Mattins with him Which grieved him much And as he returned at other times to hear the Scripture read his Father still would fetch him away This put him upon the thoughts of learning to read English that so he might read the New Testament himself Which when he had by diligence effected he and his Father's Apprentice bought the New Testament joining their Stocks together and to conceal it laid it under the Bed-straw and read it at convenient Times One night his Father being asleep he and his Mother chanced to discourse concerning the Crucifix and kneeling down to it and knocking on the Breast then used and holding up the Hands to it when it came by on Procession This he told his Mother was plain Idolatry and against the Commandment of God where he saith Thou shalt not make any graven Image nor bow down to it nor worship it His Mother enraged at him for this said Wilt thou not worship the Cross which was about thee when thou wert Christned and must be laid on thee when thou art dead In this heat the Mother and Son departed and went to their Beds The Sum of this Evening's Conference she presently repeats to her Husband which he impatient to hear and boiling in Fury against his Son for denying worship to be due to the Cross arose up forthwith and goes into his Son's Chamber and like a mad Zealot taking him by the Hair of his Head with both his Hands pulled him out of the Bed and whipped him unmercifully And when the Young Man bore this beating as he related with a kind of Joy considering it was for Christ's Sake and shed not a tear his Father seeing that was more inraged and ran down and fetched an Halter and put it about his Neck saying he would hang him At length with much intreaty of the Mother and Brother he left him almost dead I extract this out of the Original Relation of the Person himself wrote at Newington near London where he afterwards dwelt Which relation he gave to Iohn Fox This Year Nicolson a very Learned Man greatly acquainted with Tindal and Frith and who by reason of trouble from the Bishops formerly for the better concealing of himself for time to come called himself Lambert was adjudged to the Flames and cruelly burnt Wherein our Arch-bishop and the Lord Crumwel unhappily had their hands the one in reading the Sentence against him De Haeretico comburendo by the King's Commandment and the Arch-bishop first in having him before him in a judiciary way and afterwards in disputing publickly against him in favour of the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence The first occasion of Lambert's Troubles was this At the hearing of a Sermon of Dr. Taylor he who was afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and a favourer of the Gospel preached by him at S. Peter's Cornhil he came and presented him with Ten Reasons against Transubstantiation written by him Dr. Taylor by Dr. Barnes his means who though in other things he favoured a Reformation and suffered Death upon the Six Articles yet was hot against Sacramentaries at this time thinking the broaching that Doctrine might throw in some Impediment to the progress of the Gospel Dr. Taylor I say by Barnes his Advice carried these Reasons to the Arch-bishop Who upon this conventing Lambert before him endeavoured to reclaim him by holding much discourse with him The News of this came to the Court. And by the instigation of the Bishop of Winchester the King resolved to dispute with him himself in a very publick and solemn manner and that because he had appealed from the Bishops to the King The Day being come and the King present with all his Bishops on the right Hand and his Nobles on the Left accompanied with his Lawyers and other Attendants on purpose to terrify him and to make an open Signification that though he had cast off the Papal Supremacy yet he intended not to be a favourer of Heresy so called first commanded Richard Sampson Bishop of Chichester Fox saith it was Day Bishop of Chichester but in that he was mistaken for he was not yet Bishop to begin and give the Reason of the meeting He appointed the Bishops now present to answer Lambert's Ten Reasons as Fox or his Eight as the Bishop of Chichester in his Declaration mentioned The Arch-bishop answered the second for the King himself had disputed against the first The Arch-bishop according to his mild Temper but withal according to the false Opinion which he then most confidently maintained stiling him Brother Lambert desired the Matter might be decided indifferently between them And that if he convinced Lambert by Scripture Lambert would be willing to come over from his Opinion But if Lambert on the other hand could by Scripture convince him he promised to imbrace his Opinion Then he fell upon Lambert's Reason which was taken out of the Acts of the Apostles where Christ appeared unto Paul by the way Disputing from that place that it was not disagreeable to the Word of God that the Body of Christ may be in two places at once Which being in Heaven was seen the same time by S. Paul upon the Earth And said the Arch-bishop If it may be in two places why by the like Reason may it not be in many places In what order and course the rest of the Bishops disputed or rather baited this poor Man it is uncertain only Winchester had the sixth place Tunstal of Durham next to him and next Stokesly Bishop of London Richard Bishop of Chichester who was reputed a Man of great Learning had his course to whose turn it came to confute Lambert's Sixth Reason which was taken from that of S. Paul to the Romans Who hath ascended up to Heaven to bring Christ down from thence His Argument is preserved in the Cotton Library I refer the Reader to the Appendix where he shall meet with it Whereby may be seen after what a haughty and indecent manner this meek Confessor of Christ was dealt with as though they designed rather to run him down and brow-beat him than answer him CHAP. XVIII The Arch-bishop's Iudgment of the Eucharist BUT to return to Cranmer whose Opinion in the Point of the Sacrament we will stay a little upon He was now a strong â—tickler for the Carnal Presence and seemed greatly prejudiced to that Opinion There was one Ioachim Vadianus a Learned Man of S. Gal in Helvetia and an Acquaintance of the Arch-bishop's He had framed a Treatise intituled Aphorisms upon the Consideration of the Eucharist in six Books Which were intended to prove no Corporal Presence This Book he presented to the Arch-bishop but though he loved him as a Learned Man yet he declared himself much displeased with his Argument and wrote to him That he wished he had employed his Study to better purpose and that he had begun his Correspondence with him in some better and more approved Subject Adding That he would
their Edification and Comfort when for some hundred Years before those Treasures had for the most part been locked up and concealed from them But first great was the Labour of our Arch-bishop before he could get this good Work effected being so disliked and repugned by the Patrons of Popery For he had almost all the Bishops against him as may appear by what I am going to relate The King being by the Arch-bishop brought to encline to the publishing thereof the Translation done by Coverdale was by Crumwel or the Arch-bishop presented into the King's Hands and by him committed to divers Bishops of that Time to peruse whereof Stephen Gardiner was one After they had kept it long in their Hands and the King had been divers Times sued unto for the Publication thereof at last being called for by the King himself they redelivered the Book And being demanded by the King What their Judgment was of the Translation they answered That there were many Faults therein Well said the King but are there any Heresies maintained thereby They answered There were no Heresies that they could find maintained in it If there be no Heresies said the King then in God's Name let it go abroad among our People This Circumstance I thought fit to mention being the Substance of what Coverdale himself afterwards at a Paul's-Cross-Seâ—mon spake in his own Vindication against some slanderous Reports that were then raised against his Translation declaring his faithful Purpose in doing the same Confessing withal That he