power And .xxiiii. qÌ„ i. loquitur It is sayd that the other Appostles were as Peter was / endewed in one lyke felowship both of honoure and power And syth the power of all the appostles by wytnesse of the lawe / that is called the popes owne law is lyke why shuld than they that pretende to be the successours of Peter / vsurpe that power only to them selues And yet that vsurpacion appereth the more plainly by cause that in the .xviii. chapiter of Mat. our lorde sayd to his discyples generally the same wordes before rehersed / that is to saye what soeuer ye lose vpon erth shal be losed in heuen it must of necessyte be taken / that by that worde discyples / he ment either his apostels which be ofte called in the gospell discyples or els that he ment therby the .lxxii. discyples or els that he ment them both And if he ment therby the .xii. apostles only / than euery one of them had yet by those wordes as hygh power as any of the other had And if he ment therby the .lxxii. discyples the .xii. Appostels also than hathe euery preest to this day power to grauÌ„te pardon / bycause he is the successor of the .lxxii. discyples / if they haue so a I thiÌ„ke verily it is no doute but they haue it is greatly to be merueled / why they or bisshops either wold renounce forsake that power that was so playnly gyuen to theÌ„ by Christ Howbeit some men wene that it was done to th eÌ„tent that they by that occasyon other lyke might make one bysshop so hygh iÌ„ auctorite aboue all other bisshops and prestê / that he shuld be able to matche with kiÌ„ges princes if bysshops prestê haue that power than maye kynges princes commaunde theÌ„ to exercise that power for the renounsynge of their predecessoures in that behalfe byndeth them nat And neuerthelesse vpon that renounsynge / hathe folowed this incoÌ„uenyence / that none coulde haue suche pardon or absolucioÌ„ but fro Rome / and that nat frely / but for greate sommes of money / excepte only that to please Cardynalles / Archebysshoppes and bysshoppes It was agreed that Cardynalles and Archebysshoppes / shulde haue power to graunt an hundreth dayes of pardone and bysshoppes .xl. dayes but as for prestes which were and be conuersaunt dayly amonge the people in euery parysshe / and that mighte haue done most good therwith to the peple as I shall soÌ„what touch afterward was no prouysyon for all the study dilygence was to exalte busshops and here it is to be noted howe great dissymulatyon and pride was in this conueyance aswell in the successours of Peter as of the other Appostles in those dayes For if that power had ben onely graunted to Peter and his successours / than might nat he nor his successours haue grauÌ„ted his power / nor no parte therof to any other for it can nat be proued neither by the letter of the texte / ne yet / that it shulde be the intente of Christ / that he wolde that Peter shulde make suche deputyes And he made nat only Cardinals / archbysshops bysshops his deputies to graunte suche pardon as he appoynted them / as is aforesayde but he graunted also many tymes suche deputacyon condycyonally to all prestes seculer reguler / as though they shulde haue their power onely fro him therefore he graunted his pardons many tymes vnder this maner / that who soeuer wolde gyue suche a somme of money to the reperation of S. Peters church at Rome / or to som other intent expressed in the bulles that they shuld amonge other thinges haue auctorite to take an able ghostly father / seculer or reguler / that shulde haue power to assoyle them fro all theire offences / also fro the payne dewe for it / excepte that comenly in such pardons som thynge was alway reserued to Rome / as for a remembrance that meÌ„ shulde nat forget the way thyther And howe coulde the pope grauÌ„te power to suche confessour to assoyle anye man fro payne / if the confessoures had nat had that power before of god And if euery preest haue suche power of god / as I thynke verily he hath as well as any bysshop than it semeth that it were good that they shuld be commaunded to vse that power herafter by way of absolucyon frely / to the ease conforte of the people / they nat to be dryuen to go to any bysshop for it And if that power were so ordred / than all the good dedes that any man shulde do after suche absolucyons by waye of penaunce or other wyse / shulde be auaylable to hym to encrease his ioye in heuen / and nat only for puttyng away of paine for their sinne