The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 9

The Obedience of a Christian Man · Part 9

¶The dutie of kynges and of the Iudges ād officers.

LEt kynges (yf they had lever be christen in dede then so to be called) geve them selves all to geder to y^e wealth of their realmes after the ensample of Christe: remēbringe that the people are Gods ād not theirs: yee are Christes enheritaūce ād possession bought with his bloude. The most despised person in his realme is the kynges brother and felow mē bre with him and equall with him in the kyndome of God and of Christe. Let him therfore not thinke him selfe to good to doo them service nether seke any other thinge in them / then a father seketh in his childern yee then Christe soughte in vsus. Though that the kynge in the temporall regimente be in the rowme of God and representeth God him selfe & is without all comparison better then his subiectes: yet let him putt of that and become a brother / doinge ād levinge vn done all thinges in respecte of the cō mune wealth / y^t all men maye se y^t he seketh no thīge / but y^e profit of his subiectes. Whē a cause y^t requireth execuciō is brought before him thē only lett him take the parson of p. lijGod on him. Thē lett hī knowe no creature but heare all indifferētly / whether it be a straūger or one of his awne realme / & the small as well as the greate and iudge righteous for the iudgemēte is the lordes Deute. j. In tyme of iudgemente he is no minister in the kyngdome of Christe: he preacheth no Gospell / but the sharpe lawe of vengeaunce. Let him take the holy iudges of the olde testamē te for an example and namely MosesMoyses which in executinge the lawe was mercilesse otherwise moare then a mother vntounto them never avenginge his awne wronges but soferīge all thinge / bearinge every mās weaknes teachinge / warninge / exhortinge and ever caringe for them and so tenderly loved them / that he desyred God ether to forgeve them or to damne him with them.

Let the iudges also privatly when they have put of the person of a iudge exhorte with good councell and warne the people and helpe / Iudges.that they come not at Gods iudgemente: but the causes that are brought vntounto them / when they sitt in Gods stede / lett them iudge / and condemne the trespaser vnderunder lawfull witnesses and not breake vp in to the consciences of men / after the ensample of Antychristes disciples / O tyranny to cōpell a man to accuse him selfeād cōpel them ether to forswere them selves by the allmightie God and by the holy Gospell of his mercifull promises or to testifie agēst thē selves. Which abhominaciō oure prelates lerned of Our prelates lerned of Cayphas·Cayphas Math. xxvj. saiēge to Christe / I adiure or charge the in y^e name of the livīge God / y^t thou tell vsus wether thou be christe y^e sonne of God Secret synnes perteyne vntounto God to punish ād opē synnes vntounto the kyngeLet y^t which is secrete to God only / where of no profe can be made ner lawfull wittnesse broughte / abyde vntounto the cominge of the lorde which shall open all secretes. Yf any malyce breke forth / that let thē iudge only· For forther auctorite hath God not geven them.

Moyses Deutero. xvij. warneth iudges to kepe thē vppright ād to loke on no mans persō / y^t is / that they preferre not y^e hye before the lowe / the great before the small / the rich before the pore / his accoyntaunce frēde kynsman / contrey man or one of his awne nacion before a straunger / a frēde or an aliēt yee or one of their awne fayth before an infidell: but that they loke on the cause only to iudge indifferētly. For the rowme that they are in and the lawe that they execute are Gods / which as he hath made all & is God of all and all are his sonnes: even so is he iudge over all and will have all iudged by his lawe indifferently and to have the right of his lawe / and will avenge the wronge done vntounto the turke or sareson. For though they be not vnderunder the everlastinge testamēte of God in Christe / as few of vsus which p. liijare called Christen be / and even no mo then to whom God hath sente his promyses and powred his sprite in to their hertes to beleve them / and thorow fayth graven l…st in their hertes to fulfill the lawe of love: yet are they vnderunder the testamente of the lawe naturall which is the lawes of every londe made for the comen wealth there and for peace and vnite that one maye lyve by a nother. In which lawes the infideles (yf they kepe them) have promyses of worldly thīges. Who soever therfore hinderth a very infidell frō the right of that lawe / synneth agenst God and of him will God be avenged. Moare over Moyses warneth them that they receave no giftes / rewardes or brybes. For those two poyntes / favoringe of one person moare then a nother and receavinge rewardes perverte all right and equite and is the only pestilence of all iudges.

And the kynges warneth he that they have not to many wives / lest their hertes turne awaye:☜ and that they reade all waye in the lawe of God / to lerne to feare him / lest their hertes be lyft vppe above their brethern. Which two poyntes / wemen ād pride the dispisinge of their subiectes / which are in very deade their awne brethern / are the comen pestilence of all princes. Reade the stories and se.

The shirereves / bayly araūtes / cōstables and soch lyke officers may let no man that hurteth his neyboure scape / but that they brynge them before the iudges / excepte they in the meane tyme agre with their neybours and make them amendes.

Let kynges defende their subiectes from the wronges of other nacions / but picke no quarels for eueryevery tryfyl / no let not oure most holy father make them no moare so dronkē with Vayne namesvayne names / with cappes of mayntenaunce and lyke babels / as it were popetry for childern to bedger their realmes and to murther their people / for defendinge of oure holy fathers tyranny. The holy father lowseth peace and vnile truce trouth and all honeste.Yf a lawfull peace that stondeth with Gods worde be made betwene prince and prince and the name of God taken to recorde and the body of oure savioure broken betwene thē / apon the bonde which they have made / that peace or bonde can ourer holy father not despē ce with / nether lowse it with all the keyes he hath: no veryly Christe can not breake it. For he came not to breake the law but to fulfill it Math. v.

Yf any man have broken the lawe or a good ordinaunce and repente and come to the ryght waye agayne / then hath Christe power to forgeve him: but licence to breake the lawe can he not geve / moch moare his disciples ād vicars (… they call thē selves) cā not do it. The What the keyes are ād why they are so called.keyes wher of they so greatly p. liiijbost them selves are no carnall thinges but spirituall and no thinge else save knowlege of the lawe and of the promyses or Gospell / yf any man for lacke of spirituall fealinge desyre auctorite of men / let him reade the olde doctours. Yf any man desyre auctorite of scripture Christe saith (Luke. xi) woo be to you lawears for ye have taken awaye the keye of knowleage ye enter not in youre selves and thē that come in ye forbidde▪ that is / they had blynded the scripture whose knowleage (as it were a keye) letteth in to God / with gloses and tradicions. Lykewise fyndest thou Math. xxiij. The keyes are promisedAs Peter answered in the name of all so Christe promised him the keyes in the parsone of all Mathe. xvi. And in y^e .xx. of The keyes are paydeIohn he payed thē sayenge receave the holy gooste whosoevers sinnes ye remitte they are remitted or forgeven and whosoevers sinnes ye retayne they are retayned or holdē. To bynde ād lowseWith preachinge the promises lowse they as many as repēte & beleve. And for y^t Iohn sayeth receave the holy gooste / Luke in his laste chapter saith then opened he their wittes / that they myght vnderstonde y^e scriptures and said vntounto thē: thus it is written. And thus it behoved Christe to sofre and to rise ageyne the thrid daye. And that Repētaunce and forgēvenes come by preachynge.repentaunce and remission of sinnes shulde be preached in his name amonge all nacions. At preachinge of the lawe repente mē and at the preachinge of the promises doo they beleve and are saved Petre practiseth his keyes.. Peter in the secon… of the Actes practised his keyes ād by preachinge the lawe broughte the people in to the knowleage of them selves & bounde their consciences / so that they were pricked in their hertes and said vntounto Peter and to the other Apostles / what shall we doo? Then brought they forth the keye of the swete promises sayenge: repente and be baptised every one of you in the name of Iesus Christe for the remission of sinnes / and ye shall receave the gyft of the holy gooste. For the promise was made vntounto you & vntounto youre childern and to all that are a ferre even as many as the lorde shal call. Of lyke ensamples is the Actes full & Peters pistles / & Pauls pistles & all the scripture / The popis auctorite: ys to preach gode word onlynether hath oure holy father any other auctorite of Christ or by the reason of his predicessor Peter thē to preach Gods worde. As Christe compareth the vnderstondinge of scripture vntounto a keye / so cōpareth he it to a nette and vntounto leven ād vntounto many other thinges for certen properties.Beware of the nett and of the leven ād of the counterfet keyes of oure holy father▪ I mervell therfore that they bost not thē selves of their nette and levē / as wel as of their keyes / for they are all one thinge But as Christe biddeth vsus beware of y^e levē of the pharises / so beware of their counterfeted keyes & of their false nette (which are p. lvtheir tradiciōs & cerimonies their ypocrisy and false doctrine) where with they ketche / not soules vntounto Christe / but auctorite and riches vntounto them selves.

Let christē kynges therfore kepe their fayth & truth & all lawfull promises & bōdes / not one with an other only / but evē with y^e Turke or what soever infidell it be.Not with an her…ike saith the Pope For so it is right before God as the scriptures & examples of y^e Bible testifie. Whosoever vowe ā vnlawfull vowe / promise an vnlawfull promise swere an vnlawfull othe sinneth agēst God: & ought therfore to breake it.Vnlawfull vowes or othes are men cōmaunded to breake. He nedeth not to sue to Rome for a licēce. For he hath Gods worde / & not a licence only: but also a cōmaūdmēte to breake it. They therfore that are sworne to be true vntounto Cardinals and Bisshopes / y^t is to saye false vntounto God y^e kinge & the realme / maye breake their othes lawfully without grudge of cōscience by the auctorite of Gods worde. In makī ge them they sinned / but in repentinge and breakinge them they please God hyly and receave forgevenes in Christe.

Let kynges take their dutie of their subiectes & that y^t is necessary vntounto the defense of the realme. Let thē rule their Realmes them selves with the helpe of laye mē that are sage wise / lerned & experte. Is it not a shame obove all shames ād a mōstrous thīge y^t no mā shulde be foūde able to governe a worldly kīgdome save Bisshopes and prelates that have forsaken the worlde and are takē oute of the worlde and apoynted to preach the kyngdome of God?Bisshapes Christe saith that his kingdome is not of this worlde Iohn. xviij And Luke. xij. vntounto the younge mā that desired hī to bidde his brother to geve hī parte of the encheritaunce / he answered who made me Be hold the face of the pope and of the bisshopes in this glasseiudge or a devider a monge you No mā that layeth his hande to the plowe ād loketh backe is apte for the kingdome of heven. Luke. ix. No mā cā serve two masters but he must despice the one. Math. vj.

To preach Gods worde is to moch for half a mā. And to minister a tēporall kīgdome is to moch for half a mā also. Ether other requireth an hole man. One therfore can not well doo both. He that avēgeth him selve on every tryfell is not mete to preach y^e paciēce of Christe / how that a mā ought to forgeve ād to sofre all thīges. He that is overwhelmed with all maner riches ād doth but seke moare dayly / is not mete to preach poverte. He that will obeye no man is not mete to preach how we ought to obeye all mē Peter saith Act. vj. It is not mete that we shulde leave the worde of God and serve at the tables. Paul saith in the .ix. chapter of the first Corinthe. Wo is me yf I preach not. A terryble sayenge verely for Popes / Cardinals / and Bisshopes. Yf he had said p. lvjwo be to me if I fight not and move princes vntounto warre. or yf I encrease not sent Peters Peters patrimony.patrimonie (as they call it) it had bynne a moare easy sayenge for them.

