The Authority of the Word of God Against the Bishop of London

Of the authority of the word of god.

A Boat .v. yere agone I wrote to the noble king of scottys the father of my contry complaing of a certain proclamacyon wherein the bisshops had forbidden the holy scripture to be redd in the mother tongue. I answered also to certain slaunderos lies of cochleus / whom the bisshops had hired to spewe out all the poison in his bely against me. For I was at antwerp whan a contry man of mine whose name was John foster did send a sonme of money unto Cochleus by a merchant from the bishop of. S. Andrew's which giveth him yearly so long as he liveth a certain stipend. And it chāced by the goodness of god / whereby he discloseth the wickedness of these hipocytes / that a pistle of Cochleus which he sent unto a certain bishop of pole / came unto my hands / wherein he complaineth that he hath gret loss and evil fortune in setting forth of books for as much as no man will wetesaue to rede his books. And he beggeth a y • rely stipend of the bisshops of pole saying that he hath been nobly rewarded of the king of scottys and of the archbisshop of. s. Andrew's and of the bishop of glasguo. And were it not for the love of my contry and of the kings grace I would cause his pistle to be printed with the copy of the kings letters which he send unto a certain bishop of pole / & because he shall know that I have a copy of the kings letters the king doth write manifestly that Cochleus boke did more please him for the cōmendacyon of Kyng Ferdinandus and of Erasmus than for any study or diligence of the autor. I will not utter other things contained in the said letters neither would I have disclosed thus much but that I would wissh that the king were admonisshed to cōsidre whether cochleus were a man worthy to be presented with his letters and his princely reward or no. And because I would avoid the furios envy of this blasphemos impudent railer whō the bisshops had hired to bark against me (for beside slanderos raylyng words he made me no answer at all / and he threatened me that he would send me home again if he could bring it to pass / unto the bisshops with my hands bownd behind me) for the which cause / I say / I did cast in my mind to change again that cōtry where I was specially seeing I was called in to Ingland by the right noble lord Crumwel and the Archbisshop of canterbery. for the railing wretch Cochleus did manifestly wright that he was sorer grieved with me for dwelling in that place where I did remain / than he was with my matter or with any other thing else. I considered that christ gave place sometimes unto the furiosnes of the Jews & again that curr dogs which be tied at men's gates to bark / whā no man is by them thā thei sleep and make no besynes at all. And therefore I thought to avoid his railing writings by no means so well / as if I should goo in to Ingland and even stop mine ears at his rauyng. And in deed I was not deceived / for the serpent left his hissing / and I was lovingly received not only of the Archbisshop / and of the honorable lord Crumwel / but even of the right noble king himself also / and I was sent unto Cambridge to read a lecture of the scripture there / but the cross followeth alweys Christ's doctrine / where soever it goeth / & the deuel hath ever envy that christ should have any rest / for even in the wilderness he would not suffer him to be quiet a lone / until he had brought him unto the cross. I had scasely declared out the .viii. psalm / but I perceived mine enemy going a bout to wrap me in contencions. the which although I hate naturally and have studied always to my pour to avoid them / yet I never submitted myself cowardly to the deuel nor never recanted anything sins I had any knoulege of Christ's true gospel. And whan I would have made answer there for such doctrine as I had taught / I came to the schools of the vniuersite where a gret number of auditors was gathered / and there before the whole multitude I tarried an howr or ii looking whan mine adversary should come. but he although he refrayned from disputacyon (for what purpose or consideracyon I cannot tell) yet he conspired me such envy that there were some that were not a frayd to threaten me that it should cost me my life which thing after I had opened to the vychanceler by the council of certain of the wisest men there / and saw him wink at the matter / I gave place to this malice also and departed from thens / specially for as much as I perceived there were statutes sent forth from the bisshops and from the whole council of the reame which were such that it had been wickedness not to have spoken openly against them and yet to have reproved them it should have been counted a point of sedicyon. The man was not hyndered nor put in fear by me / but the chanceler of the vniuersyte which sent me thither by the commandment of the king would suffer none of his vniuersyte to speak against any of the common laws. wherfor I determined with myself to serve the time and to change the preaching of the cross with the scyence of physik wherein I had a little sight before / And thus I went unto a very well learned phisyciā called doctor Nicolas which hath practiced phisyk in lōdō thes many years with high praise / whose company I did use certain years whereby I did both see and lern many things even the principal points concerning that science. In so much that at length certain of my frindes did move me to take in hand to practice / which thing I did I trust not vnluckyly. But yet not withstonding this / contrary to all my expectacion I chanced to fall again in to such a disputacyon as I was in before / and in manner with like aduersarys / for before I was vexyd with my contry bisshops and with an hired railer Cochleus about the reading of the scripture in the mother tongue. And it fortuned me to have a like contencion with certain bisshops of Ingland (which maintain still the bishop of rome so far as thei dare) whether all things necessary unto our salvation be contained in the scripture / or but a part only and the resydue to be taken out of the glosses of the doctors / out of the acts of old councils and out of popes lousy decreys. And unto this disputaciō I came suddenly unprepared / for as I did mete bi chance in the streate the right excellent lord Crumwel going unto the parliament house in the year .1537. he whan he saw me / called me unto him / & toke me with him to the parlamēt house to westmyster where we fownd all the bisshops gathered to gether. unto whom as he went and toke me with him / all the bisshops and prelates did rise up and did obeisance unto him as to their vicar general and after he had saluted them he sat him down in the highest place & right against him sat the Archibisshop of cantorbery / after him the Archbisshop of yorke / and than London / Lincoln / Salisbery / Bathe Eli / Herford / Chichester / Norwich / Rochester and Worcester and certē other whose names I have forgoten / all these did sit • at a table covered with a carpet with certē prystes standing about them.

Than the lord Crumwel being vicar general of the reame / lord of the preuy seal and chief secret counceler unto the king turned himself to the bisshops & said. Right reverend fathers in christ / The kings majesty giveth yow high thanks that ye have so diligently without any excuse assembled hither according to his commandment / and ye be not ignorant that ye be called hither to determine certain cōtrouersys which at this time be moved concerning the christen religion and faith not only in this reame but also in all nations thorowt the world: for the king studieth day & night to set a quietness in the church / and he can not rest until all such controuersis be fully debated and ended thorough the determinacyon of yow and of his whole parliament. For all though his special desire is to set a stey for the unlearned people whose consciences are in dout what thei may bileue / and he him self by his excellent learning knoweth these controuersys welinough / yet he will suffer no common alteracyon / but by the consent of yow and of his whole parlamēt By the which thing ye may perceive both his high wisdom / and also his gret love toward yow / & he desiereth yow for Christ's sake that all malice obstynacy & carnal respect set apart / ye will frindly & lovingly dispute among yourselves of the cōtrouersys moved in the church and that ye will conclude all things by the word of god without all brauling / or scolding / neither will his magesty suffer the scripture to be wr • stead & defaced by any glosys / any papistical laws or by any authority of doctors or councils and much less will he admit any articles or doctrine not contained in the scripture but approved only by cōtynuance of time and old custom and by vnwritton verytes as ye were wont to do. Ye know well inough that ye be bound to show this service to christ & to his church & yet notwithstōding his magesty will give you high thanks / if ye will set & conclude a godly and a perfight vnyte / whereunto this is the only way and mean if ye will determine all things by the scripture as god commādeath yow in deuteronomy / which thing his majesty exhorteth and desireth yow.