passed And as it semeth it is very conuenyent that ther shuld be such an absolucyon a pena et culpa in christes church for the lawe of christ is called the lawe of grace mercy And the olde lawe was called the lawe of iustyce and alwaye in the olde lawe / by a full parfyte contricyon equiualent to the actuall synne the sine / also the payne for the siÌ„ne was put away / excepte onely the origynall synne / therefore it shuld seme that the new law shuld be more fauourable thaÌ„ that was / and that is as I suppose by suche absolucyons / wherby all the good dedes that the penytent shal do after the absolucyon shal be turned holly to his rewarde in heuen as is afore sayde And furthermore if it were admytted that the successours of Peter shulde haue only the power to graunt pardon yet neuerthelesse it appereth euydently that they haue iÌ„ tyme past rizt gretly abused their power therin for the wordê that gaue theÌ„ power in that behalf / be the wordê before rehersed Whatsoeuer thou losest vpon erth shal be losed in heuen by which wordes it appereth that the meaniÌ„g of our lorde was / that Peter shuld haue non auctoritie to lose any man by that graunte but such as were bounden to som thiÌ„g before suche losynge As if a man had offeÌ„ded / wer by reasoÌ„ of that offence bouÌ„den to a certayne paine for it / that thaÌ„ PetÌ„ his successors shulde haue power to release it And that if he released that payne in erth / that god wold release it in heuen And I can right well agre that he had that power dyuers other also as I haue sayde before But how farre his successours haue abused that power it maye appere thus They haue graunted their pardons nat onely for releasynge of payne for suche synnes as were done afore the tyme of the graunt But they haue graunted also / that all they that wolde giue suche a somme of money / shulde haue power to chuse them an able ghostly father / that shulde assoyle them as well of the offences done after the pardon graunted as before and also of the
vertues as she had dyd it And they say also that we may nat coÌ„myt oure soules holly to her ne praye her to putte awaye oure synnes for none maye put awaye synne but only god And furthermore I can right well agree / that sayntes of them selfe / ne by their owne power can nat here our complayntes / ne knowe the honoure that we do to them but syth they be alwaye in the syght fruicyon of the Godheed / I suppose that they by the power of god / se them and knowe them / as in moste clerest glasse And that for this cause the deuocyon that the people haue to sayntes / if it be well ordred / souÌ„deth to the honour of god for that suche deuocyon ryseth to them for the graces vertues that our lord of his mere goodnesse gaue to theÌ„ here in this worlde therfore it is very lyke that the sayntes knowe that deuocyon so done to theym to his honoure Also it is written .i. Corin. xiii Charitas nunquam excidit Charyte neuer falleth that is to saye / suche charytie as a maÌ„ hath in this worlde at his deth shall nat decaye but shal be moche more in heuen than it was here thervpon it semeth to folowe / that syth they here iÌ„ this world of their charyte had compassyon of all the people but more specyally of theÌ„ that shewed them their greifes / prayed theÌ„ of their comforte / that they do lykewyse nowe for els it shuld seme that their charyte were nat so great nowe as it was than for no man can haue compassyon of any persone in especyall / but he knowe the thynge that greueth hiÌ„ and wherfore he doth specially coÌ„playne / wherefore as it semeth / it must nedes folow / that the saintes in heuen / through the goodnesse power of god / here knowe suche complayntes as beÌ„ made to them for els their charytie in partyculer necessyties of men shulde nat be so greate as it was whan they were here / and that shulde be agaynste the wordes of saynte Paule / before rehersed And than whether sayntes in heuen therevpon praye for vs or nat Verely I thynke there is no vocall prayer in heuen for if sayntes by a vocall prayer shulde shew all our ê‘tyculer peticyoÌ„s compleyntes to our lorde / praye him to helpe vs with knelynges and besechiÌ„ges / as is vsed here in erth / whan we wolde haue oure peticyons graunted in thys worlde 〈…〉 / so that it be onely for god and to his honoure / and that god for that loue so ordered to his loue / wyll somtyme here our complayntes yet it is no doute but that that complaynynge to sayntes is