Christe forbiddeth his disciples and that oft (as thou mayst se Mathew. xviij.The Popi… auctorite is ī proved. And also .xx. Marke. ix. and also .x. Luke ix. and also .xxij. Even at his last soper) not only to clyme above lordes / kynges ād emperours in worldly rule / but also to exalte them selves one above a nother in the kīgdome of God. But in vayne: for the Pope wolde not heare it though he had commā ded it ten thousande tymes / Gods worde shulde rule only & not Bisshopes decrees or y^e Popes pleasure.Bisshopes have captived Gods worde with there awne decre…. That ought they to preach purely and spiritually and to fascion their lives there after and with all ensample of Godly lyvynge and longe soferinge / to drawe all to Christe: and not to expounde the scriptures carnally and wordly sayenge: God spake this to Peter and Iam his successoure / therfore this auctorite is myne only: and thē bringe in the tyranny of their flesly wisdome / in presentia maioris cessat …otestas minoris / that is in the presens of the greater the lasse hath no power. There is no brotherhed where soch philosophy is taught

SOch phylosophy and so to abvse the scriptures & to mocke with Gods worde is after y^e maner of y^e Bisshope of RochestersRochester. divininite. For he in his sermon of the condemnacion of Marten Luther proveth by ashadowe of the olde testamente / that is by Moys…s and Aaron that / Sathan and Antychriste oure most holy father the Pope is Christes vicare and hed of Christes cō gregacion.

Moses (saith he) signifieth Christe / and Aaron the Pope. And yet the pistle vntounto the Hebrues proveth that the hie preste of the olde lawe signifieth Christ / and his offerī ge ād his goinge in once in the yere in to the inner temple signifie y^e offerīge where with Christe offered him selfe & Christes goinge in vntounto y^e father to be an everlastinge mediator or intercessor for vsus. Neverthelesse Rochester proveth y^e contrary by a shadowe: by a shadowe veryly. For in shadowes they walke with out alshame / & y^e light will they not come at but enforce to stoppe & quēch it wiih all craft and falshed / lest their abhominable iugulinge shulde be sene.They walke in shadowes. Yf any man loke in the light of the newe testamente / he shall clerely se / that that shadowe maye not be so vnderstonde.

Vnderstonde therfore that one thinge in the scripture representeth divers thinges. A serpente figureth Christe in one place ād the devell in a nother. And a lyon doeth lykewise. Christe by leven signifieth Gods worde in one place / ād in a nother signifieth p. lvijtherby the tradiciōs of the Phareses which sowred ād altered Gods worde for their avauntage. Now Moyses verely in the said place representeth Christe / Aarō ys every true preacher.& Aarō which was not yet hye prest / represented / not Peter only or his successoure / as my lorde of rochester wolde have it (for peter was to litle to beare Christes message vntounto all the worlde) but signifieth every disciple of christe ād every true preacher of gods worde. For moyses put in Aarons mouth / what he shulde saye / and Aarō was Moyses prophete and spake / not his awne message (as the pope ād Bisshopes doo) but that which Moyses had receaved of God and delivered vntounto him Exodi. iiij. and also .vij. So ought every preacher to preach Gods worde purely and nether to adde nor minishe. A true messenger must doo his message truly and saye nether moare nor lesse then he is commaunded. Aaron representeth christ.Aaron when he is hye preste and offereth ād purgeth the people of their worldly sinne which they had fallen in in …wichinge vncleanly thinges and in eatinge meates forbidden (as we sinne in handelinge the chalice and the alterston and are purged with the Bisshopes blessinge) representeth Christe / which purgeth vsus from all synne in the sighte of God / as the pistle vntounto the hebrues maketh mencion. When Moyses was gone Vp in to the mounts and Aaron left behynde and made the golden calfe / there Aaron representeth all false preachers and namely oure most holy father the Pope / which in like maner maketh vsus beleve in a bulle / as y^e Bisshope of Rochester fullwell alegeth the place in his sermō.

Iff the Pope be signified by Aaron ād Christe by Moyses / why is not the Pope as well contente with Christes lawe ād doctrine / as Aaron was with Moyses?Aarō addeth no thinge to Mosesis lawe. What is y^e cause y^t oure Bisshopes preache the pope ād not Christe seinge the Apostles preached not Peter / but Christe.The apostels preached not peter: But christe Paul .ij. Corīthe. iiij. saith of him selfe and of his fellowpostles: we preach not oure selves / but Christe Iesus the lorde: and preach oure selves youre servantes for Iesus sake. And .j. Corin. iij. Let no man reioyse in men. For all thinges are youres / whether it be Paul / or Apollo / or Peter: whether it be the world / or lyfe or deeth / whether they be present thinges or thinges to come: all are youres and ye are Christes and Christe is Gods. He leveth out ye are Peters or ye are the Popes. And in the chapter folowinge he saith. Let men thus wise esteme vsus / even the ministers of Christe. & cet. And .ij. Corinthiorum. xj. Paul was gelous over his Corrinthians / because they fell from Christe / to whom he had maried them / and clave vntounto the auctorite of men (for even then false Prophetes p. lviijsought auctorite in the name of the hy… Apostles) I am saith he gelouse over you with Godly gelousy. For I coupled you to one man / to make you a chaste virgen to Christe: but I feare lest as the serpente deceaved Eve thorow his sottylte / even so your wittes shuld be corrupte from the singlenesse that is in Christe. And it foloweth: Yf he that cometh to you preached a nother * Iesus / or if ye receave a nother sprite or a nother * Gospell / then mighte ye well have be contente / that is / ye mighte have well sofered him to have auctorite above me. But I suppose (saith …e) that I was not behynde the hye Apostles: meanynge in preachinge Iesus and his Gospell and in ministringe the sprite. And in the said .xj. Chapter he proveth by the doctrine of Christe / that he is greater then the hye Apostles. For Christe saith / to be greate in the kyngdome of God / is to doo service and take payne for other. Apō which rule Paul is greater then the hye apostels.Paul dis…ute…h sayenge: yf they be the ministres of Chr…ste I am moare. In labours moare aboundaū …e / in stripes above measure in pryson moare plentuosly / in deeth ofte & so forth.P…ul is greater …he peter Yf Paul preached Christe moare then Peter and sofered moare for his congregacion / then is he greater thē Peter by y^e testimonie of Christe. And in the .xij. he saith / In nothinge was I inferior vntounto y^e hye Apostles· Though I be nothinge / yet the tokens of an Apostle were wrought amonge you with all pacience / with signes and wonders ād mightie dedes.Paul proved his appostelshep with preachinge ād soferinge: The bisshopes prove there apostelshepe with bulles ād shadowes The Postels were sent of christe with li…e auctorite▪ So proved he his auctorite ād not with a bulle from Peter sealed with colde leed / other with shadowes of the olde testamente falsly expounded.

Moare over the Apostles were sent immediatly of Christe and of Christe receaved they their auctorite / as Paul bosteth hym selfe every where. Christe (saith he) sent me to preach the Gospell .j. Cor. i. And I receaved of the lorde that which I delyverd vntounto you .i. Corinth. xi And Gala. i. I certifie you brethern that the Gospell which was preached of me / was not after the maner of mē (that is to wete carnall or fleshly) nether receaved I it of man / nether was it taught me: but I receaved it by the revelacion of Iesus Christe. And Galath. ij. he that was myghty in Peter in the Apostleshep over the circumcision / was myghty in me amonge the gentiles. And .i. Timoth. i. Readest thou lyke wise. And Iohn. xx. Christe sent them forth indifferently and gave them lyke power. As my father sent me (saith he) so sende I you: y^t is to preach and to sofre / as I have done / and not to cō quere empyres and kyngdomes and to subdue all temperall power vnderunder you with p. lixdisgysed ypocrisie. He gave them the holy gooste to bynde and lowse indifferently / as thou seist: ād afterwarde he sente forth Paul with lyke auctorite / as thou seist in the Actes. And in the last of Mathew saith he: all power is geven me in heven and in erth goo therfore and teach all nacions baptisinge them in the name of the father and of the sonne ād of the holy goost / teachīge thē to observe what so ever I commaūded you: The auctorite The auctorite that Christ gave was to preach Christes worde.that Christe gave them was to preach / yet not what they wold imagen / but what he had commaunded. Loo saith he / I am with you all wayes / evē vntounto the ende of the worlde. He said no… I goo my waye / and loo here is Peter in my stede: But sende them every man to a sondry cō trey / whother so ever the spirite caryed thē / and wente with them him selfe. And as he wrought with Peter where he wente / so wrought he with the other where they wē te / as Paul bosteth of hym selfe vntounto the Galathiens.☜ Seinge now that we have Christes doctrine and Christes holy promyses / and seinge that Christe is ever present with vsus his awne selfe / how cometh it that Christe maye not raygne immediatly over vsus / as well as the Pope which cometh never at vsus? Seinge also that the office of an Apostle is to preach only / how can the Pope kalēge with right / any auctorite where he preacheth not?. How cometh it also that Rochester will not let vsus be called one congregacion be the reason of one God / one Christe / one sprite / one Gospell / one fayth one hope / and one baptim / as well as because of one pope?

Yf any natvrall beest with hys worldly wisdome stri…e / ☞that one is greater then a nother / because that in congregations one is sente of a nother / as we se in the Actes. I answere that Peter sent no man / but was sent hym selfe / and Iohn was sent / and Paul / Sylas and Barnabas ware sent. How be it soch maner sendinges are not worldly / as princes sende their Ambasadours no ner as freres send their limyters to gather there bretherhedes which must obeye whether they will or will not. Here all thinge is fre and willingly. And the holy goost bringeth them to gether which maketh their willes fre and ready to bestow them selves apon their neybours profit. And they that come / offer them selves and all that they have or can doo / to serve the lorde and their brethern. And every man / as he is founde apte and mete to serve his neyboure / so is he sente or put in office. And of the holy goost are they sent with the consent of their brethern and with their awne consente also. And Gods worde ruleth in that congregacion / vntounto which p. lxworde every man confirmeth his will. And Christe which is all waye presente is the hed. Why bisshopes make thē a god on erthBut as oure Bisshopes heare not Christes voyce / so se they him not presente: and therfore make them a God on the erth / of they Aaron made a calfe. And the Pope maketh bulleskynde (I suppose) of Aarons calfe. For he bringeth forth no other frute but bulles.

For as moch also as Christe is as greate as Peter / why is not his seate as greate as Peters? Had the heed of the empyre byn at Iherusalem / their had byn no mencion made of Peter. It is verely / as Paul saith in the eleventh Chapter of the seconde Pistle to the Corinthyans. The false Apostles are desceatefull workers / and fassion them selves lyke vntounto the Apostles of Christe. That is the shaven The shaven nacion hath put christ out of his rowme and all kynges and the emperoure.nacion preached Christe falsly / ye vnderunder the name of Christe preached them selves ād raygne in christes stede: have also takē awaye the keye of knowlege ād have wrapped the people in ignoraūce ād have taught thē to beleve in thē selves / in their tradiciōs & false cerimonies: so y^t christe is but a vayne name.Christ is but a vayne name. ād after they had putt christe out of his rowme / they gate thē selves to y^e Emperoure & kynges ād so lōge ministred their busines tyl they have also put thē out of their rowmes & have gott their auctorites frō thē & raygne also in their stede:Proper ministers so y^t y^e emperoure & kīges are but vayne names and shadowes / as Christe is / havinge no thinge to doo in the worlde. Thus raygne they in the stede of God and man and have all power vnderunder them and doo what they list.

Let vsus se a nother poynte of oure greate clerke.Rochester ys proved both ignorāt and malicious A little after the beginnynge of his sermon / entendinge to prove that which is clearer then the sonne and serveth no moare for his purpos then Ite missa est serveth to prove that oure lady was borne without originall sinne: he allegeth a saynge that Martē luther sayth / which is this yf we affirme that any one pistle of Paul or any one place of his pistles perteyneth not vntounto the vniversall chirch / that is / to all the congregaciō of them that beleve in Christe / we take a waye all saynte Pauls auctorite. Where apon saith Rochester. Yf it be thus of the wordes of saint Paul moch rather it is true of the Gospels of Christe and of every place of them. O malicious blindnes First note his blindnes. He vnderstondeth by this worde Gospel no moare but the foure evangelistes Mathew / Marke / Luke and Iohn and thinketh not that the Actes of the apostles and the pistles of Peter / of Paul and of Iohn and of other lyke are also the Gospel Paul calleth his preachinge the Gospell.The pistles of Paul are the Gospell: Roma. ij. and .j. Cori. iiij. and Gal. j. and .j. Timoth. j. The Gospell is every wheere one p. lxjthough it be preached of divers ād What Gospell signifieth.signifieth glad tidinges / that is to wete / an open preachinge of Christe and the holy testamē te and gracious promises that God hath made in Christes bloude to all that repente and beleve. Now is there moare Gospell in one pystle of Paul / that is to saye / Christe is moare clerely preached ād moo promises rehersed in one pistle of Paul / thē in y^e .iii. first Evāgelistes. Mathew / Marke & Luke.