did then himself espy some Faults which if he might review it once again as he had done twice before he doubted not he said but to amend This is related by Dr. Fulk who was then one of Coverdale's Auditors and heard him speak and declare all this The first Edition of the Bible was finished by Grafton in the Year 1538 or 1539. That Year our Arch-bishop procured a Proclamation from the King allowing private Persons to buy Bibles and keep them in their Houses And about two or three Years after they were reprinted and backed with the King's Authority the former Translation having been Revised and Corrected whether by certain learned Men of both Universities or by some Members of the Convocation that were then sitting it is uncertain But to this Translation the Arch-bishop added the last Hand mending it in divers Places with his own Pen and fixing a very excellent Preface before it In which he divided his Discourse between two sorts of Men The one such as would not read the Scripture themselves and laboured to stifle it from others The other such as read the Scripture indeed but read it inordinately and turned it into matter of Dispute and Contention rather than to direct their Lives And thereby while they pretended to be Furtherers thereof proved but Hinderers as the others were these being as blameless almost as those As to the former sort He marvelled at them that they should take Offence at publishing the Word of God For it shewed them to be as much guilty of Madness as those would be who being in Darkness Hunger and Cold should obstinately refuse Light Food and Fire Unto which three God's Word is compared But he attributed it to the prejudice of Custom which was so prevalent that supposing there were any People that never saw the Sun such as the Cimmerii were fancied to be and that God should so order it that that Glorious Light should in process of Time break in upon them at the first some would be offended at it And when Tillage was first found out according to the Proverb many delighted notwithstanding to feed on Mast and Acorns rather than to eat Bread made of good Corn. Upon this Reason he was ready to excuse those who when the Scripture first came forth doubted and drew back But he was of another Opinion concerning such as still persisted in disparaging the publishing of the Scripture judging them not only Foolish and Froward but Peevish Perverse and Indurate And yet if the Matter were to be tried by Custom we might allege Custom for reading the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue and prescribe more antient Custom than for the contrary Shewing that it was not above an hundred Years since the reading it in English was laid aside within this Realm and that many hundred Years before it had been translated and read in the Saxon Tongue being then the Mother Tongue and that there remained divers Copies of it in old Abbies And when that Language became old and out of common usage it was translated into the newer Tongue And of this many Copies then still remained and were daily found Then from Custom he proceeded to consider the thing in its own Nature shewing how available it was that the Scripture should be read of the Laity For which he takes a large Quotation out of S. Chrysostom in his third Sermon De Lazaro Wherein that Father exhorted the People To read by themselves at home between Sermon and Sermon that what he had said before in his Sermons upon such and such Texts might be the more fixed in their Minds and Memories and that their Minds might be the more prepared to receive what he should say in his Sermons which he was to preach to them And that he ever had and would exhort them not only to give Ear to what was said by the Preacher in the Church but to apply themselves to reading the Scriptures at home in their own Houses And a great deal more upon the same Argument And then as to the other sort our Arch-bishop shewed How there is nothing so good in the World but might be abused and turned from Unhurtful and Wholsome to Hurtful and Noisome As above in the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars were abused by Idolatry and here on Earth Fire Water Meat Drink Gold Silver Iron Steel are things of great benefit and use and yet we see much harm and mischief done by each of these as well by reason of the lack of Wisdom and Providence in them that suffer Evil by them as by the Malice of them that work the Evil by them Advising therefore all that came to read the Bible which he called The most precious Iewel and most holy Relick that remained upon Earth to bring with them the Fear of God and that they read it with all due Reverence and used their Knowledg thereof not to the vain Glory of frivolous Disputation but to the Honour of God Encrease of Vertue and Edification of themselves and others And then he backed this his Counsel with a large Passage out of Gregory Nazianzen which was levelled against such as only talked and babbled of the Scripture out of Season but were little the better for it And lastly he concluded his Preface by directing to such Qualifications as were proper for such as came to read these Sacred Volumes Namely That he ought to bring with him a Fear of Almighty God and
meaning Thirlby Hethe Tonstal c. that they held their Peace for this Consideration though they knew this well enough Who if they had done their Duty to the Crown and Realm should have opened their Mouths at this Time and shewn the Peril and Danger that might insue to the Crown hereby Another Cause he urged to the Queen why he could not allow the Pope's Authority was Because he subverted not only the Laws of the Nation but the Laws of God So that whosoever be under his Authority he suffered them not to be under Christ's Religion purely For proof of which he gave these Instances God's Will and Commandment is that when the People be gathered together to serve God the Ministers should use such a Language as the People might understand and take profit thereby For God said by the Mouth of S. Paul As a Harp or Lute if it give no certain sound that Men may know what is stricken who can dance after it it is put in vain So it is in vain profiteth nothing if the Priest speak to the People in a Language they know not And whereas when he urged this to the Commissioners they told him That that Place respected Preaching only He told the Queen That S. Paul's words meant it not only of Preaching for that he spake expresly of Praying Singing and giving Thanks and of all other things which the Priests say in the Churches And so he said all Interpreters Greek and Latin Old and New School-Authors and others that he had read understood it Till about thirty Years past Eckius and others of his Sort began to invent this new Exposition And so he said all the best Learned Divines that met at Windsor 1549 for the Reformation of the Church both of the New Learning and the Old agreed without Controversy not one opposing that the Service of the Church ought to be in the Mother-Tongue and that that Place of S. Paul was so to be understood Again Christ ordained the Sacrament to be received of Christian People under both Forms of Bread and Wine and said Drink ye all of this The Pope gives a clean contrary Command That no Lay-man shall drink of the Cup of their Salvation So that if he should obey the Pope in these things he must needs disobey his Saviour Again He instanced in the Pope's taking upon him to give the Temporal Sword to Kings and Princes and to depose them from their Imperial States if they were disobedient to him and in commanding Subjects to disobey their Princes Assoiling them as well from their Obedience as their lawful Oaths made unto them directly contrary to God's Commandment that commandeth all Subjects to obey their Kings and their Rulers under them Then he spake of the Superiority the Pope claimed above Kings and Emperors and making himself Universal Bishop And how his Flatterers told him he might dispense against God's Word both against the Old and New Testament and that whatsoever he did tho he drew innumerable People by heaps with himself to Hell yet might no mortal Man reprove him because he is the Judg of all Men and might be judged by no Man And thus he sat in