Whan the lord crumwel had spoken his mind after this sort with high grauyte (as he was a man of a gret wit / of excellent wisdom and of goodly eloquence) all the bisshops did rise up and gave thanks to the kings majesty for his fervent study and desire toward an unite and for this vertuos exhortation most worthy a christen king. After this began thei to dispute of the sacraments. And first of all the bishop of london which was an ernest defender of the popes part / whom a litel before the lord crumwel had rebuked by name for defending of vnwritton verites / this bishop of london / I say / went about to defend that there were .vii. sacraments of our christē religion which he would prove by certē stinking glosses and old lousy writers / and he had up on his side the Archbisshop of york the bishop of lincoln / bath / chichyster and norwich / The bishop of salisbery / Eli / herford and worcester and certē other with the Archbisshop of Cantorbery / were against him. And after thei had made much strife and cōtencyon about the saings of the doctors one contrary to a nother / The bishop of cantorbery spake and said thus. It besemeth not men of learning & grauyte to make moche babbling and brauling about bare words so that we agree in the very substance and effect of the matter. For to brawl about words Is the property of sophisters and such as mean disceight and suttilty which delight in the debate and dissencyon of the world and in the miserable state of the church / and not of them which should seek the glory of christ and should study for the vnyte and quietness of the church. There be weighty controuersis now moved & put forth / not of ceremonis & light things but of the true understanding and of the right difference of the law and of the gospel / of the manner and way how sins be forgiven / of cowmforting doutful and wavering consciences by what means thei may be certifyed that thei please god seeing thei fele the strength of the law accusing them of sin / of the true use of the sacraments / whether the outward work of them doth iustifye man or whether we receive our iustificacyon thorough faith. Item which be the good works and the true service and honor which pleaseth god / and whether the choice of meats / the difference of garments / the vowys of monks and priests and other tradicyōs which have no word of god to cōfirm them / whether these / I say / beright good works and such as make a perf • ght christen man or no. Item whether vain service and false honoryng of god and man's tradicyons do bind men's consciences or no. Finally whether the ceremonis of confirmacyon / of orders and of annealing and such other (which cannot be proved to be institute of christ nor have any word in them to certifye us of remissyon of sins) ought to be called sacraments and to be compared with baptism and the supper of the lord or no. Thes be no light maters but even the principal points of our christen religiō / wherfor we contend not about words and trifles but of high and ernest matters. Christ saith. Blessed be the peace makers / for thei shall be called the sonnys of god And Paul commandeth bisshops to avoid brawling and cōtencion about words which be profitable to nothing but unto the subversion and destructiō of the hearers. and be monissheth specially that he should resist with the scriptures whan any man disputeth with him of the faith & he addeth a cause where as he saith. Doing this thou shalt preserve both thyself and also them which hear the. Now if ye will follow th • se councellers Christ and Paul / all contencyon and brauling about words must be set apart and ye must stablissh a godly and a perfight vnyte & concord out of the scripture. Wherfor in this disputaciō we must first agree of the number of the sacraments and what a sacrament doth signify in the holy scripture / and whan we cal baptyme and the supper of the lord sacraments of the gospel / what we mean thereby. I know right well that. s. Ambrose and other authors call the wasshīg of the disciples fete and other things / sacraments / which I am sure yow yourselves would not suffer to be numbered among the other sacraments.

This exhortation did the archbisshop make most soberly & discretely as he is a man of a singular grauyte / with such swetenes that it did my heart good to hear him And because I did signify bi some token of my countnance that this admonicyō of the archbisshop did please & delight me excellētly well / the lord cromwel bad me speak what I thought of this disputacyō / but he told the bisshops before that I was the kings scolar and therefore he desired them to be content to hear me indifferently. Than I after the rude manner of the schools rather than after any courtly solemnyte / bowing my knee for a token of curtesy and reverence / as It became me / without any preface at all / begā to speak after this manner. Ryght honorable & noble lord and yow most reverend fathers and prelates of the church / although I come unprepared unto this disputacyon / yet trusting in the aid of christ which promiseth to give both mouth and wisdom unto us whan we be required of our faith / I will utter my sētense and judgment of this disputacyon. And I think that my lord archbisshop hath given you a profitable exhortation that ye should first agree of the significacyon of a sacrament. whether ye will call a sacrament a ceremony institute of christ in the gospel to signify a special or a singular vertu of the gospel and of godliness (as paul namith remissyon of sins to be) or whether ye mene that every ceremony generally which may be a token or a significacyon of an holy thing / to be a sacrament. For after this latter significacyon I will not stike to grant yow that there be .vii. sacraments and more to If ye will. But yet Paul seemeth to describe a sacrament after the first significacion whereas he saith that circūcisiō is a token and a seal of the rightwisnes of faith: This diffinycion of one particular sacrament must be vnderstōd to pertain unto all sacraments generally / for the Jews had but one sacrament only as all the scholastical writers do grant. And he describeth baptyme after the same manner in the .v. to the Ephesians whereas he saith that Christ doth sanctifye the church) that is to say all that be baptized) thorough the bath of water in the word of life. For here also he addeth the word and promise of god unto the ceremony / and Christ also requireth faith where as he saith / who so ever bileueth and is baptized / shall be saved. And s. Agustine describeth a sacrament thus / The word of god coming unto the element / maketh the sacrament / and in a nother place he saith a sacrament is a thing wherein the pour of god under the form of visible things doth work secretly salvation. And the master of the sentences doth describe a sacrament no nother wise. A sacrament saith he is an inuysible grace and hath a visible form / and bi this inuysible grace I mean / saith he / remissyon of sins. Finally s. Thomas denieth that any mā hath authority to institute a sacrament. Now if ye agree unto this diffinicyon of a sacrament / it is an easy thing to judge of the number of those sacraments which have the manifest word of god and be institute bi christ to signify unto us the remissyon of our sins. s. Agustine saith that there be but .ii. such sacraments in the .cxviij. pistle unto Ianuarius: His words be these. First I would have the to vnderstōd the some and effect of this disputacyō / which is this that our lord Jesus Christ (as he himself saith in the gospel) hath ladē us but with a light and easy yock or burden. Wherefore he hath glued the fellowship of his new people with sacraments / very few in number / very easy to be kept / and very excellent in signifycacyon / which be baptyme and the supper of the lord and such other if there be any moo commanded in the holy scripture those except which were burdens for the seruytute of the people in the old law for the hardness of their hearts et ce. And again in the .iii. boke of the learning of a Christian man he saith the scripture hath taught us but few signs / as be the sacrament of baptyme and the solemn celebracyon and remembrance of the body and blode of the lord et ce.

The bishop of london could scarcely suffer me to speak thus much / but he brake forth and said thus unto me / where as ye affirm all right and true sacraments to be institute of Christ or to have the manifest scripture to prove them or that all sacraments must have a significacyō of remissyon of sins / It is all false. Than I answered that I would prove all that I had said to be true not only by the scripture but by the old doctors and by the school writers also.

But the bishop of herforth (whom the kings grace favored highly both for his singular wisdom and learning / which was thā new comne out of germany where he had been Imbassytor) being moved with the frowardness of this bishop of londō said unto me brother Alexander contend not much with him about the minds and sayngs of the doctors and school writers / for ye know that thei in many places do differ among them selves and that thei are contrary to them selves also almost in every article. And there is no hope of any concord to be made if we must lean to their judgments in these maters of controversy / and we be commanded by the kings grace to dispute by the holy scripture / et c. And he turned him to the bisshops and made a short and pythy oracyon. Think ye not / said he / that we can by any sophistical suttiltes steal out of the world again / the light which every man doth see / Christ hath so lightened the world at this time that the light of the gospel hath put to flight all misty darkness and it will shortly have the higher hand of all clouds though we resist in vain never so much. The lay people do now know the holy scripture better than many of us. And the germanes have made the text of the Bible so plain and easy by the hebrewe and the greek tōg that now many things may be better understand without any glosses at all than by all the commentarys of the doctors. And more over thei have so openned these controuersys by their writings that womē and childern may wonder at the blindness & falsehood that hath been hitherto. Wherfor ye must consider earnestly what ye will determine of these controuersys / that ye make not yourselves to be mocked and laughed to storne of all the world / and that ye bring them not to have this opinion of yow to think ever more here after that ye have neither one spark of learning nor yet of godliness in yow. And thus shall ye lose all your estimacyon and authority with them which before toke yow for learned men and profitable members unto the common wealth of Christendom. For that which yow do hope upon / that there was never heresy in the church so gret but that process of time with the pour and authority of the pope hath quenched it / it is nothing to the purpose. But ye must turn your opinyon and think this surely that there is nothing so feeble and weak / so that it be true / but it shall find place and be able to stand against all falsehood. Truth is the daughter of time / and time is the mother of truth. And what so ever is beseged of truth cannot long continue / and upon whose side truth doth stand / that ought not to be thought transitory or that it will ever fall. All things consist not in painted eloquence & strength or authority. For the truth is of so gret pour / strength and efficacite / that it cā neither be defended with words nor be ouercomne with any strength / but after she hath hidden hir self long / at length she putteth up hir head and appeareth / and as it is written in Esdra / a king is strong / wyne is strongar / yet women be more strong But truth excellyth all.