Considre also his maliciousnes / how wekedly and how craftily he taketh awaye the auctorite of Paul. It is moch rather true of the Gospells and of every place in thē then of paul. One Gospell one spirite: one trueth.Yf that which the foure Evāgelistes wrote be truer then that which Paul wrote / then is it not one Gospel that they preached / nether one sprite that taught them. Yf it be one Gospell ād one sprite / how is one truer then the other? The auctorite of paul ād of hys Gospell:Paul proveth his auctorite to the Galathians and to the Corinthians / because that he receaved his Gospell by revelacion of Christe and not of man / and because that when he comuned with Peter and the hye Apostles of his Gospell and preachinge / they coulde improve no thinge / nether teach hym any thinge: and because also that as many were converted ād as great miracles shewed by his preachinge as at the preachinge of the hye Apostles / and therfore wilbe of no lesse auctorite / then Peter and other hye Apostles. Ner have his Gospell of lesse reputacion thē thers

Fynally that thou mayst knowe Rochester for ever and all the remaunte by hym / what they are with in y^e skynne / marke how he playeth bo pepe with the scripture.Rochester playeth bo pepe. He allegeth the beginnynge of the tenth chapter to the Hebrues. Vmbram habens lex futurorum bonorum / the lawe hath but a shadowe of thinges to come. And immediatly expoundeth the figure cleane contrary vntounto the chapter folowinge and to all the hole pistle / makynge Aaron a figure of the Pope whom the Epistle maketh a figure of Christe.

He allegeth halfe a texte of Paul. j. Timoth. iiij. In the later dayes some shall departe from the fayth gevīge hede vntounto sprites of errore and develish doctrine: but it foloweth in the texte / gevinge attendaunce or hede vntounto the develish doctrine of them which speake false thorow ypocrisye and have their consciences marked with a hote yeron / forbiddinge to mary and commaundinge to absteyne from meates which God hath created to be receaved with gevinge thankes. Which two thinges who ever dyd save the Never man forbade to mary save the popePope Rochersters God / makynge synne in the creatures which God hath created for mans vse to be receaved with thankes. The kyngdome of heven is not p. lxijmeate and drinke / saith Paul / but righteousnes peace and Ioye in the holy goost. For who so ever in these thinges serveth Christe pleaseth God and is alowed of men Roma. xiiij. Had Rochester therfore not a consciē ce marked with the hote yeron of malice / so that he can not consente vntounto the will of God and glorie of christe / he wolde not have so alleged the texte which is contrarye to none save them selves.

He allegeth an other texte of Paul in the seconde chapter of his seconde pistle to the Tessaloniens. Erit disessio primum / that is saith Rochester / before the comynge of Antychrist there shalbe a notable departinge from the fayth. And Paul saith. The lorde cometh not excepte there come a departinge first. Pauls meaninge is that the last daye cometh not so shortly / but that antychrist shall come first ād destroye the fayth and sit in the temple of God and make all men whorshepe hym and beleve in him (as the Pope doeth) and then shall Gods worde come to lyghte agayne (as it doeth at this tyme) and destroye hym and vtter his iuglynge and then cometh christe vntounto iudgemente. What saye ye of this crafty convayar? Wolde he spare / suppose ye to allege & to wreste other doctours pestilētly / which feareth not for to iugle with y^e holy scripture of god expoūdinge y^t vntounto antychrist which Paul speaketh of Christe? No be thou sure. But evē after this maner wise perverte they the hole scripture and all doctours wrestinge thē vntounto their abhominable purpose cleane contrary to the meanynge of the texte ād to the circumstaunces that goo before and after. The cause why they wil not have the scripture in english.Which develish falsheed left the laye men shuld perceave / is the very cause why that they / will not sofre the scripture to be had in the englysh tonge / nether any worke to be made / that shulde bringe the people to knowleage of the trueth.

He allegeth for the Popes auctorite saynt Cipriane / saint Augustine / Ambrose / Hierom and Origene: of which never one knew of any auctorite y^t one Bisshope shulde have above a nother. And saint Gregory allegeth he which wolde receave no soch auctorite above his brethern when it was proferd him. As the maner is to call Tully chefe of oratours.Tully chefe of Oratours for his singuler eloquence / ād Aristotle chefe of philosophers and Virgill chefe of Poetes for their singuler lernynge / and not for any auctorite that they had over other: so was it the maner to call Peter chefe of the Apostles for his singuler activite and boldnes / ād not that he shulde be lorde over his brethern contrary to his awne doctrine. Yet compare that chefe Apostle vntounto Paul / and he is founde a great waye inferior. This I saye not that I wolde that any p. lxiijman shulde make a God of Paul / contrary vntounto his awne lernynge. Not withstādinge yet this maner of speakinge is left vntounto vsus of oure elders that whē we saye the Apostle saith so / we vnderstonde Paul for his excellency above other Apostles. I wolde he wolde tell you how Hierom / Augustine / Bede / Origene & other doctours expound this texte apon this rocke I will bylde my congregacion and how they enterpret the keyes also. Thereto / Pasce / pasce / pasce / which Rochester leaveth without any english signifieth not Poll / shere and shave. Apon which texte beholde the faythfull exposicion of Bede.

Note also how craftyly he wolde enfeffe the Apostles of Christe with their weked tradiciōs and false Ceremonies which they them selves have fayned / alleginge Paul. ij.Rochester allegeth Paul for his blynd ceremonies cōtrary to pauls doctrine. Thessal. ij. I answere that Paul taught by mouth soch thinges as he wrote in his pistles. And his tradicions ware the Gospell of Christe and honest maners and lyvinge and soch a good order as becometh the doctrine of Christe. As that a woman obeye her husbande / have her heed covered / kepe silence and goo woomanly and christenly apparelde: that childern and servaūtes be in subiection: and that the younge obeye their elders / that no mā eate but he that laboureth and worketh / and that men make an ernest thinge of Gods worde and of his holy sacramentes and to watch fast and praye and soch lyke / as the scripture commaundeth. which thinges he that wolde breake were no Christē mā. But we maye well cōplayne ād crye to God for helpe / that it is not It is not lawfull for vsus to tell what prayar is what fastynge is or where fore it …arvithlawfull for the Popes tyranny / to teach the people what prayer is / what fastinge is ād wherfore it serveth. There were also certayne customes all waye which were not commaunded in payne of hell or everlastinge damnaciō / as to watche all nighte / & to kysse one a nother: which as sone as the people abused thē they brake them. For which cause y^e Bisshopes myght breake many thinges now in lyke maner. Paul also in many thīges which God had made fre / gave pure and faythfull cowncell without tanglinge of any mās cō sciēce & without all maner commaundinge vnderunder Payne of cursynge dā nacion and so forthpayne of cursinge / payne of excommunication / payne of heresie / payne of burninge / payne of deedly synne / Payne of hell & payne of dānaciō. As thou mayst se .j. Corin. vij. Where he counceleth the vnmaryed the widowes & virgens that it is good so to abyde / yf they have the gift of chastyte. Not to winne hevē therby (for nether circuncisiō nether vncircuncision is any thinge at all / But the kepinge of the cōmaundemētes is all to gether) But that they myght be without trouble / & myght also the better wayte p. lxiiijon Gods worde and frelyer serve their brethern. And saith (as a faithfull servaunte) that he had none If Paul had none auctorite: then had Peter none where had then the pope this auctoryteauctorite of the lorde to geve them any commaundemēte. But that the Apostles gave vsus any blynde ceremonies where of we shulde not knowe the reason that I denye & also defie / as a thinge cleane cotrary vntounto the lernynge of Paul every where.

For Paul cōmaundeth that no mā ones speak in the church / that is / Rochester is improvedin the congregacion / but in a tōge that all men vnderstō de / excepte that there be an enterpreter by he commaundeth to laboure for knowleage / vnderstandinge / and felinge and to be ware of supersticiō and persuasions of worldly wisdome / philosophy / and of ypocrisy & ceremonies / and of all maner disgisinge / & to walke in the playne and open trueth. Ye were once darknes (saith he) but now are ye light in the lorde / walke therfore as the childern of light. Ephe. v. how doeth Paul also wysh thē encrease of grace in every pistle? How crieth he to God to augmente their knowlege / that they shulde be no moare childern waveringe with every winde of doctrine / but wolde vouchsafe to make them full men in Christe and in the vnderstondinge of the mysteries or secretes of Christe: so that it shulde not be possible for any man to disceave them with any entisinge reasons of worldly wisdome / or to begyl… thē with blynde cerimonies or to leade thē out of y^e waye with supersticiousnes of dysgised ypocrisy / vntounto which full Wherefore the spirituall off…cers ar ordeyned.knowlege are the spirituall officers ordened to bringe thē Ephe. iiij. So ferre it is awaye that Christes Apostles shulde geve them tradiciōs of blynde ceremonies without significaciō or of which no man shuld knowe the reason as Rochester which loveth shadowes and darknes lyeth on them god stoppe his blasphemous mouth.

Ro…hester allegeth heretikes for his purpose for la…ke of scriptureConsydre also how studiously Rochester allegeth origen / both for his Pope and also to stablish his blinde cerimonies with al which Origene of all heritkes is cōdemned to be the greatest. He is an auncient doctor saith he / yee and to whom in this poynte greate fayeth is to be geven: yee verely Aristotle and Plato and even very Robynhode is of auctorite ynough to prove the pope with all.Robynhode is to be beleved in soch a poynte / that so greatly maynteneth our holy fathers auctorite and all his disgysynges.

Last of all as once a craftie thefe when he was espied and folowed / cryed vntounto the people. Stoppe the thefe / stoppe the thefe. And as many to begynne with all cast first in a nother mans tethe that which he feareth shuld be leade to his awne charge: evē so Rochester layeth to Martyn Luthers charge the slayenge & murtheringe of Christen p. lxvmē / because they will not beleve in his doctrine / which thinge Rochester and his brethern have not ceased to doo now certen hundred yeres / with soch malice that when they be deed / they rage burnynge the bodyes / of which some they them selves of lyckly hode kylled before secretly. And because that all the worlde knoweth that Marten Luther sleyeth no mā but kylleth only with the spirituall sworde the worde of God soch cancred consciences as Rochester hath Nether persecuteth / but sofereth percecucion: yet Rochester with a goodly argumente proveth y^t he wold do it if he cowlde. And marke I praye you what an Oratoure he is and how vehemently he persuadeth it.Rochester is an Oratoure Marten Luther hath burned the Popes decretals: a manyfest signe / saith he / that he wold have brunte y^e Popes holines also / yf he had had him. A lyke argumente (which I suppose to be rather true) I make▪ Rochester and his holy brethern have brunt Christes testamēte: an evident signe verely that they wold have brunte Christe himselfe also if they had had him.