the moche lower degree of prayoure than a prayoure and a complaynt made to oure lorde for hym selfe that is to saye that he for his owne goodnes and for the passyon and dethe that he suffered for vs and for all mankynde / wyll here oure petycyons and whye the people shulde be so delygently called on to vse the lower degree of prayer that is to saye to praye to Sayntes / and that the excellencye and worthynesse of the hygher prayer that is to say to god for him self is so seldome declared vnto the people as it hath beÌ„ in tyme past Me thiÌ„keth it is moch to be merueyled Neuerthelesse I can well agree / that the fyrst complaynynge / that is to say to sayntes / is right good for our lorde wylbe honoured and loued in dyuers maners / somtyme for himselfe / somtyme for his saintes also he wyll somtyme shewe to the worlde / that he wolde his sayntes shulde be honoured for the graces that he frely gaue to them in this worlde to gyue other courage to endeuoure them selues to haue lyke vertues but he wyl nat that the thanke be holly stollen froÌ„ him and gyuen to them ne yet the sayntes wolde in no wyse haue it so and therfore it wylbe very dangerouse to suffre the people to make their complaintes to sayntes or to say their deuocyons before ymages after their owne deuocion and affectioÌ„s / for vndoutedly many of them but they be ofte admonyshed howe to ordre theymselfe therein / wyll honour the ymage And also pray to the sayntes with a ful trust that they shall optayne of them all that they do aske / and that shulde be to the derogation of the honour that ought only to be gyueÌ„ to god as is sayde before And than to your other question / whether it be lawfull to honoure sayntes / or to saye anye prayers to oure lorde to their honour It is as me semeth / but a lytle questyon / for sythe it is lawfull to worship a mortall man for the auctoritie that oure lorde hath set him in here in this worlde or for that he is our fader or mother / or for the vertue that oure lorde of his goodnes hath giuen hiÌ„ in this mortall lyfe / whiche neuerthelesse he maye lyghtly lose moche more it is lawfull to honoure them that be in heuen / for the vertue that our lorde of his free gyfte / gaue vnto them here in erth / whiche they be sure they shall neuer lose Neuerthelesse / me thynketh there may be put some dyuersytie betwixt suche saintes as be canonysed by scripture / and the olde auncyent sayntes that haue alway beÌ„ taken for holy by a ful comen vnyuersall assent of all the people throughe an inwarde instyncte and speciall workynge of the holy ghost in the hertê of the people / bytwixte suche as haue beÌ„ of late tyme canonysed for sayntê at Rome for mony by the speciall labour callynge on of other that hath ben of the same maner of lyuyng as they were As of bysshops for bysshops / prestes for prestes / relygyouse for relygyouse and such other For it is very lyke that manye haue laboured for the canonysatyon of suche sayntes as haue ben of the same degre of lyuynge as they be more of a pryuate loue to theym selfe / and for a commendatyon of that waye of lyuynge that they be of / than for the pure loue of god / or for encrease of vertue amonge the people And nowe wyll I therfore shortly as I can more playnlye shewe my conceyte / what sayntes a man maye vndoutedly beleue to be in heuen And fyrst he maye beleue all them to be in heuen / that be wytnessed by scrypture to be holye and blessed As it is of oure Lady saynte Iohan Baptyst the .xii. apostles saynte Paule / saynte Stephan / of the thefe / to whom oure lorde hangynge on the crosse sayde This daye thou shalte be with me in Paradyce / and dyuers other whoÌ„ Scrypture wytnesseth to be blessed / and also of them that be remembred for holy Ecclesi xliiii And ad Hebre. xi he may also take them assuredly as blessed / that haue ben accepted as holye blessed of longe tyme by the whole assent of the vniuersall
