VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE
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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.

deuels marters and not Gods. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage , had to deal with Christians who had fallen away during the persecution of Decius (AD 250–51). Some were then seeking immediate reconciliation with the church on the basis of "letters of peace" issued to them by those who had suffered for the faith. In a letter of AD 250 Cyprian admonishes the clergy of Carthage to observe the law and discipline of the church, Par. 3 (Ep. 10 in PL 4.255; Ep. 15 in CSEL 3/2.515; Ep. 10 in ANF 5.291). In his treatise On the Unity of the Church (AD 251), Cyprian explains that even those who have confessed the faith in time of persecution can later become ensnared by the devil, Ch. 20–22 (PL 4.482–84; CSEL 3/1.227–30; ANF 5.427–28). Tyndale finds these martyrs presuming on their own merits as able to atone for the sins of others. The right attitude would have been to refer the lapsed to the passion of Christ, the sole ground of mercy, and to bear their own suffering as a witness beneficial to their fellow Christians. (JW)

all . . . bloudeshedynge. Cf. Eph. 1.7.

saue . . . some. Cf. 1 Cor. 9.22.

for . . . al thinge. 1 Cor. 9.19, 2 Cor. 1.6–7.

not to winne heuen. But Paul in 1 Cor. 9.24–25 urges the Corinthians to "runne" for "an vncorruptible croune" (Wallis 358/20–22; TNT 252E).

brother . . . bloude. Cf. 1 Cor. 8.11.

rewarde is greate in heaven. Cf. Matt. 5.12, Luke 6.23.