The Acts of English Votaries, Conclusion – Epigraph
¶The Conclusyon of thys fyrst boke.
HEre hauehave I paynted oute before your eyes (most derelye beloued contreye mē) the chast,Extent of thys boke holye, consecrate, and spirituall actes of your Englyshe votaryes, prestes, Monkes, & Byshoppes, frō the worldes begynnynge, to a full complete thousande years ſens Christes incarnacyon. Not all hauehave I here rehersed, for that were a laboure without ende, they beynge so innumerable, but a serten of them for euerye age, that ye maye by them perceyue what the rest hath bene.The other boke. In the next part or boke, which shall begynne at Sathans goynge fourthe at large, after hys thousande years tyenge vp. Apoca. 20. and so contynue to thys yeare of our Lorde a .MD. and .xlvi.1546. that ye maye knowe what chere hath bene amonge them, what occupyenge they hauehave had, what masteryes they hauehave played, ād what myracles they hauehave done, for that tyme ād space also. I thynke yt wyll apere an other maner of thynge, than that which hath gone afore.Sathan at large For so moche as Sathan their ghostlye gouernoure hath for that tyme wrought most strongelye. Nomore wyll I be ashamed to reherse their fylthye factes (lete them trust vponupon yt) than they hauehave bene to do them in effect, and to sett them fourthe for holye, spirytuall, cōsecrate, chast, honorable,Good workes and ghostlye good workes, beynge abhomynable and most stynkynge knaueryes.
The worlde shall wele knowe what Sodomytes and Deuyls they are,Sodomites. that hauehave all thys tyme contempned christen marryage instytuted of God, and do not yet repent their most dampnable doynges in that behalf, but contynue styll the saint, leadynge their lyues in vnspekeable fleshlye fylthynesse. Christ promysed ones to all soche as they are, that all their hydden myscheues shuld come to lyght, yf they wolde not at the call of hys most holye Gospell, repent. Nothynge (sayth he) ys so closelye hydden amonge those spirytual murtherers, but wyl be clerely opened, neyther yet so secretlye couered, but shall apere manyfest and be knowne to the worlde. Math. 10.Mat. 10 Marci. 4.Mar. 4. Luce. 12. Christ suffered verye longe the Pharysees and Byshoppes,Luc. 12▪ the lewde predecessours of our proude spirytualte. But whan he ones perceyued non other in thē but contempt of hys veryte with wylfull resystaunce of the holye Ghost,Christ rebuketh. he went fearcelye vponupon them with wo vponupon wo, callynge them all that nought was. As hypocrytes, dyssemblers, dodypolles, fooles, blynde beastes, bellygoddes, scorners, false prophetes, periures, vypers, serpentes, deuourers, rauenours, brybers, theues, tyrauntes, murtherers, and fyre brandes of hell.
Loke the .xxiij. chapter of Mathew,Mat. 23 & ye shall fynde that he poured all thys vponupon them, and doubled yt in the captyuyte of Hierusalem, whan the great vengeaunce of all innocent blood lyght greuouslye vponupon them. For in the syege of that cytie were slayne by vespasianus & Titus,Ʋespasianus et Titus to the nombre of .x. hondred thousandes of Iues. Not onlye of the inhabytauntes of that regyon there, but from all quarters of the worlde aboute, which at that tyme came thydre to their Eastre celebracyon. Besydes there, were there ledde fourth from thens captyue .xcvij. thousande,Captyues. of whome some were solde to the Romanes to become their contynuall seruauntes and slaues, and the resydue geuen vntounto the Lyons and wylde beastes, that they shuld daylye deuoure them and be fed with their fleshe. All thys witnesseth Egesippus Iudeus, li. 5. Ca. 49. De Hierosolimorum excidio. ExāpleAnd now after hys most manyfest example, Christ wylleth vsus also extremelye to rebuke these cruell corrupters of the christyanyte, for their most spyghtfull contempt of hys wholsom warnynges, the Christen magistrates hereafter,Magystrates. or els some other enemye of theirs, folowynge with double vengeaunce vponupon the heades of them. Apoca. 18. Thys plage, whan yt shall fall, as yt ys not farre of, wyll be the most ryghtouse hande of God, vponupon the malygnaunte generacyon.
Great wondre wyll yt be vntounto manye (I know yt wele) to beholde their chefe Englyshe sayntes thus rebuked.englysh Sayntes. And parauēture they wyll thynke, that I myght as wele speake agaynst Peter and Iohan, Paule and Iames, with the other Sayntes, Apostles and Martyrs of the prymatyue churche, as agaynste these vngodlye hypocrytes of theirs. But I tell those men afore hande,The Autour. that they are wretchedlye blynde, for want of lyuelye knowlege in the sacred scripturs. They hauehave no true iudgement in them to dyscerne the fallen starre,starres. from the starre so fyermelye fixed in the fyrmamēt as neuer coude be yet from thēs remoued. Neuer shall he that declyueth to mennys inuencyons, be all one with hym whyche onlye folowethe the pure woorde of God.