vndoutedly our lorde wyll so helpe him and assyst him therin / that he shall nat erre / ne be disceyued For it is written ii Paralip xx Cum ignoremus quid facere / debeamê° hoc soluÌ„ residui habemus vt oculi nostri ad te dirigantur That is to saye / Lorde / whan we be ignorant wot nat what to do / this only remayneth to vs for our confort / that we lyft our eyen vp to the. And if we do so we may trust verily that his helpe and counsell wil neuer fayle vs / but wyll bring vs to the knowlege of that that is necessarye for vs. ¶ An answere to dyuerse shorte particuler questions conteyned in the letter The .viii. chapiter TO all the shorte partyculer questions coÌ„teined in your letter I wyll brefely as I can make answer in this .viii. cha And as to the fyrst of the sayd particuler questyons / I thinke that kynges and princes might haue prohybyt the clergy to haue ordeyned amongest theÌ„ patryarkes / cardnials / or any other degree iÌ„ the clergye but onely bysshops / prestes deakoÌ„s Also if a maÌ„ had takeÌ„ two benefyces with cure iÌ„ this realme / they both after the old groundes of the law of the realme had ben voide / this voydance was called cessyon but in ê“cesse of tyme lycenses wer opteyned from Rome to haue two benefices And those lyceÌ„ses by power of the clergy were iuged to be good / and so the lawe and custom of the Realme in that poynte was broken And yet it wyll be verye harde to proue it by the lawe / that it shulde haue ben so And neuerthelesse by reason therof / the seyde grouÌ„de was altered to this effect / that if a man toke two benefyces without dyspensacyon fro Rome / that both benefyces shuld be voyd but if the first grounde were clerely reuyued none to haue but one benefyce / it were well done for the breking of that grounde hath done gret hurte / than it might ther vpon be ê“uided that he that is more worthy shuld haue the better benefyce no vnyon of benefyces to be made in tyme to come Also though the apostles discyples of Christ and theyr successours had auctorite by the gospell to preche the gospell yet that any one of them shulde haue auctorite to prohybyt another of them of prechyng / appereth nat by the gospel but in case that any take vpon him to preche teche any thyng agaiÌ„st the catholycall faythe / to the parell and daunger of the kynges subiectes / and whereby scysmes and varyaunces be lyke to folowe amoÌ„ge his people suche of the clergye as knoweth it / ar bounde to enforme the kyng of it / than he thervpon may prohibyt them of prechyng / see them corrected as the case requireth But if the rulers in the clergye / shulde haue full auctoritie to make such prohibicyons / it might be that abusioÌ„s in the clergy shuld nat be so well touched as charytie wolde they shulde be / that might be greate hurte trouble to all the realme / and that the kyng and his parlyament hath auctorite to make that prohibycyon The clergye of englaÌ„de knewe right well whaÌ„ they laboured in the parlyament / that commyssyons shuld be grauÌ„ted to the sheryffes to arest prechers of heresy Anno .ii. Rich. ii stat ii Cap. vltimo And as to that opinyon that ye write to me of / whether the soules that be dyscessed in grace be nowe in heueÌ„ / or that they rest for a certayne tyme in a place to them appoynted by god tyll that the tyme of the generail resurrectyon shall come / so that the bodye the soule may be ioyned togyther / and than they both togyther to go to heuen and haue the fruycyon of the godheed nat before Verily I haue herde but lytell spekynge thereof many a daye For scrypture is so playne therin / And is nowe so well knowen to many by the reasoÌ„ that it is come in to the Englysshe tonge / that dyuers that haue douted therin in tymes past / be nowe contented and holde theire pease And parte of the textes that haue somewhat stablysshed theÌ„ therin / I shall brefely recyte One texte is Psal C.xxvi where it is sayde Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum ecce hereditas domini filii merces fructus ventris That is whan our lorde hath gyuen to his beloued / slepe lo the inherytance of oure lorde / the rewarde of the sonne / and the frute of the wombe whiche is thus moche to saye That whan oure lorde hath taken a ryghtwyse man / nat bounde to anye synne / ne to anye payne for synne / by the slepe of naturall deth that forthwith cometh the enherytaunce of god / the rewarde of the sonne of god That is to saye / the eternall glorie of heuen And the frute of the wombe / which is christ Another texte is this oure lorde sayde to his discyples Ioh. xiii If I go fro you / and prepayre to you a place / I wyll come agayne and take you to my selfe / That where I am / you shal be And so syth he is in heuen / it muste nedes folow that they be there with him And also he sayde Iohannis xvii Father / those that thou hast gyuen to me / I wyll / that where I am / that they shall be with me that they shall see my clerenesse whiche thou haste gyuen me And also it appereth