Brief Chronicle Concerning Examination and Death of John Oldcastle, Part 2
☞ The Christen beleue of the lorde Cobham.
I Beleue in God the father almyghtye / maker of heauen and earth.The common crede of Christyanes. And in Iesu Christ his onlye sonne oure Lorde / which was cō c…yued of the holye ghost / borne of the virgine Marye / suffred death vndre Ponce Pylate / crucyfyed / dead / and buryed / went downe to helles / the thyrde daye rose agayne from death / This fayth was not regarded.ascended vp to heauens / he sytteth on the ryght hande of God the father almyghtye / and from thens shall come agayne to iudge the quycke and the dead. I beleue in the holye ghost / the vnyuersall holye churche / the communyon of saynctes / the forgeuenesse of s…nnes / the vprysynge of the fleshe / and euerlastynge lyfe / Amen.
And for a more large declaracyon (sayth he) of this my fayth in the catholyck churche.A declaracyon of his beleue. I stedefastlye beleue that there is but one God almyghty / in and of whose Godhede are these .iii. persones / the father / the sonne / and the holye ghost / and that those .iii. persones are the same selfe God almyghtye.1. Ioan. 9. I beleue also that the seconde personne of this most blessed Trinite in most cōuenyent tyme appoynted therunto afore / Gal. 4. Ioan. 1. Luc. 2.toke fleshe and bloude of the most blessed virgyne Marye for the sauegarde and redempcyon of the vnyuersall kynde of manne / which was afore lost in Adams offence.Christ is the onlye head of his churche. More ouer I beleue that the same Iesus Christ ouer Lorde / thus beynge both God & manne / is the only head of ye whole Christen churche / and that all those that hath bene or shall be saued / be members of this most holy churche. And this holye churche I thynke to be dy…ded into .iii. sortes or companyes.
The churche diuyded in .iii. partis.Vvherof the fyrst sort be now in heauen / and they are the saynctes from hens departed. These / as they were here conuersaunt conformed alwayes ther lynes to the most holye lawes and pure examples of Christ / renouncynge sathan / the worlde / and the fleshe with all theyr concupyscences and cuyls. The seconde sort are in purgatorye (yf anye soche he by the scripturs) abydynge the mercye of God and a full delyueraunce of payne.Cōtrarye wrote he / Ad parliamentum. Ex Vvhaldeno. … The thyrde sort are here vponupon the earthe and be called the churche mylytaunt. For daye & nyghe they comende agaynst the craftye assaultes of the deuyll / the flatterynge prosperytees of this worlde / and the rebellyouse fylthynesse of the fleshe.
This latter congregacyon by the iust ordynaunce of God is also seuered into iii. dyuerse estates / The chu… che mylytaunt diuided in .iii.that is to saye / into presthode / knyghthode and the cōmons Amonge whom the will of God is / that the one shuld ayde the other / but not destroye the other. The Prestes fyrst of all secluded from all worldlynesse / shulde conforme theyr lyues vtterlye to the examples of Christ and his Apostles.Vvhat … Prestes shuld be. Euermore shulde they be occupyed in preachynge and teachyng the scripturs purelye / and in genynge wholsom counsels of good lyuynge to the other two degrees of menne. More modest also / more louynge / gentyll / and lowlye in sprete shuld they be / than anye other sortes of people.
In knyghthode are all they which beare swerde by lawe of offyce.knyghthode what it shuld do. These shuld defende Gods lawes / and se that the Gospell were purelye taught / conformynge theyr lyues to the same and secludynge all false preachers. yea / these ought rather to hasarde theyr lyues than to suffre soche …ycked decrees as eyther blemysheth the eternall testament of God or yet letteth the fre passage therof / wherby her syes and scysmes myght sprynge in the churche.Marke here a most Christen hart. For of non other aryse they (as I suppose) than of soche erronyouse constitucyōs / craftelye fyrst crepynge in vndre hypocrytes lyes for auauntage. They ought also to preserue Gods people from oppressers / tyrauntes / and theues / and to se the clergye supported so longe as they teache purelye / praye ryghtlye / and mynystre the sacramentes frelye.The clergye wherfor supported. And yf they se them do other wyse / they are bounde by lawe of offyce to compell them to change theyr doynges / and to se all thynges perfourmed accordynge to Gods prescript ordynaunce.
The latter felyshyp of this churche / are the common people / whose dewtye is to beare theyr good myndes and true obedyence to the aforeseyd mynysters of God / theyr kynges / cyuyle gouernours / and Prestes.Vvhat ye cōmon peple ought to do. The ryght offyce of these is iustlye to occupye euerye mā ne in his facultè / be yt merchandyce / handye crafte / or the tylthe of the groū de. And so one of them to be as an helper to an other / …olowynge alwayes in theyr sortes the iust commaundemētes of theyr Lorde God.