He spake many more things to this purpose & effect very discretely to the high delight of all that hard him. And I thinking myself to be encoraged by his oracyon / I began thus to reason against the bishop of london.

Sacraments be signs or ceremonys which make us certē and sure of the will of god. But no man's heart can be certain and sure of the will of god without the word of god / wherfor it followeth that there be no sacraments without the word of god / and such as cannot be proved out of the holy scripture ought not to be called sacraments. The first part of this reason is Sanct Paul's own saying the .iv. to the Romans where he saith that circumcisyon is a tokē and a seal of the rightwisnes of faith. Ergo it requireth faith to certify man's heart of the will of god. But the word of god is the foundacyon of faith / the .x. to the Roma. Faith cometh bi hearing / and hearing cometh by the word of god. For the mind must be taught and instruct of the will of god by the word / like as the ey is taught & instruct by the outward ceremony. And Paul by this saying confuteth this opinyō that the sacraments should make mē rightuos and just before god for the very outward work without faith of them that receive thē and after this manner doth Paul speak unto the Ephesyans that christ doth sanctify his church thorough the bath of water in the word of life. And for as much as he joineth the word unto the ceremony & declareth the vertu and pour of the word of god that it bringeth with him life / he doth manifestly teach that the word of god is the principal thing & euyn as it were the very substance and body of the sacrament and the outward ceremony nothing else thā a token of that lively inflāmacyon which we receive thorough faith in the word and promise. S. Paul also in ministering the sacrament of the lords supper doth manifestly add the words of Christ: He toke bread / saith he / and whan he had given thanks he brake it and said / take ye this and eat ye this for it is my body. Item do ye this in my rememberans. Beside this he teacheth evidently that only christ and none but he had pour to institute a sacrament and that neither the apostles nor the church hath any authority to alter or to add anything unto his ordinance / where as he saith / For I received of the lord that which I d • lyuered unto yow et ce. To what purpose should he go a bout to move the people to bileue him and to wīne their hearts with this protestacyon if it had been lauful for him to have made any sacraments or to have altered the form & manner of ministering this sacrament / as some men both wickedly and shamelessly do affirm that the apostles did alter the form of baptyme. Whā I had spoken thus much / the bishop of lōdon did interrupt me / and said / let us grant that the sacraments may be gathered out of the word of god / yet are you far deceived if ye think that there is no nother word of god but that which every sowter and cobler do read in their mother tongue. And if ye think that nothing pertaineth unto the Christian faith but that only that is writton in the byble / than err ye plainly with the Lutherans. For. S. Johan saith that Jesus did many things which be not writton. And. S. Paul commandeth the Thessalonians to observe and keep certē vnwritton tradicyons and ceremonys .ii. Thessa. ii. Moreover he himself did preach not the scripture only but even also the tradicyons of the elders Act. xvj. Finally we have received many things of the doctors and councils by times which although thei be not writton in the bible / yet for as much as the old doctors of the church do make mencyon of thē / we ought to grant that we received them of the apostles / and that thei be of like autoryte with the scripture / and finally that thei may worthily be called the word of god vnwritton.

Now whan the right noble lord Crumwel / the Archbisshop with the other bisshops which did defend the pure doctrine of the gospel hard this / thei smyled alytle one vpō a nother for as much as thei saw him flee even in the very beginning of the disputacyon unto his old rusty sophistry and vnwritton verites. And I would have disputed further with the bishop to have confuted this blasphemos lie / But the lord Crumwel bad me be content for the time began to go away and it was .xii. of the clock / and thus I made an end with this protestacyon. Right reverend master bishop ye deny that our Christ̄ faith and religyō doth lean only upon the word of god which is writton in the bible / which thing if I can prove and declare / than ye will grant me that there be no sacraments but those that have the manifest word of god to confirm them / unto this he did consent and than immediately that assemble was dissolved for that day.

Now the next day whan the bisshops were assembled again and I was present with the lord crumwel / there came unto me a certē archdeacon in the name of the archbisshop of cantorbery which told me that the other bishops were greuosly offended w • th me / that I being a stranger should be admitted unto their disputacyō / which thing whan I had shown unto the lord crumwel he thought it best to give place unto the bisshops specially because he would not procure me their hatred / for he knew well that if thei had ones conceived in their hearts any malice against any mā thei would never cease til thei had gotē him out of the way / and thei had before brought to death diverse whom the king did highly favor / before the king himself (whom thei moved by all means to put them to execucyon quickly) could perceive & spy out their craft and suttilty. But he bad me give him the paper wherein I had writton my disputacyon that he might show it to the bishop of londō & to the other bisshops in the council / the cōtents whereof was this.

Right honorable and noble lord / and ye right reverend fathers / yesterday whan I disputed of the sacraments with the bishop of london / we came thus far that those only ought to be called sacraments which have the word of god for them / and this point only remained to be further declared that nothing ought to be taken for the word of god but only the holy books of the old and new testament. For the bishop of london affirmed that the traditions and ceremonys whereof the old ecclesiastical writers do make mencyon / were received of the apostles and given us of the fathers from hand to hand and therefore thei may be laufully called the word of god vnwrittō / and our faith must be proved by them as well as by the holy scripture which is writton in the bible.

Now I have determined to confute this saying and opinyō and to show by the manifest testimonys of christ / of the Apostles of the prophets and also of the old doctors that the Christian faith ought to lean only upon the holy scripture and that the books of the old & new testament only ought to be had and taken for the word of god. And because there hangeth a nother disputacyō upon this / that is to say / of the authority of the doctors and of councils / I will also speak of them. For cochleus and other blasphemos liars which for the bellys sake have salable tūges and in whom the saying which Paul alledgeth against them that maintain wicked doctrine for their bellys sake doth very well agre / saying. The cretyās are alweys false liars / wicked beasts and slow bellys. These hypocrites I say / do plainly hold that the church (that is to say the bisshops / as thei vnderstond) hath pour to judge over the scripture and to examyne it / and also that it hath authority to allow or to refuse the gospel / and to dispense with the .x. commandments and to alter the form of baptyme and to make new articles of our faith beside those which be contained in the scripture. Some there be that speak yet more reverently saying that thei contend not of the scripture or of the word of god but of the exposicyon thereof which thei will have to be taken and sought of the church and of the doctors which be allowed of the church / unto whose judgment thei say we ought to stand in all cōtrouersys of our faith what so ever thei deer whether thei have any scripture for them or no.

This sophistical suttelty although it hath more coning than the first gross blasphemy / yet it is to the same effect and thei both have one end and defend both one opinion. But yet / before the bishop of londō / there was never none so far past shame as to say that the rites and ceremonys in the church which cannot be proved by the scripture ought to be called the word of god unwritten▪ and that we ought to byld our faith up on them as up on the holy scripture written in the bible.

This threfold maze / or rather one tra •• formed .iii. ways / covered & painted with diverse words hath those reasons onli to cōfirm it which the bishop did before allege for the vnwritton word / and certē other which I will rehearse and confute in the end of this writing.

But first I will beat down this gross blasphemy / and I will show and declare that our whole faith and all the articles of the christē religiō be contained in the scripture of the prophets and apostles / so that a christen man is bownd to byleue no other thing than such things as may be proved out of that scripture.