the Temple of God as he were a God and named himself God and dispensed against God If this were not he said to play Antichrist's part he knew not what Antichrist was that is Christ's Enemy and Adversary Now added he until the time that such a Person may be found Men might easily conjecture where to find Antichrist He took God to record that what he spake against the Power and Authority of the Pope he spake it not for any Malice he ought to the Pope's Person whom he knew not nor for fear of Punishment or to avoid the same thinking it rather an Occasion to aggravate than to diminish the same but for his most bounden Duty to the Crown Liberty Laws and Customs of this Realm of England and most especially to discharge his Conscience in uttering the Truth to God's Glory casting away all Fear by the Comfort which he had in Christ who saith Fear not them that kill the Body As touching the Sacrament he said That forasmuch as the whole Matter stood in the understanding those words of Christ This is my Body This is my Blood He told the Commissioners That Christ in those words made demonstration of the Bread and Wine and spake figuratively calling Bread his Body and Wine his Blood because he ordained them to be Sacraments of his Body and Blood And he told them He would be judged by the old Church which Doctrine could be proved Elder and that he would stand to And that forasmuch as he had urged in his Book Greek and Latin Authors which above a thousand Years continually taught as he did if they could bring forth but one old Author that said in these two Points as they said he offered six or seven Years ago and offered so still that he would give place Then he shewed her how fond and uncomfortable the Papists Doctrine of the Sacrament is For of one Body of Christ is made two Bodies One natural having distance of Members with Form and Proportion of Man's perfect Body and this Body is in Heaven But the Body of Christ in the Sacrament by their own Doctrine must needs be a monstrous Body having neither distance of Members nor Form Fashion or Proportion of a Man's natural Body And such a Body is in the Sacrament teach they as goes into the Mouth with the Form of Bread and entreth no further than the Form of Bread goes nor tarrieth no longer than the Form of Bread is by natural Heat digesting So that when the Form of Bread is digested the Body of Christ is gone And what Comfort said he can be herein to any Christian Man to receive Christ's unshapen Body and it to enter no further than the Stomach and depart by and by as soon as the Bread is consumed It seemed to him a more sound and comfortable Doctrine that Christ hath but one Body and that hath Form and Fashion of a Man's true Body Which Body spiritually entreth into the whole Man Body and Soul And though the Sacrament be consumed yet whole Christ remaineth and feedeth the Receiver unto eternal Life if he continue in Godliness and never departeth until the Receiver forsaketh him That if it could be shewed him that the Pope's Authority be not prejudicial to the things before-mentioned or that his Doctrine of the Sacrament be erroneous then he would never stand perversly in his own Opinion but with all humility submit himself to the Pope not only to kiss his Feet but another Part also For all these Reasons he could not take the Bishop of Gloucester for his Judg representing as he did this Pope But another Reason was in respect of his own Person being more than once perjured having been divers times sworn never to consent that the Bishop of Rome should have any Jurisdiction within this Realm
that they be God's Ministers appointed by God to Rule and Govern you And therefore whoso resisteth them resisteth God's Ordinance The third Exhortation is That you Love all together like Brethren and Sistern For alas pity it is to see what Contention and Hatred one Christian-Man hath to another Not taking each other as Sisters and Brothers but rather as Strangers and mortal Enemies But I pray you learn and bear well away this one Lesson To do good to all Men as much as in you lieth and to hurt no Man no more than you would hurt your own natural and loving Brother or Sister For this you may be sure of that whosoever hateth any Person and goeth about maliciously to hinder or hurt him surely and without all doubt God is not with that Man although he think himself never so much in God's Favour The fourth Exhortation shall be to them that have great Substance and Riches of this World That they will well consider and weigh those Sayings of the Scripture One is of our Saviour Christ himself who saith It is hard for a Rich Man to enter into Heaven A sore saying and yet spoke by him that knew the Truth The second is of S. Iohn whose saying is this He that hath the Substance of this World and seeth his Brother in Necessity and shutteth up his Mercy from him how can he say he loveth God Much more might I speak of every part but Time sufficeth not I do but put you in remembrance of things Let all them that be Rich ponder well those Sentences For if ever they had any Occasion to shew their Charity they have now at this present the poor People being so many and Victuals so dear For though I have been long in Prison yet I have heard of the great Penury of the Poor Consider that that which is given to the Poor is given to God Whom we have not otherwise present corporally with us but in the Poor And now for so much as I am come to the last End of my Life whereupon hangeth all my Life passed and my Life to come either to live with my Saviour Christ in Heaven in Joy or else to be in Pain ever with wicked Devils in Hell and I see before mine Eyes presently either Heaven ready to receive me or Hell ready to swallow me up I shall therefore declare unto you my very Faith how I believe without Colour or Dissimulation For now is no time to dissemble whatsoever I have written in Times past First I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth c. and every Article of the Catholick Faith every Word and Sentence taught by our Saviour Christ his Apostles and Prophets in the Old and New Testament And now I come to the great Thing that troubleth my Conscience more than any other thing that ever I said or did in my Life and that is the setting abroad of Writings contrary to the Truth Which here now I renounce and refuse as things written with my Hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my Heart and writ for fear of Death and to save my Life if it might be and that is all such Bills which I have written or signed with mine own Hand since my Degradation wherein I have written many things untrue And forasmuch as my Hand offended in writing contrary to my Heart therefore my Hand shall first be punished For if I may come to the Fire it shall be first burned And as for the Pope I refuse him as Christ's Enemy and Antichrist with all his false Doctrine And here being admonished of his Recantation and Dissembling he said Alas my Lord I have been a Man that all my Life loved Plainness and never dissembled till now against the Truth which I am most sorry for He added hereunto That for the Sacrament he believed as he had taught in his Book against the Bishop of Winchester And here he was suffered to speak no more So that his Speech contained chiefly three points Love to God Love to the King and Love to the Neighbour In the which talk he held Men very suspense which all depended upon the Conclusion Where he so far deceived all Mens Expectations that at the hearing thereat they were much amazed and let him go on a while till my Lord Williams bad him play the Christen Man and remember himself To whom he answered That he so did For now he spake Truth Then he was carried away and a great number that did Run to see him go so wickedly to his Death ran after him exhorting him while Time was to remember himself And one Friar Iohn a godly and well-learned Man all the way travelled with him to reduce him But it would not be What they said in particular I cannot tell but the Effect appeared in the End For at the Stake he professed that he died in all such Opinions as he had taught and oft repented him of his Recantation Coming to the Stake with a chearful Countenance and willing Mind he put off