Whole Works, Prologue
¶ A Prologe whereby a man may the better perceaue the occaſion and whole cauſe of this Booke.
THere was a brother Symon Fiſhe the maker of the booke of the Supplication of Beggers.of ours named Simon Fiſhe (whiche nowe I truſt reſteth in Gods handes) whoſe eyes God had opened, not onelyonly to eſpy the wily walkyng of hipocrites and ruyne of the realme whiche through their meanes was nye at hand: but alſo to marke and ponder the peril of mēs ſoules, and how that the ignoraunt people by their ſeduction was fallen into that franticke imagination that they more feared the Pope and hys Decrees whiche are but vanitie, then God him ſelfe and his law whiche are moſt righteous and eternall. This man therfore of a feruent and burnyng zeale that hee bare to the wealth of the comminaltie brake out and touched theſe hypocrites in a litle treatiſe whiche hee called The Supplication of Beggers, willyng Our riches is to be beſtowed on the poore.that wee ſhoulde geue the aboundaunce of our richeſſe vntounto the poore to whom it is due by the law of God: and that we ſhould no lenger ſuffer our ſelues to bee diſpoyled and robbed of a ſight of ſturdy lubbars whiche vnderunder a falſe cloke of vertue and prayer deceiue the poore of their liuyng and both the poore and the riche of their ſoules health, if credence be geuen vntounto them.
And where theſe wilye Foxes Either there is no Purgatory, els the Pope is mercyleſſe.would hauehave pretēded the cloke of Purgatory affirmyng that it were due vntounto them becauſe they praye for their frendes ſoules that they might come to reſt, he aunſwered vntounto that poynt preuentyng theyr obiection, and proued that either there could be no ſuch Purgatory, or els that the Pope were a mercyleſſe tyraunt which (as he ſaith him ſelfe may deliuer them from thēce and will not except hee hauehave money. At this point began M. More Whereat M. More firſt began to fume agaynſt ſuch as denye Purgatoryto fume and tooke vponupon hym ſelfe to bee Proctour for Purgatory (I will not ſay that he was hyred ther to of our ſpiritualtie although many men dare ſweare it (and to confirme his purpoſe hee wreſted ſore the Scriptures, and triumpheth alſo that the very miſcreantes and Idolaters beleue that there is a Purgatory. He addeth thereto (to ſtabliſh his matter with all) that there is no man whiche beleueth that there is a God, and that the ſoule of man is immortall, but hee muſt nedes graunt that there is a Purgatory. There tooke Raſtell his hold, Raſtell foloweth M. More.whiche is a Printer dwellyng at Paules gate in London and of Maſter Mores alliaunce, which alſo coueteth to counterfayte his kinſmā, although the beames of his braines be nothyng ſo radiaunt nor his cō ueyaunce ſo commendable in the eyes of the wiſe. Notwithſtandyng this Raſtell hath enterpriſed to dilate this matter, and hath diuided it into three Dialoges, imaginyng that two men diſpute this matter by natural reaſon and Philoſophie, ſecludyng Chriſt and all Scripture. The one of them (that ſhould diſpute The names of the diſputers in the matter of Purgatorythis matter) he calleth Gingemen, & fayneth hym to be a Turke and of Mahometes law. The ſecond he nameth Comingo an Almany & of Chriſtes fayth. And he maketh the Turke to teach the Chriſten mā what he ſhould beleue.
The firſt Dialoge goeth about The ſōme and contentes of Raſtels iij. Dialoguesto proue by reaſon that there is a God, which is mercyfull and righteous. The ſecond entendeth to proue, that the ſoule of a man is immortall. Agaynſt theſe two Dialogues I will not diſpute, partly becauſe this treatiſe ſhould not be ouer long and tedious, and partly becauſe that thoſe twoo poyntes which he there laboureth to proue are ſuch as no Chriſten man will deny (although many of his probations are ſo ſlender, that they may well be improued) but as concerning his thyrd Dialogue wherin he would proue Purgatory, it is wholly iniurious vntounto the bloude of Chriſte and the deſtruction of all Chriſten fayth, if men were ſo mad as to beleue his vayne perſuaſions. And therfore I thought expedient to cōpare this third Dialoge with all the deceitfull reaſons vntounto the true light and pure worde of God that at the leaſt Raſtell hym ſelfe might perceiue his owne blind ignoraunce and returne agayne into the right way. And if any man hauehave bene deceiued through his booke (as I truſt there are but few except they bee very ignoraunt) that they may repent with hym and glorifie GOD for his ineſtimable mercy which hath ſent his light into this world to diſcloſe and expell theyr darke and blynd ignorauncy, that they may ſee his wayes and walke in them prayſing the Lord eternally.
Amen.