This horrible blindness of men / and the boldness & malycyos obstinacy which followeth therup on (wherthorow thei blaspheme god and his holy word / ) is rather to be lamented than to be convict with many reasons the thing being so manifest. But the nearer that the brightness of the son of reightwisnes doth come / and the more clearly that the light of the gospel doth shine / so much more blinder and more obstynate are the unfaithful made / in so much verily that thei are more blynder now in the gret light than thei were before and thei stomble in very deed up on the stomblyng stone and up on the rock of sclander. For the false teachers even whan thei were in the most blind darkness were never so bold nor impudent as to break out in to such a blasphemy as to say the church might make new articles of the faith not cōteyned in the scripture / or that it hath authority to dispēse with the .x. cōmandmēts and to alter the form of baptyme. Gerson / duns / dorbel / Decam / Tomas / Bonauēture / do plainly condemn this heresy / and thei affirm that the truth revealed of god and contained in the body of the bible or in the holy scripture / is the foundation of our faith / that is to say the thing where up ō our faith ought to be bylded / & thei would never have byleued that there should ever be so gret blindness in the church that any man should be so bold as to affirm that the articles of the christen faith ought to be sought not in the scripture but in the glosses of men and in bisshops laws / or that man's traditions / rites and ceremonys received in the church and not contained in the scripture / ought to be called the word of god vnwritton.

But I will cease my cōplayning seeing I know that now is the latter time whereof the prophets / christ / and the apostles did prophecy that there should come false prophets which should face out the gospel and imagyne a new gospel even stynking / hethenyssh / old wiuyssh and capcyos fables invented by the suttyl wit of man as peter and paul call them / and of these false prophets (that is to say Antichrist) did daniel christ and paul admonissh us that he should extolle himself a boue god and should rob god of his name / pour / wisdom / and mercy and should accuse him of right wisnes / cruelnes and weakness & vnabylyte / which thing we do manifestly see in manner in all their doctrynes / as in their pardons / in the popes your / in purgatory / in private masses / in the prayng unto saints / in worshipyng of Images / in the vows of monks and priests / and in all man's tradicyons. And I pray yow is not this to accuse god of ignorance / of malice and of sluggisshnes & neclygence / to say that god hath not writton in his holy books of scripture all things necessary unto our salvation? as though either he did not remember all things whan he gave the scripture to be writton / or else that he could not tell all things or else that he hid certē things from us of purpose that so he might damn and destroy us where as he had said before evidently that we should be judged at the latter day by the word which he had spoken unto us. But thei be so blinded by the deuel that thei cannot perceive the abomination of this blasphemy.

Now to confirm all godly minds / and to call them back from their dotyng I have gathered in order certain testimonys which do evidently prove that the wrytton word of god is the fowndacion of our christen faith and that all the articles of our christen faith ought to be prouyd by the holy scriptures.

The first is in the .iv. of Deuterono • ye shall not add unto the word which I speak unto yow neither mynissh from it. And who did ever expownd this to be understand of the vnwritton word before thes lying false prophetys and antichrystes? And if it ought to be vnderstōd of the writton scripture only / than do thei plainly against gods word which Imagyne that there should be any vnwritton word. But I am not ignorant how these mockers are wont to jest or scoff a way and to face owt this place / saying that there is one kind of adding which minyssheth / a nother which altereth / a nother which maketh largyer and a nother which fulfilleth / & thei grant that this saying refuseth all manner of addings saving the last manner / whereby the scripture is made more manifest and open. But to confute this fancy & Imaginacyon the manifest scripture is suffycyēt deute. the .vi. what I command that shalt thow do only unto the lord / thou shalt neither add nor minyssh anything. And in the last chapt. of the Apoca. Who so ever addeth anything unto this / the lord shall send him the plages which be writō in this boke / which place all the duns men even duns himself granteth that it ought to be vnderstond of the whole scripture. wherefor it is manifest that those sin against the commandment of god which affirm that there is any word of god vnwriton / like as thei do which expownd the scripture after their own fansis or give judgment of the will of god with owt the manifest word of god. For it is a deuillyssh lie to say that the scripture cannot be vnderstond with owt men's commontarys or glosys / because it is so dark & dowtful that it may be applied to cōfirm all manner of heresys. In the .xxviij. of deuter. are proffred benedyccyons of all sortys unto them that keep those things which are writton in the boke of the law. And in the .xxxij. chap. of the same boke Moses doth manifestly say thus: Set and fyxe your hearts vpō all the words which I testyfye unto you this day / that ye may command your childern to keep and observe all things which are writton in the boke of this law: for thei be not given and commanded unto yow in vain: but that everyone of you should live after them. Mark / here is everlasting life promised unto them which keep those things that are writton in the scripture. And Moses doth plainly say that this is the fynal and only cause why god would have his word to be writton / that all men in general and everyone in s • eciall of what order / degree or occupacyon so ever he be / should have the word of god where by thei might be saved. wherupō it followeth that it is a manifest blasphemy to say that we may be saved or damned by any tradicyōs of man. And here thei are conuyct to be starck idyotes which asscrybe this ignorance & neclygence unto god / as though he either could not or else would not cōmyt all articles necessary unto our salvation to be writton in the holy scripture. For thei declare euydently that thei know not the final cause why the scripture is given unto us / but thei Imagyne god to be like some ignorant poete which hath given us a patched and an vnperfight work. For god would that in the scripture / his will should shine as it were in a glass / and that the perfight image of his deyte (which paule calleth the prynt and seal of his substance) should appear therein. Item. s. John saith that this word doth shine in darkness / and that it is the light which shineth in men's hearts blinded of the devil thorough sin: and that christ doth open unto us the will of god thorough his gospel / which will no mortal man did ever know / but so far as this word which is in the fathers bosom / did open unto him. Wherfor we may perceive that it is not only thorough the ignorance of man that the word of god is thus blasphemed / but thorough the malice of the devil. For the deuel never ceaseth to disfigure this word / namely the son of god whom he despised before the world was made / and shall fight with him even with all his pour until the day of judgment.

In the .xvij. of deute. The king is commanded to have alweys in his hands and in his sight / the boke of the law / and to read owt of it all the days of his life / for this purpose that he should learn to fear his lord god. And for his study & diligence this promise is made him / that he should live long and that his kingdom should be given to many of his progeny & lynage. And would to god all christen kings and princes would think surely the reading of the holy books of scripture to be a part off their office, not to read them in latē which thei understand not / but so to read it as thei may learn the will of god / how he will be feared by his word only / and not by any popish laws and man's tradicyons. And if thei would do thus I durst surely warāt them both that thei should live longer / and also that thei should have less tumult and sedicyon in their life time. For now seeing thei play the tyrānes over the scripture and over the readers of it / it is no meruel that god doth ponissh them for their cruelnes / and that there be few of them but that die some shameful and cruel death / for such is the end of tirannes wont to be. Joachim king of Judah saw all his sons headed and he himself (his eyes before put out) was bownd and led presoner in to babylon / and it was said openly unto him because thow hast brent the boke of Iheremy there shall be none left of thy seed which shall sit upon the throne of dauid / and thy cark as shall be cast out in to the heat in the day time / and in to the frost in the night time.

Antiochus which commanded the holy books of scripture to be burnt perisshed miserably in desperacyon and thorough a meruelos fall. Both daniel and paul do testify that he was the figure of the last Antichrist that ever should be. Wherfor I will not spend my words in vain unto these most damnable Antichrists / but I write only for the comfort of the faithful / and for them which sin thorough ignorance / if it shall please god to put in to their hearts to knowledge the verity and to repent and come out of the devils snare at whose will and pleasure thei are now led captive prysoners. And because it were a long work to search all the aucthorytes thorowt the scripture / I will allege but one place more out of the law / and then will I come to the prophets and to the gospel. In the .xxx. of deutero. it is writton thus / The commandment which I give unto the is not above thy pour neither is it far from the / it is not set in heavē that thou canst laufully say / which of us all can clyme up in to heaven to bring it down unto us that we may hear what it is and fulfill it: Neither is it set beyond the see / that thou canst laufully say which of us all is able to swymme over the see and to fetch it unto us that we may hear what it is and fulfill that which is commanded unto us therein. But the word is nygh yea & very nygh unto the in thy mouth and in thy heart.