his Garments with haste and stood upright in his Shirt And a Batcheler of Divinity named Elye of Brazen-nose-College laboured to convert him to his former Recantation with the two Spanish Friars But when the Friars saw his Constancy they said in Latin one to another Let us go from him We ought not to be nigh him For the Devil is with him But the Batcheler in Divinity was more earnest with him Unto whom he answered That as concerning his Recantation he repented it right sore because he knew it was against the Truth with other words more Whereupon the Lord Williams cryed Make short Make short Then the Bishop took certain of his Friends by the Hand But the Bachelor of Divinity refused to take him by the Hand and blamed all others that so did and said He was sorry that ever he came in his Company And yet again he required him to agree to his former Recantation And the Bishop answered shewing his Hand This is the Hand that wrote it and therefore shall it suffer first Punishment Fire being now put to him he stretched out his right Hand and thrust it into the Flame and held it there a good space before the Fire came to any other Part of his Body where his Hand was seen of every Man sensibly burning crying with a loud Voice This Hand hath offended As soon as the Fire got up he was very soon Dead never stirring or crying all the while His Patience in the Torment his Courage in dying if it had been taken either for the Glory of God the Wealth of his Country or the Testimony of Truth as it was for a pernicious Error and subversion of true Religion I could worthily have commended the Example and matched it with the Fame of any Father of antient Time but seeing that not the Death but the Cause and Quarrel thereof commendeth the Sufferer I cannot but much
part therof that then not giving too much to your own minds fantasies and opinions nor having therof any open reasoning in your open tavernes or alehouses ye shal have recourse to such learned men as be or shal be authorized to preach and declare the same So that avoyding al contentions and disputation in such alehouses and other places unmeet for such conferences and submitting your opinion to the judgments of such learned men as shal be appointed in this behalf his Grace may wel perceive that you use this most high benefit quietly and charitably every one of you to the edifying of himself his wife and family in al things answering to his Highnes good opinion conceived of you in the advauncement of vertue and suppressing of Vice without failing to use such discrete quietnes and sober moderation in the premisses as is aforesaid as you tender his Graces pleasure and intend to avoyd his high indignation and the peril and danger that may ensue to you and every of you for the contrary And God save the King NUM XXIV The Answer or Declaration of Richard Bishop of Chichester in the presence of the Kings Majesty against the sixth Reason or argument of John Lambert concerning the most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar THese are the words of his sixth Article Paul doth take it for a sore inconvenince Deducere Christum ex alto Rom. 10. And yet must the Priests do so bringing his natural body into the Sacrament Or else they cannot bring the same body into the Sacrament Which I believe rather The Answer of the Bishop BY this reason you may evidently perceive the Vanity and also the malice of this man So that you may judg by what spirit he is led to make such an argument against so high and precious a mystery as this is What christen man is so ignorant that knoweth not this to be evidently true that this most holy Sacrament hath not his Vertue of the Priest which is a mortal man and many times a sinner For he is but a minister and a very instrument by whom God worketh S. Chrysostome saith that the minister is as it were the Pen God is the hand The grace the vertue is of God In the 27 th Hom. in the second Tome So doth teach the Apostle to the Corinthians in the third chapt of the first Epistle What is Apostle saith he What is Paul Ministers of him in whom ye believe and as he hath given to every one I have planted saith S. Paul Apollo hath watered but God hath given the encrease Wherfore neither he that planteth nor he that watereth is ought but he that giveth the encrease For men must esteem us as Ministers of Christ saith he in the next chapter By these words he proveth that the minister gives no effect or virtue but only God S. Augustin ad Cresconium Grammaticum saith also expresly That if there be among good ministers one better then another the Sacrament is no better given by the better and it is no worse given by an evil man There is for this purpose a goodly saying of Eusebius Emissenus which was much persecuted by the Arians These are his words Invisibilis Sacerdos visibiles creaturas in substantiam corporis sanguinis sui verbi sui secreta potestate convertit No Christen man doubteth who is this invisible Priest which is our Savior the high Priest the perpetual Priest as the Apostle saith Ad Heb. 7. Which to our carnal eyes is invisible and otherwise may not be seen but by the eyes of our soul and faith onely This invisible Priest saith Eusebius converteth and turneth the visible creatures of bread and wine not only into his body and bloud but into the substance of his body and bloud It is not then the Priest that worketh this work nor bringeth Christ out of heaven as this man mockingly and scornfully writeth in this Article but it is Christ himself For as S. Austin saith Idem est Mediator qui offert qui offertur And what spirit this man hath towards this most holy sacrament you may wel conjecture and evidently perceive his malignity which not only gathereth a certain number of vain arguments together to the number of eight that it might appear to the simple ignorant people as though it were a great foundation which he hath for his detestable purpose and yet as I say they are al vain and grounded only upon gross natural reason which can in no wise attain to this high mystery but also in so grave weighty and most reverend cause as this is he dallieth mocketh and scorneth in this fond reason without any reason saying that the Priest must bring the body of Christ out of heaven But it is little to be weighed in this man though that he scorneth the ministration of the Priest sith that he so depraveth his very Lord and Master But in case that he should say that he doth not scorn the ministration of the Priest then must he needs be very ignorant to suppose in any wise that the Priest worketh any thing in this or any other Sacrament more then as I have before said In this argument also he alledgeth one part of scripture in the tenth chapter to the Romans to blind also the simple people that they should think al that he speaketh is the very scripture And surely this place of scripture maketh evidently against him and such as he is For it is written against Infidels such as wil not believe the word of God written but would yet have knowledge from heaven And so the Apostle there maketh example of him that would not believe that Christ is ascended but notwithstanding the testimony of scripture he demandeth Quis ascendet in coelum Hoc est Christum de coelo deducere saith the Apostle Wherefore the Apostle monisheth every Christen man in this maner Nè dixeris in corde tuo Quis ascendet c. That is to say Think not in thy mind Have no such doubt to ask Who ascended or how but believe the scripture For as Moses in the 30 th Chap. of Deuteronomy saith Thou shalt not need to seek into heaven for the knowledg of these things it is not set nor left in heaven it is not above thee it is not far from thee but the Word of God is nigh thee even in thy mouth as it were and ready at hand Believe that and do according to that For so it was answered to the rich man in the 16 th Chap. of Luke Thy brethren have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And If they wil not hear nor believe them they wil not believe any one that shal come from hence Whersore Chrysostom in the former tenth Chapter of Paul teacheth even Christen men in these things of the Faith in no wise to ask or search how it may be but leaving this infirmity and weaknes of our thoughts and reasons let us receive with a certain