I had allmost verely left out the chefest poynte of all.Rochester is cleane besyde him selfe Rochester both abhominable & shamelesse: yee ād sterke mad of pure malice / & so adased in y^e braines / of spite that he cā not overcome the trouth that he seith not or rather careth not what he saith: in the ende of his first destruccion / I wolde saye instruccion as he calleth it / intendinge to prove y^t we are iustified thorow holy workes / allegeth halfe a texte of Paul of the fyfte to the Galathiens (as his maner is to iugle and convaye craftily) fides per dilectionem operans. If Rochester be soch a iuguler: What suppose ye of the reste▪ let Rochester be an example therefore to iudge them allWhich texte he this wise englisheth: faith which is wrought by love / ād maketh a verbe passive of a verbe deponente. Rochester will have love to goo before and fayth to sprīge out of love. Thus Antichrist turneth the rotes of y^e tre vpwarde. I must fyrst love a bitter medicine (after Rochesters doctrine) and then beleve that it is wholsome. When by naturall reason / I fyrst hate a bitter medicine / vntyll I be brought in belefe of the phisicion that it is wholsome and that the bitternes shall heale me / and then afterwarde love it of that belefe. Doeth the childe love the father fyrst and then beleve that he is his sonne or heyre or rather because he knoweth that he is his sonne or heyre and beloved / therfore loveth agayne? Iohn sayth in the thred of his fyrst Pistle.Faith is the …ote and love springeth of faith. Se what love the father hath shewed apon vsus / that we shulde be called his sonnes. Because we are sonnes therfore love we. Now by fayth are we sones as Iohn saith in the fyrst chapter of his Gospell. He gave them power to be the sonnes of God in that they beleved on p. lxvjhis name. And Paul sayth / in the thred Chapter of his Pistle to the Galathiens / we are all the sonnes of God by the fayth which is in Iesus Christe. And Iohn in the said chapter of his Pistle saith. Here by perceave we love / that he gave his lyfe for vsus. We coulde se no love ner cause to love agayne / excepte that we beleved that he died for vsus and that we were saved thorow his deeth. And in the chapter folowinge saith Iohn. Here in is love: not that we loved God: but that he loved vsus and sente his sonne to make a grement for oure synnes. Se / God sente not his sonne for any love that we had to him: but of the love / that he had to vsus sente he his sonne / that we myght se love and love agayne. Paul lyke wise in the .viij. Chapter to the Romayns / after that he hath declared the infinite love of God to vsus ward in that he spared not his awne sonne but gave him for vsus / cryeth out sayenge: who shall separat vsus from the love of God? shall persecucion / shall a swerde? & cet. No / sayeth he / I am sure that no creature shall seperat vsus from the love of God that is in Christ Iesus oure lorde: as who shulde saye / we se so greate love in God to vsus warde in Christes deeth / that though all misfortune shulde fast on vsus / we cā not but lo…e agayne. Now how know we y^t God loveth vsus? verely by fayth Though Rochester have not the spirite to iudge spirituall thīges yet oughte reason to have kepte hī from so shamfull lyenge. But God hath blī ded him to brī ge there falshed to lyght. So therfore / though Rochester be a beest faythlesse / yet ought naturall reason to have taughte him / that love springeth out of fayth and knowlege and not fayth ād knowlege out of love. But let vsus se the texte. Paul sayth thus. In christe Iesu / nether circuncision is any thinge worth / ner incircuncision: but fayth which worketh thorow love or which thorow love is strōge or myghtie in workinge & not which is wroughte by love as the iuguler sayeth. Fayth that loveth Gods cōmaundmentes iustifieth a mā. Yf thou beleve Gods promises in Christe and love his cōmaundmē tes then arte thou saffe. Yf thou love the cō maundmēte then arte thou sure that thy fayth is vnfayned & y^t Gods sprite is in the.

How fayth iustifieth before God in the herte and how love springeth of fayth ād cō pelleth vsus to worke / and how the workes iustifie before the worlde and testifie what we are and certifie vsus that oure fayth is vnfayned and that the righte sprite of God is in vsus / se in my boke of the iustifienge of fayth and there shalt thou se all thinge abundantly. Also of the The controversy betwene Iames ād Paul.controversy betwene Paul and Iames se there. Never the later / when Rochester sayth / yf fayth only iustified / then both the devels and also synners that lye styll in sinne shulde be saved / his argumēte is not worth a strawe. For nether p. lxvijthe devels Why devels have none of Pauls faith ner synners that repēt notnor yet synners that contynue in synne of purpose and delectaciō / have any soch fayth as Paul speaketh of. For Pauls fayth is to beleve Gods promises. Fayth sayth he Ro. x. Cometh by hearinge and hearinge cometh by the worde of God. And how shall they heare without a preacher / and how shall they preache excepte they be sente? As it is written (saith he) how bewtifull are the fete that bringe glad tydinges of peace and bringe glad tydinges of good thinges. Now when sente God any messingers vntounto the devels to preach them peace or any good thinge: The devell hath no promyse: he is therfore excluded from Pauls fayth A man maye beleve that christe died ād many other thynges and not beleve in christ. What it is to beleve in christe.The devell beleveth that christ died / but not that he died for his sinnes. Nether doeth any that consenteth in the herte to cō tinue in synne / beleve that Christ died for hī For to beleve that christe died for vsus / is to se oure horrible damnacion and how we were appoynted vntounto eternall paynes ād to feale and to be sure that we are delyvered therfrom thorow Christe in that we have power to hate oure synnes and to love Gods cōmaūdmētes. All soch repēte & have their hertes loosed out of captivite and bondage of sinne and are therfore iustified thorow fayth in christe. Weked synners have no fayth but imagincions and opinions aboute Christe as oure scole men have in their principles / aboute which they brawle so fast one with a nother. It is a nother thīge to beleve that the kynge is rich and that he is rich vntounto me / and that my parte is therin: ād that he will not spare a peny of his riches at my nede / when I beleve that the kynge is rich I am not moved. But when I beleve that he is rich for me ād that he will never fayle me at my nede / then love I ād of love am ready to worke vntounto the vttemost of my power▪ But let vsus returne at the last vntounto oure purpose agayne.

WHat is the cause that laye mē can not now rule / as well as in tymes paste / and as the turkes yet doo?Why laye mē can not rule. Verely because that Antychriste with the miste of his iugulinge hath begyled oure eyes and hath cast a supersticious feare apon the w…lde of christen men / and hath taught them to dreade / not God and his worde / but hym selfe and his worde: not Gods lawe and ordinaunces / princes and officers which God hath sett to rule the worlde / but his awne lawe and ordinaunces / tradicions and cerimonies and disgised disciples / which he hath sett every where to deceave the worlde and to expell the light of Gods worde / that his darknes p. lxviijmaye have rowme. For we se by dayly experience of certayne hondred yeres longe / that he which feareth nether God ner his worde / nether regardeth father / mother / master / or Christe hym selfe / which rebelleth agenst Gods ordinaunces / ryseth agenste the kynges and resisteth his officers / Men feare the Popes oyle moare thē Gods cōmaundmente.dare not once laye handes on one of the Popes annoynted: no though he sley his father before his face or doo violence vntounto his brother or defile his sister / wife or mother. Lyke honoure geve we vntounto his tradicions and cerimonies. What deuociō have we when we are blessed (as they call it) with the chalice / or when the Bisshope lyfteth vp his holy hande over vsus? Who dare handle the chalice / twiche the altare ston or putt his hande in the founte or his fynger vntounto the holy oyle? What reverence geve we vntounto holy water / holy fyre / holy bred / holy salt / halowed belles / holy wayx / holy bowes / holy candels and holy asshes? And last of all vntounto the holy candle committ we oure soules at oure last departinge. Yee and of the very cloute which the Bisshope or his chapplen that stō deth by / knitteth aboute childerns neckes at cōfirmaciō / what laye person durst be so bolde as to vnlouse y^e knotte? Thou wilt saye do not soch thinges bringe y^e holy goost ād put awaye synne and d…yve awaye sprites I saye that a stedfast fayth or belefe in Christe and in the promises y^t God hath sworne to geve vsus for his sake / bringeth y^e holy goost as all the scrptures make mencion / and as Paul saith (Actes. xix.) have ye receaved the holy goost thorow fayth or belevinge? fayth is the rocke where on Christe byldeth his congregacion / agēst which saith Christ Mathei. xvj. hell gates shall not prevayle.Fayth dryveth the devels a waye. As sone as thou belevest in Christe / the holy goost cometh / synne falleth a waye & devels fle: whē we cast holy water at y^e devell or Why doo not the bisshopes make him fle from shotynge of gunnesringe y^e belles / he fleeth / as mē doo frō yoūge childern / & moketh with vsus / to brīge vsus frō the true faith that is in Gods worde vntounto a supersticious & a false belefe of oure owne imaginacion. Yf thou haddest fayth and threwest an vnhalowed ston at his hed / he wolde ernestly fle and without mockinge / yee though thow threwest no thinge at all / he wold not yet abyde.

Ceremonies did not the miracle but faith.Though that at the beginninge miracles were shewed thorow soch ceremonies to move the infidels to beleve the worde of God. As thou readest how the Apostles anoynted the sycke with oyle and healed them / and Paul sent his perteler or gyrkyn to the sycke and healed them also. Yet was it not the ceremonie that did the myracle / but fayth of the preacher and the trouth of God which had promysed p. lxixto confirme ād stablysh his Gospell with soch miracles. Therfore as sone as the gift of myracles ceased / ought the ceremony to have ceased also: or else if they will neades have a ceremonie to signifie some promes or benefit of God (which I prayse not but wolde have Gods worde preached every sō day / for which entente sondayes and holy dayes were ordeyned) then lett them tell the people what it meaneth:Let them tell what the ceremony meaneth and not set vp a baulde and a naked ceremonie without significaciō / to make the people beleve therin and to quench the fayth that ought to be geven vntounto the worde of God.

What helpeth it also that the prest when he goeth to masse disgiseth him selfe with a great parte of the passion of Christe and pleyeth out the rest vnderunder silence with signes and profers / with noddinge / beckinge and mowinge / as it were Iacke a napes / when nether he him selfe nether any man else woteth what he meaneth?The prest disgyseth hī selfe with the passiō of christe not at all veryly / but hurteth and that exceadinghly. For as moch as it not only destroyeth the Domme ceremonies quēch fayth and love and make the infidels to mocke vsus.fayth and quencheth the love that sh…lde be geven vntounto the co…maundemente / …nd maketh the people thankefull / in … it bringeth them i…o soch supersticio… …hat t…e… thinke … they have done … ynough for God / yee and … meas…re / yf they be present … daye at soch mummynge: But also maketh the infidels to mock vsus and abhorre vsus / in that they se nothinge but soch apes playe amonge vsus / where of no man can geve a reason.

The prophecy of Christ is fullfilledAll this cometh to passe to fulfill the prophesy which Christe prophesyed. Marke. xiij And Luke. xxj. that there shall come in his name which shal saye that they them selves are Christe. That doo verely the Pope and oure holy orders of relygiō. For they vnderunder the name of Christe preach them selves their awne worde and their awne traditiōs / and teach the people to beleve in them. The pope geveth pardōs of his full power / of the treasure of the chirch and of the merites of sayntes. The freres lyke wise make their benefactours (which only they call theire brethern and sisters) partakers of their masses / fastinge / watchinges / prayenges and wolwarde goinges / The testamēt of the observauntes.Yee and when a novice of the observauntes is professed the father a…eth him / will ye kepe these ruels of holy saynte Frances? and he sayth yee: will ye so in deade sayth he? the other answareth: yee forsoth father. Then fayth the father / and I promise you agayne everlastinge lyfe. O blasphemy. Yf eternall life be due vntounto the pilde traditions of lowsie freres / where is the testamente become that God made vntounto vsus in Christes bloude? Christ sayth Math. xxiiij. p. lxxAnd Mark. xiij. that there shal come pseudo christi.Fals anoynted Which though I / for a consideration have trāslated false christes kepinge the greke worde: yet signifieth it in the englysh false anoynted and ought so to be translated There shall come (saith Christe) false anoynted and false prophet…s and shall doo miracles and wonders / so greatly that / if it were possible / the very electe or chosen shulde be brought out of the waye. Compare the Popes doctrine vntounto the worde of God and thou shalt fynde that there hath byn ād yet is a great goinge out of the waye / and that evyll men and deceavers (as Paul prophesied .ij. Timothei. iij.) have prevayled and waxed worse and worse / begylinge other as they are bygyld them selves. Thou trēblest and quakest sayenge: shall God let vsus goo so sore out of the right waye? Christis prophesy: be it never so tereble must be yet fulfilledI answere it is Christe that warneth vsus / which as he knew all that shulde folowe / so prophesied he before ād is a true prophete / and his prophesie must neadis be fulfilled.