These words be spoken unto the glotēs and belly gods of this last time / which for all the gret pretence and outward show that thei make of holiness / and say that thei murder men for the preseruacyō of the true faith and of the autorycte of the church / yet thei declare euydently enough that thei deny the vertu of holiness seeing thei be spotted and shamefully defiled with blode / murder / whoredom / disceyte / and with all kinds of filthiness and of wickedness so that it may manyfestly appear that thei be fully persuaded that god taketh no care at all for mankind / yea that there is no god at all which will ponish these abhomynacyons? Leo the .x. called a cowncel to determine whether the soul of man were inmortal or no / and whan he had heard every man's sentence and mind he said that the matter was more diffycult than that he could determine or judge which part had strongar reasons for it / but whether the soul were mortal or inmortal / he said he would not defraud his sowle of the cōmodytes delycyosnes and pleasures which were present / and if there were any life after this / he would be content to make good chere with other there also if he should see that thei would be as good felows there as thei were here This was the voice of the high and supreme bishop / after whose sentence all men must determine of the word of god / and up on whose arbytermēt our faith and salvation must depend / This I say / is the judgment of the holy see whereunto men must sail out of Aphryca / Asya / and europe / Denmark / Inglād and Irland and out of all other lands even in to Italy unto this vicar of christ and unto his .xii. Carnals the postys of the church / which succeeded the apostles / to these must thei come to ask council of the will of god / & of the vnderstonding of the scripture which in their own nacyons and in the councils of their own contrys thei can in nowyse understand But moyses drawyth us from this deuelissh sentence where as he saith. The word is very nygh unto the / even in thy mouth and in thy heart & before thy eyes / mark / saith he / & remember that I have set it before thy eyes that thou mayest read in that boke yea and vnderstond it also. For else in deed it had been but a very madness to have writtō such things as no man could vnderstond. It had been much more worship for god to have wryton nothing at all than so to have mocked man kind / where as he said he had set before him good and evil / life and death / blessing and curse etc.

He meant not good and evil after the meaning of the serpent persuading Adam that he thorough trangressyon of gods commandmēt in eating of the forbiddyn fruit / that he should have the knoulege of good and evil that is everlasting dānacyon. for so meant the deuel.

But god will not be honored after the doctrine of the serpent / nor after the doctrine of the deuel nor yet he will not be feared after the cōmandmētes / tradiciōs and doctrines of men contrary to his word / or other wise than his word appointeth. He forbiddeth all manner of honor and condēnyth all manner of worship and service done unto him / which he hath not ordained or commanded. For these things must be learned out of the word of god / and the will of god both what pleaseth him and what pleaseth him noti / • known only by the holy writtō scripture. And if we byleue not this / even heaven and erth at the latter day / shall witness against us that we follow & obey the serpent (which / is now waxen a gret Antichrist) even wetyngly of a set purpose and obstynacy contrary to the exhortatiō and monicion of Moses. For he saith / I take and call to witness heaven and erth that I have set before the in thy sight / life & death / blessing & curse (not that curse that the puppy bloweth out under the name of almighty god & the holy saints Peter & Paul) but even this curse which / if we regard or obey the pope / we shall hear of christ go your way ye cursed in to everlasting fire which is prepared for the deuel & his messengers. For christ giveth us warning there / as Moses did / of the belly gods of the last time / of the falls lying prophets & of the falls Christ's which should imagyne a new word and a new Christ bownd to certain appointed places days / meats / oaths / vows & bands to abstain from the lauful creatures and ordinances of god / which should drive christ out of the comp • ny of men and out of the ordinary & common life / in to the w • ldernes again / and shu • d shut him up in deanes & klosters / or presons rather / among the captive presoners / he saith also that thei shall byld & cōfirm their preaching / doctrine / & laws / not by the word of god / or by the holy words of the old Prophecyes / that is to say by the scripture / but by false signs & lying miracles / & that thei shall so myghtily blind and deceive the unfaithful & such as have not received the truth of gods word but have suffered thē selves to be led a way from it & to be seduced thorough miracles / that evē the elect / if it were possible / might be deceived. And he monissheth us of these things so earnestly / that he calleth upon heavē & erth to bear him witness / that he did premonissh and declare these things unto us before / of the Antichrists that should come / whereby he declareth what sorrow and care he taketh for us & how sore he lamenteth that we should perissh & be damned thorough such blasphemy of Antichrist. And even after this same manner & with like words doth the prophet Isaiah thonder for the defense of gods word against the doctrynes & tradicyons of men / saying. All flessh is even grass / & all the glory of it / that is to say even his most excellent wisdom & pour / is even like the flour of an herb. the grass widdereth away and the flour of the herb falleth a way for the spirit & breath of the lord hath blown upon it. And the people be very grass. the grass / I say / widdereth & the flour falleth / but the word of the lord endureth forever &c. He threateneth also everlasting night of infidelyte or vnbylefe / if we believe either any new reuelacyons without the word of god / or else any apparicyōs of dead spirits. The words after the true Hebrew text be these. Shall the people seek council of their god / or shall thei are council of the dead for the living? shall thei not rather loke & search in the law of the lord / and take the testimony of god unto council? Iff thei tell you not (saith he) according unto this word / thei shall have no mornīg light. Sureli this is a sore threatening unto them which vnderstond what this voice is / what this derknes signifieth and who is the auctor & causer of it. John calleth christ the light that shyneth in darkness & that lighteneth all mē which come in to this world / he saith that the true life is in the word of god / & that life is the light of men / & again that god is the light in whom is no darkness at all / & that who so ever walketh in darkness / hath no fellowship with god. And christ calleth hī self the life of the world / & he saith unto us. Walk in the light while ye have it / that no darkness compass now &c. Now the deuel is the prince of all darkness / he did first steal this light from mankind thorough infidelite / he did first rob us of the true knowledge of god and brought us in to all darkness of infydelite / and in to all kinds of errors. But the son of rigtuosnes hath restored this light unto the world again / and his coming was unto us the bright mornīg whereof Isaiah speaketh in this place. And it is no meruel that we have walked in a continual darkness thus long / for we have forsaken the word of god and sought the light in the devils doctrine / in our own wisdom / in man's tradicyons / & we have had so gret confydence in fantasyes / that we have byleued dead spyrites & made new artycles of our faith even owt of the appearing of them / as namely that there is a purgatory after this life out of the which souls may be redeemed thorough the sacrifice of the mass / which the pope and the devil have ordained to be a sacrifice for the quick and the dead contrary to the institutyon and ordinance of christ. But now let us hear what witness christ him self the everlasting word of god giveth of his scripture. For the same question was disputed of / evē in Christ's time among the high doctors which thought that the scripture without the tradicyons of the elders / was not sufficient unto their salvation and one of those doctors came to christ and said / master what may I do to enjoy everlasting life? But christ sent this curios infidele unto the scripture / saying / what is writton in the law? How dost thow read thereī? as though he should say. Doist thou think that god is a wauerer or a changeling that will alter his mind every howr as men change their laws / and imagine dayli new opinions of god? I tell the the word of god continueth forever / and do thou nothing but even the self thing only that thow seyst writton in the law / and so thou shalt live: he saith not now how thinkest thou / or how dost thow hear the pharises & the scribes preach & teach / but he sendeth him to the scripture and saith what readest thou there? Do that & thou shalt live. And although the scribes / pharises and doctors did ever patch their laws and tradicyons unto t • e word of god / yea and preferred thē also before it / as christ showeth in the .xv. & .xxiij. of Matthew / yet all other among w • om the true church did reign had on judgment & bylefe / namely that the will of god must be known by the scripture only & that a • l articles must be judged and examined by it / as christ declareth where as he saith unto the iewes. Serch the scriptures for ye believe surely that ye shall have everlasting life in thē by the which words christ testifieth plainly that this was the opinion and judgment of the o • d church / that all men should know the will of god by the scripture only / and that thei should judge all articles of the faith necessari unto salvation / by that only. And where as he biddeth thē exam • ne his preaching by the scripture / he showeth evidently euin the whole gospel to becōteyned in the old scripture. And who so ever denieth the commandment of Moses before rehearsed to pertain unto us because the Apostles had not yet writtō their books / thei be very asseheades without any knoulege or vnderstōding. For this rule did the Apostles follow whan thei testified vn to the church of the gospel / that no boke should be received / except it consentyd with the old scripture / and by this rule the church refused the books which confirmed their storys by the prophets. And by this rule do the Evangelists prove their writings / & Paul also procureth authority vn to his pistle to the Roma .j. by this same rule / where as he saith that his gospel was before promised by the prophets in the holy scriptures. To this purpose also serve these saings of christ. If ye believed Moses / ye would bileue me also / for he wrote of me &c. and again this / Serche the scriptures &c. for even thei bear witness of me. Now this controversy of the vnwritton word & of man's glosses and tradicyons / if we will follow the council of our fore fathers and stand to the judgment of the church in Christ's time / I will lay this sentence of the old church confirmed of christ for me / against all that my aduersarys can make or say / writton in the xii. of John / The word which I have spoken shall judge them in the last day. And if this word were not writtō / or if it were not all writton / who could besure & certain of his salvation / or of the will and pleasure of god. And if our faith and the salvation of mankynd did depend only of men's doctrine / so that the sonme & rule of our religion were not writton in the scripture / who durst trust & bileue that one hole / perfight and vnblemisshed sentence of christ were left unto us? For seeing the deuel wresteth the scripture unto eueri wicked opinyon and durst refuse the scripture thorough the Manicheis / as he doth nowadays cause it be burnt by the bisshops / who dowteth but that he would rather have destroyed the whole scripture at ones more than .xv. hundredth yere agone / and to have set up in the stead of it / his own blasphemes / and that thei should have been called the writton word of god rather thā the vnwritton & invented word. Oh lord / the holy ghost had evil provided for us if he had left us in the holy scripture only part of the word and will of god. And how could god have lauffully damned us for receiving strange doctrines even after the commandmentes of the bisshops if he had not left all things necessary for our salvation / writton in his holy word? And again where as christ commandeth us to hear the church / if we should not know the true church only by the scripture / but by pour auc torite & saccession: who should have durst ones to have opened his lips against the Idolatrissh service and false tradiciōs of the bishops or ones have whisspred against any wickedness / had it been never so manifest?