But vndoubtedly of no small tyme, page missing great honoure wyll yt now be to yow (yea, rather moche greatter) to flee the sede of the Serpent by the worde of God, as euer yt was to Saynt George that noble captayne,Saynt George to slee the great hydre or Dragon at Silena, as Baptista Mantuanus specyfyeth. I speake not thys for that I wolde ye to fall vponupon that sorte with materyall weapon, but with the myghtye stronge worde of the Lorde. For as Esaye, Daniel, and Paule reporteth, they shall be destroyed without hā des. Esa. 11. Dani. 8. et. 2. Thes. 2. Onlye ys yt Gods true knowlege,What maketh noble. that nobleth yow before hym, be therfor no longar neglygent. An vnrecurable dyshonoure were yt vntounto yow, from hens fourth to be led blynde felde of these bushardes in the darke. The most of yow are all redye verye plentuouslye entered (that lorde be praysed) thynke hym only blessed which perseuereth to the ende. Hauynge the gouernaunce of Christes dere herytage,Lawes. drawe not your lawes out of Antichristes rules now that ye knowe Christes wholsom doctryne.Doctryne. Neyther yet fatche the breade that ye shall feade your commons with, oute of hys bawdye beggerlye bowgettes, but lete them hauehave the pure purueaunce of God out of the vndefyled scripturs. Be ones so mercyfull to that christen flocke, that ye clerelye delyuer them from that vyle generacyon, Lete them no longer worshyp deuyls as they hauehave done, in these dead monkes and theues,deuyls. but lete thē loke frelye towardes their eternall & lyuynge God, both to their sowles helthe and yours. Amen.
¶Thus endeth the first parte of thys worke, called. The Actes of Englyshe votaryes. Collected by Iohan Bale. Anno. 1546.
¶The Autours names both Englyshe and other, out of whom thys present Boke ys collected.
Abbas Vrspergensis.
Achilles Pyrminius.
Alphonsus de Castro.
Alphredusbeu…rlacēsis
Amandus Zierixensis.
Antoninus Florētinus.
Baptista Platina.
Baptista Mantuanus.
Bartholomeus Anglus.
Bedas Girnuinus.
Bernardus Lutzēburg
Berosus Chaldeus.
Biblia Sacra.
Blondus Flauius.
Caius Iulius.
Christianus Masseus.
Clemēs Alexandrinus.
Colfridus Abbas.
Conradus Gesnerus.
Cornelius Tacitus.
De utra que Potestate.
Diodorus Siculus.
Edgari Oratio.
Egesippus Iudeus.
Epiphanius Cyprius.
Eusebius Cesariensis.
Festiuale Sacerdotum.
Flores Historiarum.
Franciscus Lābertus.
Freculphus lexouiēsis.
Galfredus Monemutensis.
Gēnadius Massiliēsis.
Georgius Ioye.
Gorgius Vuicelius.
Gildas Britannus.
Giraldus Cambrensis.
Guido de Columna.
Guilhelmus Malmesburiensis.
Guilhelmus Caxton.
Guilhelmus Tyndale.
Guilhelmus Turner.
Hartmannus Shedel.
Hector Boethius.
Helinādus Monachus.
Henricus Huntyngtonensis.
Hemānus Contractus.
Hermānus Torrētinus
Honorius Augustudunensis.
Iacobus Vorago.
Iacobus Bergomas.
Iacobus Zieglerus.
Iodocus Badius.
Ioannes Capgraue.
Ioannes Hardyng.
Ioannes Stella.
Ioannes de Molinis.
Ioannes Annius.
Ioannes Nauclerus.
Ioannes Lydgate.
Ioannes Textor.
Ioannes Tritemius.
Ioannes Pomeranus.
Ioannes Carion.
Ioannes Maior.
Ioannes Lelandus.
Isidorus hispalensis.
Legendariū Ecclesie.
Liuthprandus Ticinē sis.
Marcus Sabellicus.
Marianus Scotus.
Martinus Carsulanus.
Martinus Lutherus.
Matheus Palmarius.
Merlinus Ambrosius.
Michael Ricius.
Nauclerus, Ioannes.
Nennius Britannus.
Odo Cluniacensis.
Osbertus Cātuariēsis.
Osuualdus Myconius.
Otto Phrisingensis.
Paulus Orosius.
Paulus Aemilius.
Paulus Constantinus.
Petrus Equilinus.
Philippus Melāchton.
Plinius Secundus.
Polycrates Ephesius.
Polydorus Vergilius.
Pomponius Mela.
Prosper Aquitannus.
Ptolomeus Lucensis.
Ranulphus Cestrensis.
Raphael Volateranus
Robertus Fabyane.
Robertus Barnes.
Sigebertus Gēblacēsis.
Strabo Cretensis.
Thomas Braduuardin
Thomas Vualden.
Thomas Scrop.
Vincēcius Beluacēsis.
Vtra que potestas.
VVernerus Cartusiensis.
VVilibaldus Anglus.
Finis.
The holye Gost shall rebuke the worlde of synne, and of ryghtousnesse, and of iudgement.
Ioan. 16.
Into the newe Hierusalem shall entre no vncleane thynge, neyther that which worketh abhomynacyon, nor yet what maketh lyes. But they only which are written in the lambes boke of lyfe.
Apoca. 21.
The man of synne shall be opened, before the Lordes commynge, euen the sonne of perdycyon, whiche is an aduersarye, and ys exalted aboue all that ys called God, whom he shall consume with the sprete of hys mouthe.
2. Thes. 2.
❧ Printed at Wesel In the Yeare Of our Lorde God. 1. 5. 4. 6.
End of the text · John Bale, The Acts of English Votaries (1546)