Apocalipsis .xiiii. That Saynte Iohan sawe a Lambe standynge on the mounte of Syon / and with him a hundreth and .xliiii. M. hauyng his name the name of his father / written in their foreheeddes and they sang as it had beÌ„ a newe song before the sete / and before the .iiii. bestes seygnyours / that no man coulde saye but those C.xliiii M that were bought fro the erth And in that he saith that they wer bought fro the erthe / it appereth that they were the soules of theÌ„ whiche had lyued before in erth / whiche saynt Iohan sawe en vysyon standynge before god And it can nat be takeÌ„ that they were there in bodye and soule / but in soule only It appereth also in the gospell that Lazar was in the bosome of Abraham And it is no doute but that the bodye of Abraham that tyme slepte By these textes and dyuers other nat here rehersed / that matter is well appesed / so that I wolde nat haue written to you anye thynge therin / but that ye desyred me in your letter so to do Also there be some here aboute the cytie that thynke that they that endeuour them selfe to withdraw the mindes of the people somwhat fro the inordynate goynge on pilgrymages / prayeng to sayntes / worshippynge of them And fro worshippynge of ymages and relyques styrre theym to set theyr myndes and their deuocion / holly and fully in Christ our sauyour / of whom all goodnesse cometh in heuen and in erth / do more to maynteyne the true honour to our lady and to other sayntes / thaÌ„ they that endeuour them selfe to maynteyne such thynges after the old fashion all that they can for sayntes wold haue no honour gyuen to them / ne any trust put in them but it were princypally for Christe and to his honoure And they saye also that no man may with clere conscyence moue the people to contynue suche thinges after the olde maner But they moue theym lykewyse to be well ware of suche parelles and daungers / as they maye lyghtelye fall in to by occasyon thereof but they take good hede And I thynke verily that it is euen true as they saye in that behalfe Also it is true that ther be right manye here aboute the Cytie as well of the clergye / as of the commen people / that thynke that some doctours that haue written vpon Scrypture in tyme past / haue in thynges concernynge the honoure power / lybertye / and rychesse of the Clergye exteÌ„ded Scrypture / verye farre iÌ„ fauour of the clergy But vpon all places of Scrypture that concerne the faythe and the morall lyuynge of the people they thynke the doctoures haue taken the true sence of it / and veryly I suppose it is euen as they saye And I thynke further that it were right expedyent that it shulde be ofte declared and made manyfest to the people / that Scrypture is the thinge that is of hyghest auctorytie in the churche of god / and that it is alwaye trewe and maye neuer be denyed / that the more it is knowen and loued / the more goodnesse shall folowe of it for it is the fouÌ„dacion of the church the shelde of the world the subuersioÌ„ of the fende / the ladder to paradice and the very true fode of the soule and is also of more vertue ghostly strength / than ar the sayengê of all doctours and sayntes / wherefore blessed be they that can wel folowe it And now haue I accordiÌ„g to your desyre shewed you my conceyte to all the artycles coÌ„tayned in your letter And thus I coÌ„mit you to oure lorde Iesu Amen FINIS ¶ Here endeth the answere to the letter And here foloweth the table of the Chapiters The table of the chapiters wHether the kynge by that he is recognysed to be supreme heed vnder god vpon erth of the church of EnglaÌ„de / haue therby any new power gyuen hiÌ„ ouer his subiectes that he had nat before The fyrst cha ¶ Of dyuers thynges concerniÌ„g the power of the bysshop of Rome and of the statutes made in the .xxv. yere .xxvi. yere of kynge Henry the eyght / which treate of the sayd power The .ii. chapiter ¶ Of prayenge to sayntes and worshyppynge of theym The thyrde cha ¶ Whether there be any opinyon among the people / that there be some abusyons concernynge the masse The fourth Cha. ¶ Of pardons and absolutions The .v. Chapiter ¶ Of restitucyon The .vi. chap. ¶ Who hathe power to declare expounde scrypture / and whose declaracyon we be bounde to folowe and whose nat The .vii. chapiter ¶ An answere to dyuerse shorte particuler questions conteyned in the letter The .viii. chap. ¶ The ende of the table ⧠Printed at London by Tho. Godfray Cum priuilegio Regali