But thei being thorouly blīded do not perceive this most shameful and detestable blasphemy: Thei do not consider / what ignorance / neclygence & unmercifulness thei ascrybe unto god / whā as thei say that god did not regard that the word should be writton whereby he saith that we shall be judged at the latter day. But the holy ghost esspyed before the malice of the deuel and also this blasphemy / and therefore to repress and confownd his purpose and tyranny / and again to stop the mouths of all other / he enjoined his scribes (that is to say the Prophets / Apostles and euangelistes) to write this word: that we should have by us a sure and a perpetual testimony whereunto we might surely trust and whereby he might show & declare him self to damn the wicked lawfully. And he commanded the apostles that thei should bear witness of this scripture / and that thei should reject all other writings whose so ever thei were / which went about to mixe their lies with the gospel / like as. s. luke in the prologe of his gospel / saith / I thought it good to write unto the / gentil brother Theophyl / all things which I have searched out with all dilygence from the beginning / that thou mightest have a perfight ground to bild thy faith up on which thou le • nydst in thy youth &c. By this so euydent a testymony hath the holy goost stablysshed & confirmed our hearts against the blasphemy of antichrist which accuseth the holy ghost of most shameful wickedness and vnrightuosnes / saying that he did not regard to write all Articles of our christen religyon and faith / but that he would thei should depend upon vncerten doctrynes which the bisshops might make and alter as oft as thei list. And the holy ghost was not content with this one testimony / but he caused the self same euangelist which had promised himself to write all things from the beginnig with all diligence / to testify again that he had fulfilled his promise / for in the begīnig of the acts he saith that he hath writtō in the story of his gospel of all things which christ both did and taught evē until that day that he left this world. And because there were certē which did falsely wrytte and wrest this place / the holy father Chrysostom doth expownd it thus / There be some that inquire / how luke could wryght of all things which christ both did & taught seeing John saith it were impossible to write all things / whom I answer / saith he / luke meneth not all things but of all things necessary unto our salvation. But the holy ghost needeth no help of animan to confirm his words / for he which is the most coning craftesman of all and hath the knoulege of all words did espy before what cauillacyon the deuel would make at that / & therefore he maketh answer unto it even by the self same euangelist. For where as John had said that Jesus had done many miracles which be not writtō / he addeth immediately and saith / These be writtō that ye should bileue that Jesus is the son of god & that ye believing / should have everlasting life hy his name. By th • s words it is manifest that the sonme of all Christ's doctrine and so many miracles also were writton / as be sufficyent to confirm our faith & all manner of articles which we be bownd to byleue. For this article that Jesus is the son of god & the promised seed which should break the serpentes head and restore that life which the deuel had stolen from us and had brought again & restored thorough the apperyng of the gospel / that light which was darckened & hidden by the prince of darkness / unto themyserable world sitting or living before in darkness & in the shadow of death / this article I say is the sonme of the whole scripture and the principal point or article of s. John's gospel. And for this articles sake he saith in his first pistel that he wrote all things unto all men / and that he which byleueth in the son / hath the witness ī him self / that is to say / he doth vnderstonde the some of the whole scripture. And because god would have the holy books wr • ttō testify of this seed that was to come / namely / the son of god / the whole scripture is a testimony of this christ and son of god / & there are many t • m • s diverse witnesses alleged in the scripture to bear witness of christ that he is the son of god cōceyued by the holy ghost / borne of the virgins suffered death / & is risen up again &c. And unto this had he respect wh • n he said. Serche the scriptures for thei bear witness of me. And peter speaketh in like manner s • ing. All the prophet • s do witness with h • m that god forgiveth all the syn̄es unto them which bileue and put their confydence in this christ. And Paul saith in like manner that rightuosnes was testified of / in the law & in the prophets. Wherefore thos testimonys which prove Jesus to be the son of god do sufficiently prove also our whole christē faith / and all manner of articles necessar • y to salvation and to everlasting life.

And it were no hard thing to dyduce and draw all the articles of the faith even owt of this one. For he that byleueth Jesus to be the son of god / must needs also grant god the father almyghty / maker of heaven and erth / to be the natural father of our lord Jesus christ and that for his sake he is our father and we be the sonnes of god for Jesus sake and thorough him. And christ saith byleue ye in god? so byleue in me also: do ye not byleue that I am in the father and the father in me? And John saith / who so ever confesseth Jesus to be the son of god / khe hath both the father & the son. Item who so ever bileueth Jesus to be the natural son of god / must needs acknoulege that he is that Immanuel of whom Isaiah did Prophecy that he should be borne of a virgyn and should suffer death like as other scriptures had before testified & he saith O ye folisshe hearts hard to byleue all things which the prophets have told yow. Must not Christ needs have suffered all these things & so entre in to his glory? Agayne it was impossyble that the son of god should be hold̄ down of death / but that he should break the pains of hell & rise up again. As peter doth prove in the acts out of David / and like wise Paul to prove his ascensyon unto heaven alledgeth this verse out of the psalm / Thou didst ascend unto the highth / And tokest captyuyte prysoner / and gavest divers gifts unto men. And dauyd speaketh of this son saying The lord said unto my lord / sit at my right hand until I make thy emnys thy fotestole: Which place paul expowndeth of the kingdom of christ after his resurrectiō and ascensyon .j. to the coryn .xv. Furthermore if thou byleuest Jesus to be the son of god / than thou shalt grant that he hath sent the holy ghost to sanctifye the congregation that is to say all the faithful according to his promise / and that he is the god in whose name he commanded that we should be baptized / like as in his fathers name and his. Itē all the prophets do bear witness of the holy ghost / namely that we must receive remissyon of sins thorough his name and he promyseth that he will raise us up again unto everlasting life. These things have I spoken the more largely for the shameful cauellacyon and blasphemy of London which denieth that all the articles of our faith can be proved by the scripture / because. s. John saith that Jesus did many miracles which be not writton in this boke.