GOd annoynted his sonne Ihesus with the holy goost / ād therfore called him Christe / which is as moch to saye as anoynted. Outwardly he disgysed him not but made him lyke oder men & sente him in to the worlde to blesse vsus and to offer hī selfe for vsus a Christ was nother shavē nor shorne nor anoynted with oylesacrifice of a swete saver / to kyll the stēch of oure synnes / that God hēceforth shulde smell them no moare / ner thinke on them any moare: and to make full and sufficient satisfaction or amends for all thē that repente / belevinge the trueth of God & submittinge them selves vntounto his ordinaunces both for they sinne y^t they doo / have done and shall doo. For synne we thorow fragilite never so oft / yet as sone as we repēte and come in to the right waye agayne and vntounto the testamente which God hath made in Christes bloude / oure synnes vanesh awaye as smoke in the wynde & as darknes at the comynge of lyght or as thou cast a litle bloude or mylke in to the mayne see.He that doth oughte to make satisfactiō or to gette heven hath lost his parte of christis bloud In so moch that who soever goeth aboute to make satisfaction for his synnes to God warde / sayenge in his herte / this moch have I synned this moch wyll I doo agayne / or this wise will I lyve to make amēdes with all or this will I doo to gete heven with all the same is an infidele / faythlesse and dāned in his dede doinge / and hath lost his part in Christes bloude: because he is disobedient vntounto Gods testamente / and setteth vp a nother of his awne imaginacion / vntounto which he will compell God to obeye. Yf we love God we have a commaundemente to love oure neyboure also / as saith Iohn in his Pistle. And if we have offended him to make him amends / To oure neyboure make we amendes?or if we have not where with / to axe him forgevenesse / and to doo and sofr… p. lxxjall thinges for his sake / to wynne him to God and to norysh peace and vnyte: but to Godward Christe is an everlastinge satisfaction and ever sufficiente.

Christe when he had fullfilled his course / The Apostles were nother shaven nor shorē nor onoynted with oyle.annoynted his Apostles and disciples with the same sprite and sent thē forth without all maner disgysinge lyke other mē also / to preach the attonmēte and peace which Christe had made betwene God and man. The Apostles lykewise disgysed no mā / but chose men anoynted with the same spirite: one to preach the worde of God / whom we call after the greke tonge a Bisshope: an oversearbisshope or a prest / that is / in english / an overseer and an elder. How he was anoynted thou readest j. Timothe. iij. The true annoyntyng of a prestA Bisshope or an oversear must be fautlesse / the husbande of one wife (Many Iewes and also gentyls that were converted vntounto to the fayth had at that tyme divers wyves / yet were not compelled to putt any of them awaye which Paul because of ensample wolde not have preachers for as moch as in Christe we retourne agayne vntounto the firste ordinaunce of God / that one man and one woman shulde goo to gether) he must be sobyr / of honest behavoure honestly appareld / herberous (that is / ready to lodge straūgers / apte to teach / no drō kerde / no This oyle is not amonge oure bisshopes.fyghter / not geven to fylthy lucre: but gentle / abhorringe fyghtinge / abhorringe covetousnes and one that ruleth his awne howsholde honestly / havinge childern vnderunder obedience with all honeste. For if a man can not rule his awne house / how can he care for the congregacion of God? he maye not be younge in the faith or as a man wold saye an novice / lest he swell and faull in to the iudgemente of the evyll speaker / that is / he maye not be vnlerned in the secretes of the fayth. For soch are attonce stoburne and hedstronge and set not a litle by them selves. But alas / we have above twenty thousande that know no moare scripture then is written in their por…oues and amonge them is he exceadinge well lerned that can turne to his service. He must be well reaported of them that are without / lest he fall in to rebuke and in to the snare of the evill speaker / that is / lest the infideles which yet beleve not shulde be hurte by hī and dreven from the fayth / yf a mā that were defamed were made hed and overser of the congregacion.

He must have a wife for .ij. causes. one / that it maye therby be knowen who is mete for the rowme.Prestes oughte to have wives and why He is vnapte for so chargeable an office which had never housholde to rule. A nother cause is / that chastite is an exceadinge selden gyfte / and vnchastyte exceadinge perelous for that degre. In as moch as the people loke as well vntounto the p. lxxijlyvinge as vntounto the preachinge / and are hurte at once yf the lyvinge disagre / and fall from the fayth and beleve not the worde.

This oversear because he was taken from his awne busynes and laboure / to preach Gods worde vntounto the paresh / hath ryght by the auctorite of his office / to calenge an honest lyvinge of the paresh / as thou mayst se in the Evangelistes and also in Paul.What the prestes dutie ys to do: and what to have For who will have a servaunte and will not geve him meate / drynke and raymente and all thinges necessary? How Mē are not bound to paye the prest in tithes: by gods law.they wold paye hym / whether in money or assigne him so moch rente or in tythes / as the gyse is now in many cōtrayes / was at their liberty.

Lyke wise in every cōgregaciō chose they a nother after the same ensample & evē so annoynted / as it is to se in the said chapter of Paul & Act. vj.Dyacō what it signifieth and what is his office. Whō after y^e greke worde we call deacō / y^t is to saye in english / a servaūte or a minister whose office was to helpe & assiste y^e prest & to gather vp his du…ie & to gather for y^e pore of y^e paresh / which were destitute of frēdes & coulde not worke / cōmē bedgers to runne frō dore to dore / were not thē sofered.No bedgers On y^e sayntes dayes namely soch as had sofered deeth.How holy dayes and offerynges came vp. For y^e worde sake came men to gether in to the church / and the prist preached vntounto them and exhorted thē to cleave fast vntounto the worde and to be stronge in the fayth and to fyght agenst the powers of the worlde / with soferīge for their faythes sake after the ensample of y^e sayntesSaintes were not yet godes.. And taught them not to beleve in the sayntes and to trust in their merites and to make Gods of them: but toke the sayntes for an example only and prayed God to geve them lyke fayth and trust in his worde ād lyke strength and power to sofre therfore ād to geve them so sure hope of the lyfe to come / as thou maist se in the collects of saynte Laurence and of saynte Steven in oure lady matēs. And in soch dayes / as we now offer / so gave they every mā his porcion acordinge to his abylite and as God put in his herte / to the mayntenaunce of the prest deakon and other comune ministers and of the pore and to fynde lerned men to teach / and so forth. And all was putt in the handes of the deacon / as thou mayst se in the lyfe of saynte Laurence and in the histories Why landes were geven vntounto the spirituall officers before we fell from the fayth.And for soch purposes gave men lādes afterwarde to ease the pareshes and made hospitals & also places to teach their childern and to bringe them vppe and to nurtoure them in Gods worde / which londes oure monkes now devoure.

Antichrist.

ANtychrist of a nother maner hath sent forth his disciples those false anoynted of which Christe warneth vsus before that they shuld come ād shewe miraclesFalse anoynted p. lxxiijand wonders / even to bringe the very electe out of the waye / yf it were possible. Shavinge … borowed of the hethē. and oylīge of the Iewes.He anoynteth them after the maner of the Iewes and shaveth them and shoreth thē after the maner of y^e hethen prestes which served the ydoles. He sendeth them forth not with false oyle only / but with false False namesnames also. For compare their names vntounto their deades and thou shalt fynde them false. He sendeth them forth as Paul prophesied of them .ij. Thessalonien. ij. with lyenge signes and wonders. Lyenge signes.What signe is the anoyntinge? that they be full of the holy goost. Compare them to the signes of the holy gost which Paul rekeneth / & thou shalt fynde it a false signe. A Bisshope must be fautelesse / the husbande of one wife. No wife but an whoreNay sayth the Pope / the husbāde of no wife / but the holder of as many whores as he listeth. God commaundeth all degres / yf they burne and can not lyve chast / to mary. The Pope saith yf thou burne take a Take a dispē sation….dispensacion for a concubine and put her awaye / when thou art olde / or else as oure lawears saye / sinon caste tamen Knaveatecaute / that is / if ye live not chaste / se ye cary clene and playe the knave secretly. Herberous / yee to whores & baudes / for a pore man shall as sone breake his necke as his fast with them / but of the scrappes and with the dogges / when diner ys done. Apte to teach and as Peter saith .j. Pe. ij. ready all wayes to geve an ā swere to every man y^t axeth you a reason of the hope y^t ye have and that with mekenes. Which thīge is signified by y^e botes which doctours of divinite are created in / Botesbecause they shulde be ready all wayes to goo thorow thicke & thynne / to preache Gods worde / and by the Bisshopes two horned myter / which betokeneth the absolute & perfecte knowleage y^t they oughte to have in the new testamēte ād the olde.Miters. Be not these false signes? For they beate only and teach not. Ye saith y^e Pope if they will not be ruled Cite themcite them to appere and Pose thempose them sharply / what y^e holde of y^e Popes power / of his pardōs / of his bulles / of purgatorye / of the ceremonies / of cōfessiō & soch like creatures of oure most holy fathers. Yf they misse in any poīte / Make them heretikesmake heretikes of thē ād burne thē. Yf they be of mine annoīted and beare my marke disgresse thē / I wold saye disgraduate thē & (after y^e exāple of noble Antiochus ij. Mach. vij.) pare y^e crounes & the fingers of thē ād tormēte thē craftily & for very payne make them denye the trueth.Burne them But now saye oure Bisshopes / because the trueth is come to ferre abroade and the laye people begynne to smell oure wiles / it is best to oppresse them with craft secretly and tame them in prison: Yee lat vsus fynde the meanes to have them in the kynges prison ād p. lxxiiijto make treason of soch doctrine: Yee we must stere vp some warre one where or a nother to bringe the people in to a nother imaginacion. Yf they be gentyll men abiure them secretly.

Curse them .iiij. tymes in they yeare.Curse them▪ Feare them Make them a frayde of every thinge and namely to twich myne anoynted / and make them to feare the sentence of the chyrch / suspencions / excomunicacions and curses. Be the right or wronge / beare them in hande that they are to be feared yet. Preach me and myne auctorite / and how terreble a thinge my curse is / and how blacke it maketh their soules. On the holydayes which were ordened to preach Gods worde / sett vppe longe ceremonies / longe matenses / longe masses and longe even songes / and all in All in latin…laten that they vnderstonde not / and Rolle themrowle them in darkenes / that ye maye lede thē who ther ye woll. And lest soch thinges shulde be to tediouse / Singesynge some / saye some pype some / ringe y^e belles ād Kyngelulle thē & rocke thē a slepe.Lolle them And yet Paul (j. Corint. xiiij. forbiddeth to speake in the chirch or congregaciō save in y^e tonge y^t all vnderstōde.Rocke them a stepe. For y^e laye mā therby is not edefied or taught. How shall y^e laye man saye amē (saith Paul) to thy blessinge or thākes gevīge / whē he woteth not what thou saist? He wotteth not wether thou blesse or curse

Pray in latē.What then saith the Pope / what care I for Paul. I commaunde by the vertue of obedience to reade the Gospell in latyne.Saye them a Gospell. Let thē not praye but in latyne no / not there pater noster. Yf any be sycke / goo also and saye them a Gospell and all in latyne: yee to the very corne and frutes of the felde in the procession weke / preach the Gospell in latyne. Make the people beleve / that it shall growe the better. It is verely as good to preach it to swyne as to men / if thou preach it in a tonge they vnderstonde not. How shall I prepare my selfe to Gods commaundmentes? How shall I be thankefull to Christe for his kyndnes? How shall I beleve the trueth and promyses which God hath sworne / whyle thou tellest them vntounto me in a tonge which I vnderstonde not? What then saith my lorde of Caunterbury to a prest that wolde have had the new testamēte gone forth in english.What q…od my lorde of caunterbury What (saith he) woldest thou that the laye people shulde wete what we doo?