can no proper names by geven but suche translation of worâ—les as the Holy Ghost doth use and ther cannot be devysed more proper more mete for the purpose nor more famouse wordes then they are 13. It is not mete therfore that we should attempt to expound these Metaphors with our own proper wordes wherof we be all together destytute in matters of regeneration neyther is it convenyent that we should deface theyr perfection wyth more slender Metaphors and wyth such geare as be of kinred to our natural reason 14. We must beware that with no superstitious stately eloquence we do make darke the brightnes of the Lordes commandement unto such as have their eyes lightened on every syde by fayth We must in lyke maner take heede we demynysh not the force and majesty of Christes sacraments set furth by the Holy Ghost rather of us to be beleved then by our naturall reason to be out-searched as by the exposition rather proceding of our owne imagynations then of the very word of God and of the nature of his sacraments 15. The Word is made flesh that their myght be both God and man in one substaunce and such as was a very earthely man which dyed rose againe from the dead ascended into heaven remayneth in the heavens and sytteth on the right hand of the father which governeth and fulfylleth all things and in the syght of all the world he shall come agayne in the clowdes to judge the quycke and the dead And they all must nedes receyve their owne bodies againe All these things truly do so farre passe the reache of mans wyt that of necessitye we must lay hold of them by fayth 16. Fayth bycause she is practysed and fortyfyed in the dayly use of these things causeth them clearely and manyfestly to appeare even as she doth make all the other misteries of Chryst to such as doth perfectly beleve Which thinges should be made darke unto us if we would suffer our selves to make inquirye of them according to the trade of our own reason following her natural princyples 17. Christ our Lord is for ever both God and man he is the head of all the sayntes and the first begotten among the children of God Wherfore we must so marke with our myndes and expres in wordes the propertyes of the natures that by no maner of imagynations we separate the unity of substaunce 18. There is nothing better agreeth with it selfe then doth the word of God so that what so ever the scripture speaketh of Christes beyng among us of the receyvyng of him of his aby ding and dwelling in us and eatyng of him agreeth all together and is consonant with these evydent scriptures openly declaring that he hath forsaken the world that he is in heaven yea and that he hath a very body and therfore lymited and bounden in one place 19. When we therfore entreate of the mistery eyther of the supper of the Lord or of Christes plaine presence with us for why should we not say that he is present which dwelleth in us and is in the mydst of us it is to no purpose to lay agaynst the presence of him such places of scripture as declare Christ to have departed from this world to be in heaven and to be very man havyng a very body and therfore such a body as is bounded in a place which may not be placed in all or many places at one tyme. 20. For Christes presence whether it be offered or declared eyther in the word onely or els in the sacramentes is no presence of place neyther of sensies nor of reason nor yet no yearthly presence but it is a spiritual presence a presence of faith and an heavenly presence For as much as we are conveyde into heaven by faith beyng placed in Christ. So that we lay hold upon him and embrace him in his heavenly majestye all be it he be here offered and declared after a sorte unto us in the glasse and darke speaking of sensyble wordes and sacramentes 21. The Antichristes make the simple people to beleve by these wordes that we receyve and have Christ here present after some worldly fashion that is to say eyther inclosed with the bread and wine or els that he is present under their accydences so that ther he ought to be honoured and worshipped 22. Let them therfore that be apt to learne be taught that ther is no presence of Christ in the supper but onely in the lawful use therof and such as is obtayned and gotten by fayth onely As for the other sort byd them adew as the blynde guydes of the blynde and that plantyng which our heavenly Father hath not planted For such as heare not Gods word are not borne of God 23. We must tourne away from their disceytes and craftes from which we ought verely to withdraw our selves howbeit they cannot be avoyded other wayes then by the true expounding of Gods word yea and that but only of them whom the Lord himself hath taught by the ministration he hath committed to us 24. The good men moreover hearing that Christ in the sacramente is presently geven receyved and had do imagyne a certaine presence of place and many tymes they fantsye also that God himself is bounded in a place havyng a body even as he were a man 25. They must therfore be contynually taught that these heavenly misteries do passe all mens capasityes and that they must be perceyved and knowen in the only word of God so that all worldly fasions must be far from our mindes because the word of God declareth Christ to be a very man havyng the bodye of a man in the which body he departed this world and was caried into heaven he may not therfore by no worldly maner be sought for in this world but after such sort as he offereth himselfe beyng in heaven to be received of us Which things are not knowen by sense and reason but by faith 26. As for these heavens because they be above all the heavens I dare not by the predicamente of our reason discusse what they be but by the wordes of the scripture But thâ— scripture discribeth them not by the distaunce of places but by the majestye of God and his blessednes openly declaring that such heavenly blys hath not come into the hart of man 27. I do not perceyve what further knowledge the holy fathers would geve writing of the proper place of Christes body in heaven but that we should observe the propertye of both the natures in Christ. So that as it is the propertye of the godly nature to be in every place and to fulfyll all things even by his substance so it is the propertye of the nature of man to be lymited in place and state not to be spread abroade in many or in all places at once These things agree with the scripture albeit we place not Christes body in heaven after the maner of the fourth booke of Aristotle's Naturalls Yea let us
hardly kepe our selves in such things that the scripture do speake of the heavens and of Christes sytting in heaven 28. I have a conscience in so high misteries to allow such kinde of speaking as is not taught in the scripture though such be much used yea and that by the authority of the holy fathers for to what point through such speakyng the devyll and antychrist hath brought us we all lamentably complayne 29. Wherfore with reverence and in a true meanyng I wyll understand the sayinges of the holy fathers as touching the mutation of the sygnes I wyll never graunt their sayings so to be taken as to mutch straunge from gods worde and after such sort as men myght now a daies be overthrowen with Antichristes doctrine into the idolatrye which of all other is most detestable 30. So likewyse if any thing may be found that the holy fathers have wrytten of Christ placed in heaven more then the scripture doth certaynely teach I wyll not without reverence refuse it nor yet wyth any man contend therin for I have nothing to say that such writyng is contrary to any place of scripture I do but only desyre that no necessary doctrine be made therof and that I may be suffered to abyde in the playnes of Gods written word 31. But they will say that a man well expert in saith when he heareth that Christ is present in the holy supper and is geven receyved and had with the bread cannot refraine but imagine such a presence of Christ in the bread as is there placed or els like to such a thing as hath a place 32. I cannot se how the wordes of the Holy Ghost ought to be refourmed because of the weakenes of our understanding either that we should