Now will I allege the minds of Cirillus and. s. Agustine to confute this wicked and blasphemos opinyon.

Cyrillus writing upon John. the .xii. chap. speaketh thus: John saith there is a gret multitude and an infinyte number of the miracles which the lord did / but those / saith he / which we have shown yow be sufficyent to them that read them diligently for the stablysshing & confirmacyon of a perfight faith / and I am not to be blamed though I have not writton them all. For if all were gathered one by one / none left out / the whole world would not receive the multitude of the books. Wherfor all that he did were not writtō: But all things which the writers thought sufficyent both for the faith and bylefe / and also for the life and conuersacyon of men / that we might shine with a right and perfight faith and with true works & virtues / and so come unto the kingdom of heaven thorough our lord christ be wrytton / wherfor it is a newelye / lately invented in the deuels shop to say that all the articles of the christen faith cannot be proved by the scripture / and that mens tradicyōs beside the scripture be good works and please god. Now ye may see that the church in Cyrillus time did not acknoulege this wicked blasphemy.

Agustine affirmeth the same writing up on this place of John / these be writton that ye should byliue etc. Our lord Jesus saith he / did many miracles but all be not writton / for those that should be writtō were specially chosen & pyked owt as many as wer thought necessary and sufficient for the saluacyō of the faithful. By these auctorites ye may see that thei bely the old doctors which say that they maintain any such blasphemy. But now to make an end of alleging anymore testimonies. I will city only .ii. specyal and most faithful witnesses against this deuelyssh sophistical cauillacyon and opinyon / namely Peter and Paul and so will I make an end. For every man that hath any wit at all may plaīlie perceive that Peter wrote his second pistle against such blasphemers as do imagine a new word of god beside that which is writton. For he calleth the scripture even a very true prophecy and he calleth them false / or lyeng Prophets which teach contrary to this prophetical and Apostolical prophecy or anything which is not contained in it. and he teacheth this rule whereby we should avoid all manner of lies that we should try and examine them by this prophetical word or prophetical scripture whereunto he commandeth us to have a specyal eye as unto the candle which dryueth out and banisheth away all darkness and lies of the deuel. His words be these.

I write unto yow this second pistle to prick you up & to quyckē your hearts that ye might remember the words which have been told now before by the holy prophets / and also the words of our message and commandment which be the Apostles of the lord and savior / for ye must know that in the latter days there shall come mockers

Now these mockers he paynteth with specyal colors where by thei may be known. Thei shall bring in saith he / pernicyos and damnable sects / or as Paul saith / thei shall speak lies in hypocrisy under the color and pretense of holiness. Forbidding to mary & to abstain from the meats which god hath created to be received of the faithful with thanks giving / And thei shall deny the lord (saith he) which hath bought or redeemed them / and the way of the truth shall thei slander and reuyle / as certain blasphemers do now a days speak blasphemosly of paul / because he doth manifestly confute man's satisfaccyons / rightwisnes / and redempcyō by works. And therefore / saith he for couetosnes sake thei shall make marchādise of now thorough fables and false doctrine invented of their own brains / and he compareth thē to Sodom and Gomor and he saith that thei have eyes full of adultery. But their doctrine peter calleth disceitful fables and he saith that their suttelty must be disclosed by the lantern of the prophetycal scripture. And we have the word of prophecy / saith he / where unto ye do well to hearken as unto a candle giving light in the dark night till the day light appear and the morning sterre rise in your hearts / for as much as ye know that no prophetycal scripture belongeth to mans interpretacyō nor it was never thrust unto us by mans will / But the holy men of god were inspyred of the holy ghost / and moved to speak it.

This is a sure and a substancyal testimony to confute all manner of doctrines and tradicyons beside the scripture / yea and to refuse all manner of doctors and writars which speak anything of their own brain without scripture to confirm it. For. s. Peter putteth a special difference between prophecy or prophetical scripture / and an Interpretacyon which is invented of mans own brain and tradicyons which are made and enjoined at man's cōmandmēt / and he calleth all manner of doctrines which be not contained in the scripture of the holy goost / capcyos & disceyghtful fables / and he ascribeth an high authority unto the old prophecy and prophetical scripture. For whan he had alleged for his doctrine the diuinite of christ which he had seen and the voice of the father which he had hard / and again the witness of Moses and Elyas 〈2+ pages missing〉 te in wickedness / and thei shall subvert & bewitch their hearers that thei shall have gret delight in the deuels cauillacyons and blasphemis. Such falls & lying prophets doth paul set forth in such lively colors as thei ought be painted with / and maketh a comparyson between a faithful preacher of the gospel and a false hipocryte and dissembler. And he describeth both by these tokens.

The tokens of a good and faithful bishop be these.
• j. The husband of one wife.
• ii. Sobre.
• iii. Discrete.
• iv. Lowely and meek.
• v. A keeper of hospitalyte.
• vi. Apt to teach.
• vii. No dronkerd.
• viii. No fighter / but a just dealer / hating all quarreling and contencyon.
• ix. Not desieros of filthy luker / but abhorring all couetosnes.
• x. Not doble tunged.
• • j. No young scolar / butt holding the mistery of the faith with a pure conscience.

False hypocrites and dissemblers be these.
• j. Forbydders of marriage.
• ii. Vnthankful or vnkynd.
• iii. Geuyn to all pleasures and riot.
• iv. Proud and vain glorros.
• v. Vnmercyful and cruel.
• vi. Slanderers / blasphemers / seducers of other men in to errors / & suffering themselves to be seduced.
• vii. Vnchast and given to all voluptuosnes.
• viii. Vnpacyent / braynles / braulers about words / froward and sensual minded.
• ix. Couetos and lovers of them selves.
• x. Betrayers of secret council & rass • blabbes.
• xi. Having a color and out ward shine of holiness / and yet denȳg the specyal vertu and pyth thereof.

Now there is no man so blind or of • o little wit which cannot discern and know false seducers from true preachers by these tokens / but yet because there be many hipocrytes which pretend to be as holy and deuowt as angels thorough their filthy wyueles life / and abstynence from meats / and difference of garments / he reproveth this doctrine of theirs by name: saying that thei shall forsake the faith and the vertu and pyth of holiness. that is to say / the rigtuosnes of faith / & that thei shall teach lies & the devils doctrine thorough hypocrisy / namely this / that marriage is vnlauful and forbidden unto certain persons. Item thei shall put difference between meats & garments / that one kind is more holy than a nother. &c. And thei shall affirm that these doctrynes do contain in them salvation / the pyth of holiness / and the perfeccyon of a christen man. And he saith that these do turn & stop their ears from the truth and from the holy scripture / turning them unto vain fables / that thei shall not abide holsom doctrine nor the sweet word of our lord Jesus christ that thorough faith is profitable unto true holiness / but thei shall procure them selves a multitude of masters / which shall preach unto them after their own appetites / & that thei shall dote about vain questyons and contencyons of words because the truth is takē from them & thei shall byleue surely even luker to be holiness because thei be infect and poisoned in their hearts and minds / and thei shall have but little delight or pleasure in the doctrine of faith but put their confidence in opynions & articles invented of their own brains and of other men / and those shall thei highly esteem even for heavenly wisdom and true holiness. For thus doth paul himself affirm unto the thessalonyans / that god shall send them a strong & mighty blindness that thei shall byleue lies and that all which byleue not the truth and the holsom word of our lord Jesus christ / shall be damned. he saith also that thei shall have delight and pleasure in vnrigtuosnes that is to say thei shall think them selves saved by those things which have no vertu of saluaciō in them / namely by the works of their own hands which are not confyrmed by the word of god but only by false and lying miracles. Such do not hark̄ unto the angels singing glory be unto god above / and peace delight & joy unto men in the erth &c. For thei cannot delight them selves upon this infant / because he is simple miserable / abject / and disfigured with the cross of affliccion / for thei think luker to be holiness / thei seek riches and high empyres or kyngdoms / thei give no ear unto god speaking from heaven. This is my dearly beloved son in whom I delight / but thei delight in other things than in him / in whom god would us to delight and rejoice. And there for paul biddeth us toshunne them / saying / that thei ought not to he herd / and that no man ought to dispute or reason with them / but that we ought to flee from them as from an infectuos canker / and to stop our ears at their bablyng & capcyos disceyght full words and folissh and wicked questyons / & he will not suffer us to move one hear brede out of the scripture to cople or reason with thē / but to resist and withstand them with the holy scripture / for he saith. But thow stand fast in those things which thou hast learned & in those things which are committed unto the / remembrīg of whom thou hast learned them and that euersyns thou wart a child / thou hast known the holy scriptures which be able to make the perfyghtly learned / thorough faith / unto the saluacyō which is in christ Jesus / for as much as all scripture inspired by god / is profitable to teach / and to reprove. &c. And paul reasoneth thus. A bishop ought to resist his aduersarys with that lernīg whereby he may be enstruct in the doctrine of faith / eschew the doctrines of the deuel / and save both himself and his hearers. But the holy scripture is such learning / where for he ought to resist by the holy scripture. which reasō he proveth by the propertys of a good and faithful preacher. For the property saith he of a true teacher is either.