No fyghter / which I suppose is signified by the crosse that is borne before the hie prelates and borne before them in procession.Crosse. Is that also not a false signe? What realme can be in Turmoylarspeace for soch turmoylars? What so lytle a paresh is it / but they will picke one quarell or a nother with them other / for some syrples / cresome or mortuary / other p. lxxvfor one tryfle or other / and cyte them to the arches? Trayters they are to all creatures and have a secret conspiracion betwene thē selves. One craft they have / to make many kyngdomes and small / and to norysh olde tytles or quarells that they maye ever move thē to warre at their pleasure.The craft of the prelates. And if moch landes by any chaunce / fall to one mā / ever to cast … bone in the waye / that he shall never be able to obteyne it / as we now se in the Emperoure. Why? For as longe as the kinges be small / yf God wolde open the eyes of any to set a reformacion in his realme / thē shulde the Pope Interdite.interdicte his londe / and sende in other princes to conquere it.

Not geven to fylthy lucre / but abhorringe covetousnes. And as Peter saith .j. Petri. v. Takynge the oversight of them / not as though ye were compelled there vntounto: but willingly. Not for desyre of fylthy lucre but of a good mynde: not as though ye were lordes over the paryshes (over the paryshes quoth he) O Peter Peter thou wast to longe a fysher / thou wast never brought vppe at the arches / nether wast master of the Rolles / ner yet chaunceler of Englonde.Peter went never to scole at the arches. They are not content to raygne over kynge and Emperoure & the hole erth: but calēge auctorite also in hevē & in hel. It is not ynough for them to raygne over all that are quycke / but have created them a purgatory / to raygne also over the deed and to have one kyngdome moare then God him selfe hath.The Pope hath one kīgdome moare then god him selfe But that ye be an ensāple to y^e flocke (saith peter) And whē y^e chefe sheparde shall appere ye shall receave an incorruptible croune of glorie This abhorrīge of covetousnes is signified as I suppose by shavinge and Sheringe what it signifiethsheringe of the heare / that they have no superfluite. But is not this also a false signe? ye verely it is to them a remembraunce to shere and shave / to hepe benefice apon benfice / promocion apon promocion / dignite apon dignite / bisshopricke apō bisshopricke / with pluralities / vnions and tot quots.

Tot quo…Fyrst by the auctorite of the Gospell / they that preach the worde of God in every paresh and other necessary ministres / have right to calēge an honest lyvinge lyke vntounto one of the brethern / ād there with ought to be contente Bisshopes that preach not.Bisshopes ād prestes that preach not or that preach oughte save Gods worde / are none of Christes nor of his anoyntinge: but servauntes of the beest whose marke they beare / whose worde they preach whose law they mayntene cleane agēst gods law / and with their false sophistry geve hym greater power then God ever gave to his sonne Christ.

BVt they as vnsaciable beestes not vnmyndfull why they were shaven and shoren / because they will stande at p. lxxvjno mans grace or be in any mans daunger / have gotten in to their awne handes / fyrst the Tithestythe or tenth of all the realme. Then I suppose with in a litle or all to gether the third fote of all the Temporall landestemporall londes.

Marke well how many personages or vicariages ar ther in the Realme which at the lest have a plowe londe a pece. Then note the londes of Bisshopes / Abbotes / Pryors / Nunnes / knyghtes of saynt Iohns / Cathedrall chyrches / Coleges / Chauntryes and Frechapels.Frechapell For though the house fall in decaye and the ordinaunce of the founder belost / yet will not they loose the londes. What cometh once in / maye never moare out. They make a frechapell of it / so that he which enioyeth it shall doo nought therfore. Besydes all this / how many chaplaynes doo gentlemen fynde at their awne cost in their houses. How many synge for soules by testamentes. Then the provinge of Testamentestestamentes / the presinge of goodes the Bisshope of Caunterburyes prerogatyve. Ys that not moch thorow the Realme in a yere? Foure Offeringe dayes Prevey tythes.offeringe dayes and prevey tythes. There is no servaunte / but that he shall paye some what of his wages. None shall receave the body of Christ at Ester / be he never so pore a bedger or never so yoūge a lad or mayd / but they must paye some what for it. Then Mortuariesmortuaryes for forgotē tythes (as they saye) And yet what parsone or vicare is there that will forgete to have a pygyn howse to pecke vp somewhat both at sowīge tyme ād at hervest whē corne is rype. They will forgette no thinge. No man shall dye in their dett / or if any man doo / he shall paye it whē he is deed. They will loose no thīge. Why? It is Gods / it is not thers. It is sent Cudbertes rentes / sent Albās londes / sent Edmonds ryght / sent Peters patrimonye saye they / and none of oures.If ye dye frō home. Item if a mā dye in a nother mans paresh / bysides y^t he must paye at home a mortuary for forgoten tythes / he must there Thou must paye ye… thou passe.paye also the best that he there hath. Wether it be an horse of twenty pound or how good so ever he be / ether a cheyne of golde of an hundret marke or fyve hundret pounde / if it so chaunce. It is moch veryly for so litle payne takynge in cō fession and in ministringe the sacramentes. Then Pery pillagebeedrolles. Item chrisome / chyrchinges / banes / weddinges / offeringe at weddinges / offeringe at buryenges / offeringe to images / offeringe of waxe & lyghtes which come to their vauntage / besydes the supersticious wast of waxe in torches and tapers thorow out the londe. Then brotherhedes and perdoners. What gete they p. lxxvijalso by confessions?Confession Yee and many enioyne penaunce to geve a certayne for to have so many masses saide / and desire to provide a chappellayne them selves. Soul masses diriges / monethmyndes / yeres myndes / al soul daye and trētals. The mother chyrch ād y^e hie altare must have some what in e…ery testamēte. Offerīges at prestes fyrst masses.Firste masse. Professinges Coniu…atiōs Itē no mā is professed / of what so ever religiō it be / but he must bringe sōme what. The halowinge or rather coniuringe of chirches / chapels / altares / superaltares / chalice vestimentes and belles. Then boke / bell / candelsticke / organes / chalice / vestimentes copes / altare clothes / syrpleses: towels basens / euars / shepe / senser and all maner ornamentes must be founde them frely / they will not geve a myte there vntounto.Person Uicare Parish prest Freres Last of all what swarmes of bedginge freres are there The person shereth the vicare shaveth / the perish prest polleth / the frere scrapeth and the perdoner pareth we lacke but a bocher to pole of the skynne.

What gete they in their Spirituall lawspirituall law (as they call it) in a yere / at the arches ād in every dioses? what gete the Commissaries and officials with their somners and apparetars by bawdery in a yere?A prepre cō mod…e of confession. Shall ye not fynde curates ynowe which to flatter the cō messaries and officials with all that they maye goo quite them selves shall open vntounto them the cōfessiōs of the richest of theyr pareshes. Whom they cite prively and laye to their charges secretly. Yf they desyre to knowe their accusers / naye saye they / the mater is knowen well ynough and to moare then ye are ware of. Laye youre hand one the bokeCome laye youre hā de on the boke / yf ye forswere your selfe / we shall bringe proves / we will handle you / we will make an ensāple of you. Oh hoe terreble are they? Come and swere (saye they) that ye wilbe obediēte vntounto oure iniunctiōs And by that craft wringe they their purses and make them droppe as longe as there is a peny in them. In thre or foure yeres shall they in those offices gete ynough to paye for a bisshopes bulles. What other thinge are these in a realme save horsleches and evē very magottes cancres and caterpillers / which devoure no moare but all that is grene and those wolves which Paul prophesied shuld come ād shuld not spare the flocke Actes. xx. chapter. And which Christ said shuld come in lambes skynnes and bade vsus beware of them and iudge thē bi their workes.

No mā maye avenge save the kynge ād he is bounde by his office.THough as I before have sufficiently proved / a christen man must sofre all thinge / be it never so greate vnright / as longe as it is not agenst Gods commaundmē te / nether is it lawfull for him to cast any burthen of his backe by his awne auctorite p. lxxviijtyll God pull it of which layd it on for oure deservinges / yet ought the kynges every where to defende their realmes from soch oppression / if they were christen / which is selden sene and is an hard thinge verely / though not impossible. For alas they beKinges are in captivite. captyves or ever they be kynges / yee all most yer they be borne. No man maye be sofered aboute them but flatterers and soch as are fyrst sworne true vntounto oure most holye fathers the Bisshopes that is to saye false to God and man.

Yf any of the nobles of the realme be true to the kynge ād so bolde that he dare councell him that which shulde be to his honoure and for the wealth of the realme. They will wayte a season for him (as men saye) They will provide a goostly father for him. God bringe their wekednes to lighte There is no mischeve where of they are not the rote / ner bloud shedde / but thorow their cause other by there counsell or in that they preach not true obedience and teach not the people to feare God. Yf any faythfull servaunte be in all the courte / he shall have twē ty spies waytinge vponupon him / he shalbe cast oute of the courte / or (as the sayenge is) cō veyed to Callyce / and made a captayne / or an ambassadoure / he shalbe kepte farre ynough from the kynges presens.The dutie of kynges.

The kynges ought Isaye to remēbre y^t they are in Gods stede and ordened of God not for them selves / but for the welth of their subiectes. Let them remēbre that their subiectes are their brethern / their flesh and bloude / membres of their awne body and even their awn selves in Christe. Therfore ought they to pytie them and to ryd thē from soch wyly tyrany which encreaseth moare & moare dayly. And though that the kynges by the falshed of the Bisshopes and Abbottes be sworne to defēde soch lyberties: yet ought they not to kepe their Unlawfull othes ought to be broken ād maye with out dispensationothes / but to breake them. For as moch as they are vnryght and clene agenst Gods ordinaunce / & even but cruell oppression / contrary vntounto brotherly love and charyte. Unlawfull othes ought to be broken ād maye with out dispensationMoare over the spirituall officer ought to punesh no synne / but and yf any synne breake out the kynge is ordened to punesh it and they not: but to preach and exorte them to feare God and that they synne not.

And let the kynges put doune some of their tyrany / and turne some vntounto a comenwelth. Yf the tenth parte of soch tyrany were geven the kynge yerely and leyd vppe in the shyre tounes agenst the realme had neade / what wold it growe to in certen yeres? Moare over one kynge / one lawe / is Gods ordinaūce in every realme. The kynge only oughte to punesh synne I meane that ys brokē forth the hert must remayne to God.Therfore ought not the kynge / to suffer them to have a severell lawe by them selves and to drawe his p. lxxixsubeictes thither. Hit is not mete / will they saye that a The sprite perteyneth vntounto the shaven only.spirituall man shulde be iudged of a worldly or a temporall mā.The sprite perteyneth vntounto the shaven only.O abhomination: se how they divide and separate them selves? Yf the laye man be of y^e worlde / so is he not of God. Yf he beleve in Christe / then is he a membre of Christe / Christes brother / Christes flesh / Christes bloude / Christes spouse / coheyre with Christe and hath his sprite in erneste and is also spirituall. Yf they wolde robbe vsus of the sprite of God / why shuld they feare to robbe vsus of worldly goodes? Be cause thou art put in office to preach Gods worde / art thou therfore no moare one of thy brethern? ys the Mayre of Lōdon no moare one of the Cite / because he is the chefe officer? Ys the kynge no moare of the realme because he is heed there of. The kinges law is Gods lawe.The kynge is in the rowme of God / ād his lawe is Gods lawe and no thinge but the lawe of nature and naturall equite which God graved in the hertes of men. Yet Antichriste is to good to be iudged by the lawe of God he must have a newe of his awne makinge It were mete verely that they wente to no lawe at all. No moare neaded they / yf the wolde studie to preach Gods worde truely and be content with sufficient and to be lyke one of their brethern.

