlde. At the last his frendes pitiynge him / counseled all coninge phisicions and with their diligence restored him vn to his helth agayne. When he was hole his frendes came to visite him and reioysed of his helth. But he sayed O deare frendes ye have vndone me: for before I was in all ioye and pleasure and now I se nought but all miserye & vanite. 91
  • Ornamentes 65
  • Oure ladye 185
    P.
  • Panutius resisted in generall counsell and wolde not consent that prestes shulde haue no wyves. 166
  • Parliamentes are in captiuite. 159
  • Paschall lambe 64,85
  • Payne of synne 143
  • Pax and what it signifyeth 70
  • Pena et culpa 205
  • Peters fayth fayled not. 37
  • Phisicyons / and how they helpe 118
  • Piler of fyre 86
  • Pilgrimages 62, 84
  • Pitye 85
  • Place whether god sette more by one place then a nother 87
  • Pope whether the pope and his secte be christes church or no 38
  • Pope / a sure token that the pope is antichrist 100
  • Pope hydeth the scripture. 114, 136
  • Pope / the pope is antichrist. 95
  • Pope / the pope hath no marters. 112
  • Pope / why he felle 130
  • Pope is not to be beleued with out scripture & why he is not the true church. 137
  • Popes leuen savereth not. 143
  • Pope and Luther are compared to gyther / iudge reader which is the better. 171
  • Prayers of an evell preest profite not. 149
  • Predestinacyon 139
  • Prelates / they can not spede well that trye oure prelates doctrine by the scripture. 96
  • Preest / prayers of an evell preest profite not. 149
  • Preestes 151
  • Preestes maye haue wyves. 152
  • Preestes / why they maye not haue wyves / apparent reasons of godlinesse 154
  • Preestes maye haue no wyves and whye. 161
  • Preestes whether it were best that preestes were gelded or not 165
  • Processions are abused with songes of ribaudrye. 125
  • Promisebreakers 104
  • Proude 103
  • Purgatorye that fearfull fyre 26
  • Purgatorye is as hote as hell and yet it is quenched with thre halfepence. 26
  • Purgatorye 120, 141, 143, 181
  • Purgatorye as hote as hell 141
  • Purgatory / tindale denieth purgatory. 214
    R.
  • Raylars 103
  • Reliques 123
  • Repentaunce he vsed / not penaunce & why. 21
  • Repentaunce 173
  • Resurrexion Master More destroyeth the resurrexion. 117
  • Riches bestowed on images or reliques. 61
    S.
  • Saboth may be chaunged to a nother daye. 96
  • Sacramentes haue significacions. 27
  • Sacramentes 63
  • Sacrament of the altare / and how it must be receyved 164
  • Sacrament 173
  • Sacrament / touchynge of the sacrament 180
  • Sacrifices 64, 82, 150, 178
  • Salt what it signifieth 74
  • Salue regina 185
  • Sayntes 182
  • Scripture / what if there had bene no scripture writen. Note 133
  • Sectes / whether the best sectes prayde to sayntes or not 126, 127
  • Siloe 87
  • Synne 174
  • Synne agenst the holye gost. Note a proper exposicyon. 22
  • Snares / the popes snares 162
  • Solucions vnto M. Mores first boke 79
  • Soules slepe 181
  • Stole / what it signifieth 73
  • Supersticiousnesse 60
  • Sweringe 148
    T.
  • Talmud 46
  • Temple 67, 84
  • Teynterden steple 77
  • Thomas hitton of Maydestone 112
  • Thomas of canterburye 11, 130
  • Thomas de aquino 131
  • Tindale fealeth. 141
  • Tindale swereth. 214
  • Tindale denyeth purgatorye. 214
  • Tot quottes 51 Tradicyons 92, 93
  • Translacyon / whether there be an old lawfull translacion and why it is not had 169
  • Turkes 52
  • Turkes why they felle 129
    V.
  • Vnbelefe onlye condemneth. 174
  • Vngodlye 104
  • Vnions 51
  • Vnio dissidentium is condemned & why. 188
  • Vnthankefull 103
  • Vowes 186, 189
  • Vowes must be condicioned. 161
  • Vse of creatures inferiours to man 58
  • Vse of signes and ceremonies 54
    W.
  • Water that the preest mingleth with wyne 95
  • Wedowes 156
  • Wemen 16
  • Wemen / why they maye baptise 96
  • Welch men praye when they goo a stelinge. 125
  • Wyl whether it maye captiuate the witte 211
  • Wilde Irish 125
  • Witches 127
  • Witte leadeth the wyll. 211
  • Workes how they please god 174
  • Workes 198
  • Workes how they iustefie 202
  • Workes of them selues iustefye not. 205
  • Workes are vnder the lawe. 209
  • Worshepinge & what the worde meaneth 55
  • Worshepinge of sacramentes / ceremonies images / reliques and so forth 57
  • Worshepinge of the holye crosse 58
  • Worshepinge of images 59
  • Worshuppinge of god trulye 80
  • Worshuppinge of sayntes 79
  • Worshuppinge of sayntes trulye 79
  • Worshuppinge of the sacrament 180

Finis

COMMENTARY
TITLE PAGE AND PREFACE
FOUNDATIONAL ESSAY
ANSWERS TO THE SECOND BOOK
ANSWERS TO THE THIRD BOOK
ANSWERS TO THE FOURTH BOOK