allow such utteraunce of wordes wherby it might appeare that the Holy Ghost had not uttered the matter circumspectly and strongly inough yea and that most aptly and effectually as well to the edefying of faith as to the putting away of all errours 33. These now be the wordes of Christ Where two or three be gathered in my name ther am I in the mydst of them In the name of Christ we assemble together at the Lords Supper rightly ministred In the world we be yea and somewhere placed and whersoever we be Christ is among us which notwithstanding is not in the world and also dwelleth in our hartes But we cannot perseâ—ve nor attaine it neyther by our sense nor by reason but by faith For how can the head be away from his body Wherfore I defyne or determine Christes presence howsoever we perceive it either by the sacraments or by the word of the gospell to be onely the attainyng and perceyving of the commodities we have by Christ both God and man which is our head raignyng in heaven dwelling and lyving in us Which presence we have by no worldly meanes but we have it by faith and take the fruit therof when it is offered us in the word and in the sacraments But the force therof we feele in all our parties and powers what tyme by the spirit of Christ they be sanctifyed and renewed unto obedience and godly lyfe 34. He is called present by some knowledge of perceyvyng him even as one may be called present with an other and so we do say that they be here present whom we know by hearing or by syght to be present but now the thing which we know by faith is much more certaine then any thing we can know by sence or reason Why may not we then say that Christ our head is present with his members when we know by faith that he both liveth and dwelleth in us 35. They say that the holy fathers expound the scriptures recording the Lords presence that Christ by his Godhead by his majesty and by his providence is present with us yet lyving in this world Truth it is but the Lord saith I am with you unto the worldes end and Paule affirmeth that Christ lyveth and dwelleth in our hartes Yea and the holy fathers themselves declare that we have Christ present in the sacrament of baptisme and in the meate and drink of the aulter which call that presence carnall that is knowen by our senses and is set over against the presence which we have by faith 36. Faith truly embraceth Christ both God and man and kepeth him present which by his Godhead is not onely present in the congregation of his saintes and in his members but is also present in every place But some cannot be contented unles we graunt that we have his body and bloud really carnally and substantially present in the supper 37. Wyse and good men will eschew all uncertaine wordes in every talk and speaking how much more are they to be avoyded in Christes sacramentes Moreover in the treatyse of Christes sacraments we may justly refuse such straunge wordes as be not used in the scripture unles they may be perfectly applied for the declaration of Christes truth For such uncertaine wordes doth more darken the true doctrine and therfore we must not medle with them except ther be some consideration of the using of them 38. I would wysh these wordes realiter and substantialiter to be altogether refused neither to be allowed in reasonyng to or fro because we shall seme to graunt their contraries and to say that Christ is receyved counterfeâ—tlye and accydenâ—ly if we deny him to be received in the supper really and substantiallye 39. If the matter so require that these words be brought into reâ—sonyng I would for the maintenance of Christes truth against the adversaries among the children of God defyne these wordes realiter and substantialiter as if one would understand by the presence of the Lord really and substantially that he is received verely in dede by faith and his substaunce is geven in the sacrament but if he would enterlace any worldly presence with these words I will deny it because the Lord is departed this world 40. I can never admyt or allow these words carnally and naturally because they bring in a meanyng that he is receyved with our sences 41. Hereby I thinke it evydent agreeable to the holy scripture and according to the reverence we owe to God and his scripture and toward the auncient church that we should frame our selves to the words of the Lord of his Apostles and of the auncient Church and to say that ther is geven and receyved the body and bloud of the Lord that is to say very Christ himselfe both God and man but he is geven with the word and the signes but received with true faith and that he is geven and received to the end that we may move and lyve more parfectly in him and he in us 42. And I thinke it an easy thing to make answer when they say that the thing which is already cannot be received and that he which cometh to the Lords supper and hath not Christ in himselfe receiveth not Christ
augmentation of Gods mercy and gracious promise to al men that receive it in the Faith of Christ Jesu with hatred of sin and intent purpose and mind to live always a vertuous life And that is the very Transubstantiation and change that God delighteth in in the use of the Sacraments most that we should earnestly and from the bottome of our hearts be converted into Christ and Christs holy commandments to live a christen life and to dy from sin as he gave us example both by his life and doctrin and meaneth not that the bread and wine should in substance be turned or converted into the substance of his body and bloud or that the substance of the bread should be taken away and in the place therof to be the substance matter and corporal presence of Christs corporal holy humane and natural body Item That the same holy word of God doth confess hold defend acknowledg and maintain that the very natural substantial real and corporal body of Christ concerning his humanity is only and soly in heaven and not in the Sacrament and Communion of his precious body and bloud But whosoever worthily with true repentance and lively faith in the promise of God receiveth that holy Sacrament receiveth Sacramentally by faith al the mercies riches merits and deservings that Christ hath deserved and paid for in his holy bloud and passion And that is to eat Christ and to drink Christ in the holy Sacrament to confirm and Seal Sacramentally in our Souls Gods promises of eternal Salvation that Christ deserved for us not in or by his body eaten but by and for his body slain and killed upon the Cross for our Sinns as S. Paul saith Col. 1. Eph. 1.3 Ebru 2.7 8 9 10. As for eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloud really corporally materially and substantially it is but a carnal and gross opinion of man besides and contrary to the word of God and the articles of our faith and christen religion that affirmeth his corporal departure from th earth placeth it in heaven above at the right hand of God the father Almighty and keepeth retaineth holdeth and preserveth the same corporal body of Christ there til the general day of judgment as the word declareth From thence he shal come to judge the quick and the dead And that heretofore I have been in the contrary opinion and believed my self and also have taught other to believe the same that there remained no substance of bread and wine in the Sacrament but the very self same body and bloud of Christ Jesu that was born of the blessed Virgin Mary and hanged upon the Cross I am with al my heart sorry for mine error and false opinion detesting and forsaking the same from the bottome of my heart and desire God most heartily in and for the merits of his dear sons passion to forgive me and al them that have erred in the same false opinion by and through my means Praying them in the tender compassion and great mercies of God now to follow me in truth verite and singleness of Gods most true word as they were contented to follow me in error superstition and blindness and be no more ashamed to turn to the truth then they were ready to be corrupted by falshood If the holy Apostle S. Paul and the great Clerk S. Augustine with many mo Noble and vertuous members of Christs church were not ashamed to returne acknowledge and confess their