Yf any question arose aboute the fath or of the scripture / that let them iudge by the manyfest and open scriptures / not excludinge the laye men.How mē oughte to iudge questions of the scripture For there are many founde amonge the laye men which are as wise as the officers. Or else when the officer dyeth / how coude we put a nother in the rowme? Wilt thou so teach .xx.xxx.xl. or fyfty yeres / that no man shall have knowlege or iudgement in Gods worde save thou only? We come ofte to scole. But are never taughte.Is it not a shame that we Christen come so oft to church in vayne / when he of foure score yeres old knoweth no moare then he that was borne yesterdaye.

Kīges oughte to se what they doo and not to beleve the bisshopes namely seinge their lyvī ge is so sore suspecteMoare over when the spirituall officers have excommunicate any mā or have condemned any opinion for heresy: Let not the kynge nor temperall officers punesh and sley by and by at their commaundment. But let them loke on Gods worde / and compare their iudgement vntounto the scripture and se whether it be right or no / and not beleve them at the fyrst choppe / what so ever they saye namely in thinges that parteyne vntounto their awne auctorites and power. For no man is a right iudge in his awne cause. It perteyneth vntounto all men to know the scripturesWhy doeth christe commaunde the scripture to be preached vntounto all creatures / but that it perteyneth vntounto all men to knowe them? Christe referreth him selfe vntounto the scriptures Iohn p. lxxxv. And in the .xj. Chapter of Mathew / vntounto the question of Iohn Baptistes disciples he answered. The blynde se / the lepers are clēsed / the deed aryse agayne &c. meanynge that if I doo the workes which are prophesied that Christe shulde doo whē he cometh / why dowte ye whether I be he or no as who shuld saye / axe the scripture whether I be Christ or no and not my selfe. How happeneth it then that oure prelates will not come to the light also that we maye se whether their workes be wrought in God or no? Why feare they to lett the laye men se what they doo? Why make they all their examinacions in darkenes?☜ Why examine they not their causes of heresye openly / as the laye men doo their fellons and mortherars? Wherfore did Christ and his Apostles also warne vsus so diligently of Antychriste and of false Prophetes that shulde come? Because that we shulde slomber or slepe carelesse … or rather that we shulde loke in the light of the scripture with all diligens to spie them when they came / and not to sofre oure selves to be disceaved ād led out of the waye? Iohn biddeth iudge the spirites. Whereby shall we iudge them but by the scripture? How shallt thou know / whether the Prophet be true or false or whether he speake gods worde or of his awne heed yf thou wilt not se the scriptures? Why said David in the seconde psalme be lerned ye that iudge the erth lest the lorde be angry with you ād ye pereshe frō the righte waye?Be lerned ye that iudge the erth:

A terrible warninge verely: ye and loke on the stories well ād thou shalt fynde verey few kynges sens the begynninge of the worlde that have not pereshed frō the righte waye / ād that because they wolde not be lerned.

The Emperoure and kynges are no thinge now a dayes but even hangmen vntounto the Pope ād Bisshopes / to kyll whosoever they condemne / with out any moare a doo / as Pilate was vntounto the scribes and pharises and the hie Bisshopes / to hange Christe.The kynges are become Antichristes hangemen. For as those prelates answered Pilate (whē he axed what he had done) yf he were not an evyll doer we wolde not have brought hym vntounto the. As who shuld saye / we ar to holy to doo any thinge amisse / thou mayst beleve vsus well ynough: ye and his bloude on oure heedes / sayed they / kyll hī hardly / we will beare the charge / oure soules for thine: we have also a lawe by which he ought to dye / for he calleth him selfe Gods sone. Even so saye oure prelates / he ought to dye by oure lawes / he speaketh agenst the church. And your grace is sworne to defende the lyberties and ordinaunces of the church and to mayntene oure most holy fathers auctorite p. lxxxj… soules for youres / ye shall doo a meritorious deade therin. Never thelesse as Pilate escaped not the iudgemēte of God / even so is it to be feared lest oure temperall powers shall not. Wherfore Be lerned ye that iudge the ….be lerned ye y^e iudge the erth lest y^e lorde be angry with you ād ye peresh frō the ryghte waye.

Who slew y^e prophetes? Who slew Christe? Who slew his Apostles?Who slew the prophe…e… Who the marters and all the ryghteous that ever were slayen? The kynges and the temperall swerde at the requeste of the false prophetes. They deserved soch morther to doo and to have their parte with the ypocrites because they wolde not be lerned and se the trouth them selves. Why were the prophetes slayne.Wherfore sofered the prophetes? because they rebuked the ypocrites which begyled the worlde and namely prynces ād rulers and taught them to put their trust in thinges of vanite ād not in Gods wordeWhat deades of mercy teach the ypocrites. And taught them to doo soch deades of mercy as were profitable vntounto no man but vntounto the false prophetes them selves only / makynge marchaundyse of Gods worde. Why slew they christ.wherfore slew they Christe? even for rebukynge the ypocrytes: because he said / wo be to you scribes and pharises ypocrites / for ye shut vp the kyngdome of heven before mē Math. xxiij. y^t is / as it is writen Luke. xj. ye have taken awaye the The keyes.keye of knowleage. The lawe of God which is y^e keye where with men bynde / and the promyses which are the keyes where with men lowse have oure ypocrites also taken awaye. They will sofre no man to know Gods worde but burne it and make heresie of it: yee and because the people begynne to smell their falshed they make it Christe y… a trayter and a breaker of the kynges peace.treason to the kynge and breakynge of the kīges peace to have so moch as their pater noster in englisshe. And in stede of Gods lawe / they bynde with ther awne lawe.How the ypocrites bid and lowse. And in stede of Gods promises the lowse and iustifie with pardones & ceremonies which they thēselves have imagined for their awne profit.☞ They preach it were better for y^e to eate flesh on good freday thē to hate thy neyboure: but let any mā eate flesh but on a setterday or breake any other tradiciō of theirs / and he shalbe bounde & not lowsed / tyll he have payd y^e vtter most ferthinge / other with shame most vyle or deeth most cruell / but hate thy neyboure as moch as thou wilt & thou shalt have no rebuke of thē / yee robbe hī / morther hī / & then come to thē & welcome. They have a sanctuary for y^e / to save y^e / yee ād a ne…verse / if thou cāst but rede a litle latēli though it be never so soryly / so y^t thou be ready to receave y^e beestes marke. They care for no vnderstōdī ge / it is ynough / yf thou canst rowle vpp a payre of matēses or an evēsonge & mūmell a few ceremonies. And because they be rebuked p. lxxxij/ this they rage.Be lerned ye that iudge the erth. Be lerned therfore ye that iudge y^e worlde lest God be angry with you & ye peresh frō the ryght waye.

Wo be to you scribes & phareses ypocrites / saith Christ / Math. xxiij. for ye For rebukynge this was christe slayne And for the same cause are we persecuted.devoure wedowes howses vnderunder a color of longe prayar. Oure ypocrites robbe not the wedowes only: but knyght / squyer / lorde duke kynge & Emperoure and even y^e whole worlde vnderunder the same coloure: teachinge the people to trust in their prayars and not in Christ for whose sake God hath forgeven all y^e synne of the whole worlde / vntounto as many as repente & beleve. They be not a lit…e afrayd of purgatory that make pe… petuitiesThey feare thē with purgatory and promyse to praye perpetually / lest the londes shulde ever retourne home agayne vntounto the right heyres. What hast thou bought with robbinge thy heyres or with gevinge the ypocrites that which thou robest of other men? Perpetuall prayar? Yee perpetuall payne. For they appoynte the no tyme of deliveraunce / their prayars are so myghtie. The Pope for money can empty purgatory when he will It is verely purgatory. Why it is called purgatory.For it purgeth ād maketh clene riddaūce: yee it is hell. For it devoureth all thīges. His fatherhode sendeth thē to hevē with Scala celiscala celi: y^t is / with a ladder / to scale y^e walles.The dore is stopte: vp ye must clyme and scale the walles For by the dore christ / will they not let thē come in. That do…re have they stopped vp / and that by cause ye shulde bye laders of them.Some are prayed for ād prayed to also. For some they praye dayly which gave them perpetuites and yet make sayntes of them receavinge offeringes in their names and teachinge other to praye to them.The craft that helpeth other helpeth not his awne master None of them also which taketh vponupon them to save other with their prayars trusteth to be saved theirby them selfes / but hyre other to praye for thē.

Moyses taketh recorde of God that he toke not of any of the people so moch as an asse / nether vexed any of them.Prayar was not solde in the olde tyme Numeri. xvj Samuel in the first boke of kynges the .xij. chapter / axed all Israel whether he had takē any mans …xe or asse or had vexed any man or had taken any gyft or rewarde of any man. And all the people testified naye / yet thes two both taught the people and also prayed for them as moch as oure prelates doo. Peter. j. Petri. v. exhortes the elders to take the oversight of Christes flocke not for fylthy lucre: but of a goodwill even for l… ve. Paul Act. xx. taketh the prestes or elders to recorde / that he had taught repētaūce and fayth and all the councell of God. And yet had desyred no mans gold / silver / or vesture: but feed him selfe with the laboure of his handes. And yet thes two taught and prayed for the people as moch as oure prelates doo / with whom it goeth after the cōmune sayenge / no peny no Pater noster. Which prelates yet as y^e teach not but bea… p. lxxxiijōly so wott they not what prayer meaneth.

Moareover the lawe of love which Christe left amonge vsus / is to geve and not to receave. What prayar is it then that thus robbeth all the world contrary to that great cō maundmente which is the ende of all commaundmentes and in which all other are conteyned.Their prayar breaketh the greate cō maundmēt of God. It is tyme that hyt were tyed vp therefore. Yf men shulde contynue to bye prayer foure or fyve hundred yeres moo / as they have done / there wold not be a foote of grounde in Christēdome nether any worldly thinge which they that wilbe called spirituall only shulde not possesse. And thus all shulde be called spirituall.

Wo be to you lawyers / for ye lade men with burdēs which they are not able to beare / and ye youre selves …owch not the packes with one of youre fyngers saith Christ Luke. xj. Oure The burdēs of oure spirituall lawyerslawyers verely have ladē vsus a thousande tymes moare. What spirituall kynred have they made in baptī / to let matrimonie / besydes that they have added certen degrees vntounto the law naturall for the same purpose. What an vnbearable burthen of chastite do they violently thrust on other mens backes / and how easely beare they it them selves? How sore a burdē? How cruell an hangman? How grevous a turmēte? yee and how paynefull an hell is this eare cōfession vntounto mēs cōsciences?Confessiō turmente…h the cōscience: robbeth the pur… of money and the soule of faith For y^e people are brought in belefe / y^t without that they cā not be saved. In so moch y^t some faste certeyne dayes in the yere & praye certē supersticious prayers all their lyves lōge / y^t they maye not dye without confessiō. In perel of deeth / if the prest be not by / the shippemen shrive them selves vntounto the mast. Yf any be present / they runne then every mā in to his care but to Gods promyse fle they not: for they know them not. Yf any man have a deethes wounde / he cryeth immediatly for a prest. Yf a man dye without shrift many take it for a signe of damnacion. Many be reason of that false belefe dye in desperacion. Many for shame kepe backe of their confession xx.xxx. yeres and thinke all the while that they be damned. I knew a pore womā with childe which longed / and beinge overcomē of her passiō / eate flesh on a fredaye / which thinge she durst not confesse in the space of xviij. yeres / ād thought all that while that she had byn damned / ād yet synned she not at all. Is not this a sore burdē that so weyeth downe the soule vntounto he botome of hell? what shuld I saye? A greate boke were not sufficiente to reherse the snares which they have leyed to robbe men both of their goodes and also of the trust which they shulde have in Gods worde.