Ouer and besydes all this / I most faythfullye beleue that the sacramētes of Christes churche are necessarye to all Christen beleuers / Beleue cō cernynge the sacramentes.this alwayes sene to / that they be trulye mynystred accordynge to Christes fyrst instytucyon and ordynaunce. And for so moche as I am malycyoulye and most falselye accused of a mysbeleue in the sacrament of the aultre / to the hurtfull slaundre of manye. I sygnyfye here vntounto all menne that this is my fayth cōcernynge that.The sacramēt of the aultre I beleue in that sacrament to be contayned verye Christes bodye and bloude vndre the symylytudes of breade and wyne / yea the same bodye that was conceyued of the holye ghost / borne of Marye ye virgyne / done on the crosse / dyed / that was buryed / arose the thyrde daye from the death / and is now gloryfyed in heauen.Beleue cōcernynge Gods lawes. I also beleue the vnyuersall lawe of God to be most true and perfyght / and that they which do not so folowe it in theyr fayth and workes at one tyme or other / can neuer be saued. Vvhere as he that seketh yt in fayth / accepteth yt / lerneth yt / delyghteth therin / and perfourmeth yt in louelove / shall tast for yt the felycyte of euerlastynge innocencye.
what god … xeth of a Christiane.Fynallye this is my fayth also / that God will axe nomore of a Christen beleuer in this lyfe / but onlye to obeye the preceptes of that most blessed lawe. If anye Prelate of the churche requyreth more / or els anye other kynde of obedyence than this to be vsed / he contemneth Christ exaltynge himselfe aboue God / & so becometh an open Antichrist. All these premysses I beleue partycularlye / & generallye all that God hath left in his holye scripturs that I shuld beleue. Instauntlye desyerynge you my lyege lorde and most worthye kynge / A Christe desyre of ye lorde Cobham.that this confessyon of myne maye be iustlye examyned by the most godlye wyse and lerned menne of your realme. And yf yt be founde in all poyntes agreynge to the veryte / than lete yt be so allowed / and I thervpon holden for non other them a true Christyane.This request was lawfull If yt be proued otherwyse / than lete yt be vtterlye condemned / prouyded alwayes that I be taught a better beleue by the worde of God / and I shall most reuerentlye at all tymes obeye therunto.
Obediēce vntounto his kynge.This brefe confessyon of his fayth / the lorde Cobham wrote (as is mencyoned afore) and so toke yt with him to the court / offerynge yt with all mekenesse vntounto the kynge to reade yt ouer. The kynge wolde in no case receyue yt / but commaunded yt to be delyuered vntounto them that shuld be his iudges. Than desyred he in the kynges presens that an hondred knyghtes and esquyres myght be suffered to come in vponupon his purgacyon / which (he knewe) wolde clere him of all heresyes.His Christen stomake & manhode. Moreouer he offered himselfe after the lawe of armes to fyght for lyfe or death with anye mā ne lyuynge Christen or Heythen in the quarell of his fayth / the kynge and the lordes of his counsell excepted.No reasonable offre wolde serue. Fynallye with all gentylnesse he protested before all that were present / that he wolde refuse no maner of correccyon that shuld after the lawes of God be mynystred vntounto him / but that he wolde at all tymes with all mekenesse obeye yt. Not withstandynge all this / the kynge suffered him to be sommoued personallye in his owne preuye chambre.
Than sayd the lorde Cobham to the kynge / His appele from ye Archebisshop.that he had appeled from the Archebysshop to the Pope of Rome / & therfore he ought (he sayd) in no case to be his iudge. And hauynge his appele there at hande redye written / he shewed yt with all reuerence to the kynge. Vvherwith the kynge was than moche more dyspleased than afore / and sayd angerlye vntounto him / that he shuld not pursue his appele.The kynge h…re worshyppeth the b…ast. But rather he shuld tarrye in holde / tyll soche tyme as yt were of the Pope allowed. And than / wolde he or nylde he / the Archebysshop shuld be his iudge. Thus was there nothynge allowed that the good lorde Cobham had lawfullye afore requyred. But for so moche as he wolde not be sworne in all thynges to submyt himselfe to the churche / Cobham wolde not obeye Antichrist.and so to take what penaunce the Archebysshop wolde enioyne him / he was arested agayne at the kynges commaundement / and so ledde forth to the towre of London / to kepe his daye (so was yt than spoken) that the Archebysshop had appoynted him afore in the kynges chambre.
Than caused he the aforeseyd confessyon of his fayth to be copyed agayne and the answere also which he had made to the .iiii. articles proponed agaynst him to be written in maner of an indenture in two shetes of paper.His confessyon & answere newly copyed. That whā he shuld come to his answere / he myght geue the one copye vntounto the Archebysshop / and reserue the other to himselfe. As the daye of examynacyon was comen / which was the .xxiii daye of Septembre or the saturdaye before the feast of saynct Matthew / Thomas ArundellCayphas sytteth in consystorye. the Archebysshop syttynge in Cayphas rome in the chaptre howse of Paules with Rycharde Clyfforde Bysshop of London / and Henrye Bolyng broke Bysshop of Vvynchestre / syr Robert Morleye knyght / and Lef…tenaunt of the towre / brought personallye before him the seyd lorde Cobham / and there left him for the tyme / VntoUnto whom the Archebysshop sayd these wordes.