error and evil opinions what am I miserable creature of the world inferior unto them both in knowledg holines and learning that should be ashamed to do the same Nay I do in this part thank God and rejoyce from the bottome of my heart that God hath revealed unto me the truth of his word and geven me leave to live so long to acknowledg my fault and error and do here before you protest that from henceforth I will with al diligence and labor study to set forth this mine amended knowledg and reconciled truth as long as I live by the help of God in the holy Ghost through the merits of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate To whom be al honor for ever and ever Amen Subscribed and confirmed 29 of April 1551. in the presence of John Bp. of Gloucester and divers other ther present NUM LXIV The Archbishop to the Lords of the Councel concerning the Book of Articles of Religion AFter my veray humble recommendations unto your good Lordeships I have sent unto the same the boke of Articles which yesterday I receyved from your Lordeships I have sent also a Cedule inclosed declarynge briefly my minde upon the said boke besechynge your Lordeshipps to be means unto the Kyngs Majestie that al the Bushops may have authority from hym to cause all their Prechers Archdecons Deans Prebendaries Parsons Vicars Curates with al their Clergie to subscribe to the said articles And than I trust that such a concorde and quyetness in religion shal shortely follow therof as ells is not to be loked for many years God shal therby be glorified his truth shal be avaunced and your Lordeships shal be rewarded of hym as the setters forward of his true word and gospel Unto whom is my dayly prayer without ceasynge to preserve the Kynges Majestie with al your honorable Lordeships From my house at Forde the 24 of this present month of November Your Lordeshipps ever to commaunde T. Cant. To my veray good Lordes of the Kinges Majestie his most honor able Councel NUM LXV The Archbishop nominates certain persons for an Irish Archbishoprick To my veray Lovinge friende Sir William Cecyl Knight one of the Kinges Majesties principal Secretaries THough in England there be many meete men for the Archbushopricks of Ireland yet I knowe veraye fewe that wil gladlie be perswaded to go thither Nevertheless I have sent unto you the names of iiij Viz. Mr. Whiteheade of Hadley Mr. Tourner of Caunturbury Sir Thomas Rosse and Sir Robert Wisdome Which being ordinarily called I thincke for conscience sake wil not refuse to bestowe the talent committed unto theim wheresoever it shal please the Kinges Majestie to appoincte theim Among whom I take Mr. Whiteheade for his good knowledge special honestie fervent zeale and politick wisdome to be most meete And next him Mr. Tourner who besides that hee is merry and witty withal nihil appetit nihil ardet nihil somniat nisi Iesum Christum and in the lively preaching of him and his wourde declareth such diligence faithfulness and wisdom as for the same deservithe much commendation There is also one Mr. Whitacre a man both wise and wel learned Chaplain to the Bushopp of Winchester veray meet for that office if he might be perswaded to take it upon him I pray you commend me unto Mr. Cheke and declare unto him that myn ague whither it were a quotidian or a double tertian wherof my Physitions doubted hath left me these two dayes and so I
such men should be driven from them provided they do reside a good part of the year upon their Churches V. Since the Dispensation of two or three benefices hath been granted by former Princes to some Priests for the merit of their life and maners they cannot without injury be deprived of them Nor yet can they in al respects reside personally and perpetually VI. When many have designed their sons for the Universities and have been at no smal charges to give them learning because they have entertained good hope that they might hereafter be assistant to their friends and relations this hope being gone their care about this matter wil also grow cold otherwise of it self cold enough For as he said Where there is no honor there is no Art VII The houses of the Rectories in many places are either ruined or none at al or let out by Indentures Going to the Court of Rome Going to a General Councel Going to a Synod or Parlament Violent detaining Remedies That there be a les number of those that follow the Court who heap up benefices upon benefices That they who have many Benefices reside a certain time upon each That a way be found wherby such as live in Towns and Cities may be forced to pay Personal tiths Which being now almost quite taken a way the Benefices in such places are in a great part lessened When some of the Bishops by reason of the slendernes of their possessions cannot afford Stipends to the Priests their fellow laborers that they who serve them reside for a certain time of the year in their own parishes That Rectors who heretofore have payd pensions to Monasteries in ready mony be not now compelled to pay the same in bread-corn to Lay-proprietors That in Woody places where the custome hath alwayes obtained tith may be payd of Sylvae caeduae that is Wood that is cut to grow again especially when there is a great scarcity of corn in such places Parishes are not divided jure divino Whence followeth that as many Benefices may be layd into one so one by reason of the greatnes of it may be divided into two NUM LXXXIX Pole Cardinal Legate to Archbishop Cranmer in answer to the Letter he had sent to the Queen ALmighty God the Father by the grace of his only son god and man that dyed for our sins may geve yow trew and perfect repentance This I daylie pray for my self being a Synner but I thank God never obstinate synner And the same grace the more earnestly I do pray for to be geven to them that be obstinate the more neade they have thereof being otherwise past al mannes cure and admonition to save them As your open sayings in open audience doyth show of yow Which hath cawsed that those judges that hath syt apon the examination of your greviouse fautes seing no lykelod of ony repentaunce in yow hath utterlie cast awaye al hope of your recoverie Whereof doith follow the most horrible sentence of condempnation both of your body and soule both your temporal death and eternal Which is to me so great an horrour to here that if there were ony way or mean or fashion that I might fynd to remove you from errour bryngeng yow to the knowledge of the truth for your Salvation This I testifie to you afore God apon the Salvation of myne owne sowle that I would rather chuse to be that meane that yow might receive this benefyt by me then to receive the greatest benefyt for my self that can be geven under heaven in this world I easteme so moch the salvation of one sowle And becawse it happened to me to see your private lettres directed to the Qwenes Highnes sent by the same unto me wherein you utter and express such appearaunt reasons that cause yow to swarve from the rest of the Church in these Articles of the authoritie of the Pope and of the Sacrament of the aulter Concluding with these words That if ony man can show yow by reason that the authoritie of the Pope be not prejudicyal to the wealth of the realm or that your doctrine in the Sacrement be erroneous then you wold never be so perverse to stond wylfullie in your own opinion but shal with al humilitie submytt your self to the truthe in al things and gladly embrace the same Thise your words written in that lettre geveth me some occasion desyring your wealth not utterly to dispayr thereof but to attempt to recover yow by the same way that yow open unto me Which is by reason to show yow the error of your opinion and withal the light of the treuthe in both causes But whither this may healp yow indede or bring you to revoke the same with trew repentaunce this I know not and I fear moche the contrarie For that I see the ground and begynning how you fel into errour in both thise articles not to be of that sort that maketh men commonly to fall into errours and heresies Which sort and way is by medling with your wyt and discourse natural to examen the Articles of the faith Makeing your reason judge thereof which ought to bee judged