The scribes and pharises doo all their workes to be sene of men. They sett abrode their philateries ād make longe borders on p. lxxxiiijtheir garmētes and love to sitt vppermost a… festes and to have the chefe seates in the synagoges / that is in the cōgregacions or councels / and to be called raby / that is to saye masters saith Christ Math. xxiij. Beholde the deades of oure spiritualte / and how many thousande fascions are amōge thē to be knowē by? Which as none is lyke a nother so loveth none a nother. For every one of thē supposeth that all other poll to fast ād make to many captives: yet to resist Christe / are they al agreed lest they shuld be all compeld to deliver vp there prisoners to him Bages or bables to be knowen by.Beholde the mōstres how they are disgised / with miters / croses ād hattes / with crosses / pillers / & pollaxes / & with thre crownes. What names Glorious nameshave they? my lorde prior / my lorde abbot / my lorde Bisshope / my lorde Archbisshope / Cardinal & legate: yf it please youre fatherhode / yf it please your lordschip / yf it please your grace / if it like your holynes ād innumerable soch like How are they estemed·Beholde how they are estemed / ād how hie they be crept vp above all / not in to worldly seates only: but in to the seate of God the hertes of mē / where they sitt above God hī selfe. For both they & what so ever they make of their awne heedes is moare feared ād dred / thē God & his cōmaundmētes. In thē and their deservinges put we moare trust thē in Christ and his merites. To their promyses gyve we moare fayth / thē to the promises which God hath sworne in Christes bloud.

The ypocrites saye vntounto the kynges and lordes / these heretykes wolde have vsus downe first / and then you / to make all comune. Kynges are doune: they cā not goo lowerNaye ye ypocrites and right heretikes approved by open scripture / the kynges and lordes are downe allready / and that so lowe that they can not goo lower. Ye treade them vnderunder your fete and leade them captive and have made them youre bonde servauntes to wayte on your fylthy lustes and to avenge your malice on every man contrary vntounto the right of Gods worde. Ye have not only robbed them of there land / auctorite / honoure and due obedience which ye owe vntounto them / but also of there wittes / so that they are not with out vnderstondinge in Gods word only but even in worldly maters that pertayne vntounto their offices / they are moare then childern. Ye bere thē in hād what ye will / and have broughte them even in case like vntounto thē which whē they daunce naked in nettes / beleve they are invisible. We wolde have thē vpp agayne & restored vntounto the rowme and auctorite which God hath geven thē / & where of ye have robbed thē. And your inwarde falshed we do but vtter only with y^e light of Gods worde / that your ypocrisy myght be sene. Be lerned therfore ye y^t iudge y^e worlde lest God be angry p. lxxxvwith yow & ye paresh frō y^e right waye.

Wo be to you scribes and phareses ypocrites. For ye make clene the vtter syde of the cuppe and of the platter / but within they are full of brybry and excesse saith Christ. Math. xxiij. Oure ypocrites lyve by thefte.Ys that which oure ypocrites eate and drinke and all their riotous excesse any other thinge save robbery and that which they have falsly goten with their lyinge doctrine? Be lerned therfore ye that iudge the worlde and compell them to make restitucion agayne.

Ye blinde gydes saith Christe / ye strayne out a gnat ād swalow a camell. Math xxiij. doo not oure blīde gydes also stōble at a straw & lepe over a blocke / makīge narow Consciences that are so narow aboute traditiōs have wide mouthes aboute Gods commaundmentes.consciences at trifyls / and at maters of weght none at all? Yf any of thē happen to swalow his spitall or any of the water where with he wesheth his mouth / yer he goo to masse / or towch the sacramente with his nose or if the asse forgett to breath on him or happen to handle it with ony of his fyngers which are not anoynted / or saye Alleluia in stede of Laus tibi domine / or Ite missa est in stede of Benedicamus domino / or poure to moch wine in the chalice / or reade the Gospell without light / or make not his crosses a right / how trembleth he? how feareth he? what an horryble synne is committed? I cry God mercy / saith he / and you my gostly fader. But to hold an whore or a nother mans wife / to bye a benefice / to sett one Realme at variaunce with a nother and to cause .xx. thousande men to die on a daye ys but a trifle and a pastime with them.

As the Iewes are the childern of Abraham▪ so are the bisshopes the successours of the apostles:The Iewes bostet them selves of Abraham. And Christe said vntounto them. Iohn. viij Yf ye were Abrahams childern ye wolde doo the deades of Abraham. Oure ypocrites bost them selves of the auctorite of Peter and of Paul and the other Apostles / cleane contrary vntounto the deades and doctrine of Peter / Paul and of all the other Apostles. Which both obeyed all worldly auctorite & power vsurpinge none to thē selves / and taught all other to feare the kinges and rulers and to obeye them in all thinges not contrary to the commaundement of God / and not to resiste them / though they toke awaye lyfe and goodes wrongefully / but paciently to abyde Gods vengeaunce. This did oure spritualte never yet / ner taught it. The spiritualte have taughte to feare there traditions:They taught not to feare God in his commaundmentes / but to feare them in their tradicions. In so moch that the evyll people which feare not to resiste a good kynge and to ryse agenst him / dare not laye hondes on one of them / nether for defylinge of wyfe doughter or very mother They wynne some what all wayesWhen all men loose lyfe and londes / they remayne all wayes sure and in safty / ād ever wynne p. lxxxvjsome what. For who so ever conquereth other mens londes vnrightfully ever gevis them parte with them. To them is all thinge lawfull * In all councels and perlamentes are they the chefe. Without them maye no kynge be crouned / nether vntill he be sworne to their lyberties. All secretes knowe they / even the very thoughtes of mennes hertes. By them all thinges are mynistred. No kynge nor Realme may thorow their falshed lyve in peace. To beleve they teach / not in Christe but in them and their disgised ypocrisie. And of them compell they all men to by redempciō and forgevenes of synnes. The peoples synne they cate and ther of waxe fatte. The wekeder the people are / the moare prosperous is their comune wealth. Yf kynges and greate men doo amisse they must bylde abbayes and colleges / meane men bylde chauntres pore fynde trentals ād broderhedes and bedgynge freres. Their awne heyres doo men disheret to endote them. All kynges are compelled to submitte them selves to them Reade the …ory of kynge Iohn / and of other kynges. They will have their causes avenged / though hoole Realmes shulde therfore parish. Take from them their desgisinge / so are they not spirituall. Compare that they have taught vsus vntounto the scripture / so are we without fayth.

Christ saith Iohn. v. chap. how can ye beleve which receave glorie one of a nother.They that seke honoure have no faith nether can they doo Gods message. Yf they that seke to be gloriouse / can have no fayth then are oure prelates faythlesse verely. And Iohn. vij. he saith / he that speaketh of him selfe / seketh his awne glorie. Yf to seke glorie and honoure be a sure token / that a mā speaketh of his awne selfe ād doeth his awne message and not his masters: then is the doctrine of oure prelates of them selfe & not of God. Be lerned therfore ye that iudge the erth lest God be angry with you and ye peresh from the right waye.

Be lernedBe lerned left the ypocrites bringe the wrath of God apon youre heedes and compell you to shede innocente bloude: as they have compelled youre predicessours to sley the prophetes / to kyll Christe and his Apostles and all the righteous that sens were slayne Gods word oughte all mē to knowGods worde pertayneth vntounto all mē as it perteyneth vntounto all servauntes to knowe their masters will and pleasure / and to all subiectes to knowe the lawes of their prynce Let not the ypocrites doo all thinge They doo all secretlysecretly. What reason is it that myne enimy shulde put me in prison at his pleasure and there diet me and handyll me as he lusteth / & iudge me him selfe and that secretly / and condē ne me by a lawe of his awne makynge / and then deliver me to Pilate to morther me? Let Gods worde trye every mans doctrine p. lxxxvijand whome so ever gods worde proveth vnclene let hī be takē for a leper Gods worde ought to iudge The ryghte way to vnderstōd the scripture.One scripture will helpe to declare a nother. And the circū staunces / that is to saye / the places that goo before and after / will geve light vntounto the mydill texte. And the open and manyfest scriptures will ever improve the false and wronge exposition of the darker sentēces. Let the temporall power to whom God hath gevē the swerde to take vengeaunce / loke or ever that they lepe / and se what they doo. Let the causes be disputed before them / and let him that is accused have rowme to answere for him selfe. The kinges have a iudge before whom my soule for yours helpeth notThe powers to whom God hath cōmitted the swerde shall geve a countes for every droppe of bloud that is shed on the erth. Then shall their ignoraunce not excuse them nor the sayenge of the ypocrites helpe them / my soule for yours / youre grace shall doo a meretorious deade / your grace ought not to heare them it is an olde heresie condē ned by the church▪ The kynge ought to loke in the scripture and se whether it were truly condemned or no / Yf he will punesh it. Yf the kinge or his officer for hī / will flee me so ought y^e kinge or his officer to iudge me. The kīge can not / but vntounto his damnation / lend his swerd to kyll whom he iudgeth not by his awne lawes. Let hī that is accused stōd on the one syde and the accusar on the other syde and let the kynges iudge syt and iudge the cause / yf the kynge will kyll and not be a murtherar before God.

Here of maye ye se / not only that oure persecuciō ys for the same cause that Christes was and that we saye no thinge that Christe said not / Preach what thou wilt but rebuke not ypocrisy.but also that all persecucion ys only for rebukynge of ypocresy / that ys to saye / of mās ryghteousnes and of holy deades which man hath imagined to please God ād to be saved by / with out Gods worde ād besyde the testamente that God hath made in Christe. Yf Christe had not rebuked the phareses because they taught the people beleve in their tradicions and holynes and in offeringes that came to their vauntage / and that they taught the wydowes and them that had their frendes deed to beleve in their prayers and that thorow their prayers the deed shulde be saved / and thorow that meanes robbed them both of their goodes and also of the testamente and promyses that God had made / to all that repented / in Christ to come / he mighte have be vncrucified vntounto this daye.

Yf saynte Paul also had not preached agenst circumcision / that it iustified not and that vowes / offeringes and cerimonies iustified not / and that righteousnes and forgevenes of synnes came not by any deservinge of our deades p. lxxxxiijbut by fayth or belevinge the promyses of God and by the deservinge and merites of Christ only / he myghte have lyved vntounto this houre. Lyke wise yf we preached but agenst pryde covetousnes / lechery / extorcion / vsary / symony and agēst the evell lyvinge both of the spiritualte as well as of the temporalte and agēst inclosynges / of parkes / reysinge of rēte & fynes / and of the caryēge out of wolle out of the realme / we myghte endure longe ynowe. But twich the scabbe of ypocresye or popeholynes and goo aboute to vtter their false doctrine where with they reygne as Gods in the herte and consciences of men and robbe them / not of Londes goodes and auctoryte only / but also of the testamente of God and salvation that is in Christe: then helpeth the nether Gods worde / ner yet yf thou diddest miracles / but that thou art / not an heritike only and hast the devell with in the / but also a breaker of the kynges peace and a traytar. But let vsus retourne vntounto oure lyenge sygnes agayne.

WHat signifieth that the prelates are so bloudie and clothed in redd?The prelates are clothed in red. that they be ready every houre to sofre▪ martirdome for the testimonie of Gods worde. Is that also not a false signe? When no man dare for them ones open his moth to axe a question of Gods worde because they are ready to burne him.

Pollaxes.What signifie the pollaxes that are borne before hye legates a latere? What so ever false sygne they make of them I care not: but of this I am sure / that as the olde ypocrites when they had slayne Christe / sette pollaxes to kepe him in his sepulcre y^t he shuld not ryse agayne: even so have oure ypocrites buried the testamente that God made vntounto vsus in Christes bloude / and to kepe it doune / that it ryse not agayne / ys all their study? where of these pollaxes are the very sygne.

Is not that shepardes hoke the Bisshopes crose a false signe? Is not that white rochett that the Bisshopes and chanons were so lyke a Nunne and so effeminatly / a false signe? What other thinges are their sandals / gloves / myters and all the whole pō pe of their disgisinge / then false signes in which Paul prophesied that they shuld come? And as Christe warned vsus to be ware of wolves in lambes skynnes and bade vsus loke rather vntounto their frutes Iudge the … by his frute and not by his lev…and deades than to wonder at their disgisinges. R…nne thorout all oure holy religions / and thou shalt fynde thē like wise all clothed ī falshed