and ruled by the tradition of the faith Which abuse causeth men dayly to fall into errours and heresies And the same also is in yow and is joyned with that yow have done But here standeth not the grownde of your errour nor yet in this other common maner of faulling from the trouthe which S. Paul noteth in the Gentiles and is in al meâ— commonlie that followeth their sensual appetites Qui veritatem Dâ—i in injustitia detinent Which thing also hath been occasion of your â—rrour But yet not this is the very grownde thereof but a further sawte that you geveng your othe to the truthe yow mocked with the same as the Iewes mocked with Christ when thei saluted him saing Ave Rex Iudaeorum and afterwards did crucifie hym For so did yow to the Vicar of Christ Knowledgeng the Pope of Rome by the words of your othe to be so and in mynde entendeng to crucifie the same authoritie Whereof came the plague of deape ignoraunce and blyndnes unto yow Which is now that bringeth you to this greivous peryl to perish both bodie and sowle From which peril no reason can deliver yow But yow discovereng your self touching the entrie when yow shuld make the customable othe of al legitimate Busshops in Christendom which is the dore for you to entre to the service of God in the highest spiritual office withyn this realme and seeing you made the same but for a countenaunce nothing meaneng to observe that yow promised by the othe this is a dore that every thieffe may entre bye This is not the dore that thei entre by that mean earnestlie the service of God Wherein the Prophets sentence is playne askeng this question Quis ascendet in montem Domini aut quis stabit in loco sancto ejus And then answering to the same
his body and bloode that is showed in the forme of bread and wyne what reason wil admytt this What sence And how moche probable were this if this doctrine were taught as yow teach it to say that yow see in the forme of bread and wyne is a figure only of the body of Christ that is in heaven whom in spirit in that figure yow do honour This maner no doubt were more probable sayeng to the ears of men that judge things other by reason or by sence But the more probable it is the more false it is the great Sophister and father of al lyes ever deceaving us by probabilitie of reason proponyng ever that which is more aggreable to the sence But the trew doctrine of Christ is taught by another way Here is another deficiency being faullen therein not so moche for fawte or abuse of reason as by malice against reason And such I say no hand can cure no reason no discourse but onlie that it please the high mercy of god that doith chastise your malicious handleng of the truth with such ignoraunce and darknes to withdraw his hond of vengeaunce apon yow for otherwise you heareng reason and seeing some light thereof yet yow have not so moche grace as to receive it nor follow it This is the thing I greatlie fear in yow haveng knowledge of your procedyng syneth your furst notable errour in rejecteng the doctryne of the Popes Supremiâ—ie and afterward of the Sacrement which as I said afore was not after the common maner of faulleng as other did by curiositie or by frailtie but by deliberate malice to forsake the trouthe in both poinctes to satisfie your carnal appetites to the which yow dissembleng furst and mockeng with the treuthe and afterward openlie forsakeng the same did serve you Which as yet yow do not knowledg and this must be the first things that you shuld knowledg makeng open confession with repentaunce thereof if yow shal ever come to receive ony fructe of the mercy of god So that if I now that desire your recover shuld go about by way of discourse or argument to bryng yow from your errour to the truth this must be the furst poyncte to show how you fell into the same darkness to the entent that God so moche remytteng his hond of justice that yow may se your abhomination in abuseng the truth you might knowledge by feare the justice of god in letteng yow faul into so great darkness and by the hope of his infinite mercy caull to hym for grace to be restored to some lyght of his infallible veritie And this I with al my heart prayeng for yow in the mean season untyl God give yow the grace to do the same for your self shal withal open unto yow the maner of your faulle Touching your furst Article of the Popes authoritie which I nede not open ony further then you have opened your self nor cannot better express it then you have set it furth I haveng no knowledge thereof but by your own sayng and wryting for defence of perjurie objected to yow And now mark yow wel if yow have any sence of knowledge left unto yow to see your self and your own dedes if ever there were hard such kynd of a defence in ony perjurie of onie man that had left hym onye light of reason or knowledge of justice Which for to know furst yow must be put in remembrance of the kynde of your othe and the maner of makeng thereof The kynd was such that it was no new othe but the very same that al Archbusshops of Canterburie which be Primates of this realme al Archbusshops and Busshops in every christen realme doith accustomable make to the Popes holines as to the Vicar of Christ in earth swearing to hym obedience Such was your othe And as touching the maner of makeng of it none could be more solempne being made in the hond of a Busshop with the testimonye and assistence of other Busshops openly in the Church in the presence of as moche people as the church could hold at such tyme as yow arraid with the sacred vesture of a Busshop cam afore the aultre to be consecrated Archbusshop Al this yow cannott nor do not denye nor yet that after al this solempne and open othe yow did directlie and openlie against the same Which must necessarilie condempne yow of perjurie But this necessarie consequence yow denie granteng notwithstondyng to have done contrary to the oth But yow say for your defence that where yow went to make the othe even then yow never thought to observe it And least this shuld be an inconvenient and a thing moche dommagious unto your fame and eastimation if it were not wel known that you swore one thing in the most solempne fâ—shion yow could and ment another here yow bring such a testimony by wryting yow bryng furth a previe Protestation made with previe witnesses haveng the hond and signe of the Notarie to prove that when yow went to make that solempne othe yow were nothing mynded to observe it Which former Protestation whereto doith it serve but to testify a doble perjurie which is to be forsworne afore yow did swere Other perjurers be wont to break their oth after they have sworne yow brake it afore Quis sapiens intelliget haec intelliget malitiam Satanae And a wonderful aggravation of the wrath of God towards yow But let the malice of Sathan be furst considered in deludeng yow when yow thought to delude other This delusion was this That because it had bene hard some Protestations to be made also of some good men in a case when thei not beyng at their own choise and libertie when per vim metum qui aliquando cadit in constantem virum they be made to swere to that which afterward they have done contrarie to their former oth In which case a Protestation excuseng the Wil and alledgeng the feare hath some colour of defence This I say yow hearyng and Sâ—than puttyng yow in remembrance hereof with the similitude of this deluded yow Makeng yow beleve that such a kynd of Protestation might serve for a premeditate perjurie Wherunto yow were not driven nother vi nor metu as yow were not in this your case except yow caul that a just fear that yow dyd sâ—e if yow did not sweare you could not satisfie your ambition and covetousnes in haveng the Busshoprick For so it was Leave yow thise two affections care yee not for to be made Busshop and who dyd constrayne yow to sweare Were yee not by that refuse quite delivered of al necessitie to sweare This also ye cannot denye Whereunto therefore serveth your Protestation made by the hand of a Notarie but to make your previe perjurie more notoriouslie known but to make it known to the world that yow entreng to the rule of a part of the flock of Christ yow entred not in by the dore and not entreng by the dore but aliunde