To teach / to improve false doctrine to amend and edyfye / or to instruct in rightwisnes.

For / as he saith / a bishop must be apt to teach and to reprove the aduersarys of the faith / and he must be such one as must be myghtie and also able to conuynce them that be aduersaris to the truth / & further more such as err thorough ignorance or infirmytie / thei must reform them in to the right way / finally it is necessary for childern to be norisshed with milk and gentle instruccyons. Now if the holy scriptures be sufficyent to teach & instruct perfyghtly / thā it must needs follow that all things necessary unto salvation may be taught owt of them. And again if thei be sufficient to cōuynce them which resist the truth or fight against the articles of the faith & uphold the deuels doctrynes / thā it must follow also / that all heresis may be confuted by them / and that thei lie abominably which imagyne a new vnwrtttō word for that cause. And this refuge or excuse to say that although the scripture be profitable for such things / yet it is not sufficyēt. That is false saith paul / For I affirm / saith he / that the holy scriptures do teach us abundantly all things / whereby a man of god that is to say a christen man / may be perfight and apt or ready unto all goodness. and thus it followeth also / that thei teach lies which affirm any works to be good / that are not contained in the scripture.

Now the other part of his reason he proveth thus. Those which follow foliss • questyons / contencyons of words / strange old wives fables / and to be short / the doctrines of men not contained in the word of god / do swerve and err from the faith and are ungodly wicked hypocrites / wherfor if thou stand fast by the holy scriptures and wade no further than thei teach the / thou shalt save both thyself and also them which hear the from this capcyos snare and suttelty of the deuel. Specially if thou wilt monissh the christen brethren both of the holsom doctryn and also of the deuels erronios doctrine / as it becometh a faithful minister of Jesus christ. Preach & teach these things saith he / to all faithful men / namely to such as may be apt to teach other likewys. And again / If thou puttest them in remēberāce of these things / thou shalt be a faithful minister of Jesus christ / brought up in the word of faith and of the true doctrine which thou hast followed until this day. But se that thou banisch & contemn all unholy and old wyuissh fables / and rather exercise thyself unto vertu and godliness. Take deligent hede to thyself and to thy doctrine & stand fast in it / for so doīg thou shalt save both thiself and them that hear the. Afterward he giveth him a commandment and saith this precept do I charge the with O son timothy / acordinge to the prophecies that be past before thy days / that thou fight a good battle in thē / with a sure perfight faith & a good or right up conseyence / which / certē not regarding have suffered gret harm & loss in their faith &c. And even in these words he teacheth us to fight against the deuel even with the old prophecy or prophetical scripture / and to confirm our faith by it and also to form and rule our conscience by it. And he showeth a cause / for else we shall lose our faith as other have done / & we shall procure our selves a wavering and a dowtful conscience. Finally he is not content and satisfied to have given him this monicyon / but he also entreateth & besechith him by all means / saying I beseech the for gods sake and for our lord Jesus Christ's sake which shall judge both quick and dead at his coming / and for his kingdoms sake / preach the word / be instant / be ernest and importune in season and out of seasō / reprove / chide / & exhort with gentilnes or sobrenes & with doctrine. For the time shall come whā mē shall not suffer the holsom doctrine / but thei shall procure thē selves masters acordīg to their own affeccions and appetices &c. This time which he speaketh of hear / if it be not now / let us never loke for it. For now our faith is confirmed with a vnwrittō word with mans tradicyons / with custom / ceremonis / fathers and cowncels without any word of god / and the manifest scripture is moked out with every crafty hypocrites Imaginacion and gloss. yea it is takē out of our hands and burnt. Now if these men be not lovers of them selves and estemers of their own wisdom / if thei be not couetos / if thei be not arrogant and vain glorios / if thei be not braggers and blasphemers / which ymagin a new vnwrittō word / if thei be not dissobedient & unthankful unto their parents which will not ones move their foot out of their deanes to help an old man or to comfort their parents lying at the point of death / if thei be not unkind & unnatural which for their feigned chastity dare not know their own childerne / if thei be not truse breakers that unmercifully war against vertu and godliness / if thei be not deuels & quarelers and the very members of the deuel / which do nothing but imagine cauillacyōs to mock a way the truth / if thei be not voluptuos / ryetors / merciless neglectors of their office / despisers of all learning and of all true good works / if thei be not traiteros betrayers of kings / kingdoms / & of the whole world / if thei be not lovers of worldly pleasures and lusts rather than lovers of god / which condemn matrimony lest thei should be compelled to mary wives / but might still live in whoredom with other men's wives / if thei deny not the vertu / pyth and effect of godliness / & that under a color and pretence of true holiness which esteem man's tradiciōs higher than the .x. commandmentes of god / and teach that their own tradicyons and ceremonys be sufficient to make a perfight christē man that thei may minissh & drown the iustyficaciō of faith / there were never none such nor never shall be.

Paul whan he should take his last vale of the church or congregaciō and bid them farewell forever / he called a cowncel whose authority and testimony he would have to be esteemed and regarded of all men / and in that council he preached thus unto the bishops. I take you all to witness / and testify unto you all this day that y am innocent pure & clear frō the blode of you all / for I have kept secret frō you none of those things which concern your profyght and salvation / but I have opened unto you all the council of god for the space of .iii. years / day & night without ceasing and I monisshed & exhorted everyone of you even with weeping tears. For I know right well that after my departing there shall come among yow ravening wolves which shall have no pyty or compassyon up on the flock / and certain among you shall teach false and wicked doctrine to allure discyples after them / Wherefore take diligent hede both unto yourself and to all your floke / and watch / remembering that I have monysshed you of these things / for the space of .iii. yere together with gret lamentacyō. And now brethren / I commit you unto the word of his grace which is able to edifye you and to give you an inherytance with all them that be sanctified. &c.

Here doth paul monissh the council of the false and lying prophets and he exhorteth the whole church that thei remember diligently his monicyon where of he had put them in rememberāce continually for the space of .iii. years that thei should take hede of those wolves which had devoured both bodis and souls of men with wicked doctrine / opinions & traditions which thei would thrust in to the church under this color and cloke / that the apostles could not teach all things necessary unto our faith and salvation / and that all the articles of the christen faith are not contained in the word of the grace of god. I have taken yow to record this day / saith he / For this cause that if ye cast a way & damn yourselves thorough bileuing their persuasions / I am pure & clear from your blood / & christ shall not reken unto me your damnacyon. For I know that this thing will come to pass and I tremble and shake / every joint of me / for the miserable perturbacyons and aduersites of the church whā the prophecies which speak of the latter days / come to my remembrance. And I feared lest christ should reken it unto me vnd lay it unto my charge / if I should not have monished you before.

And this thing with the horrible blasphemys and Idolatry which shall opresse the church / hath made me so heavy & careful / and hath caused me to water mine eyes so oft. But what shall I do whan I hear danyel saying. The determinacion is concluded: I can no notherwise do than monissh you that ye hear or receive no new opynions under any such cloke or color as though I had not opened unto you all the council of god somoch as pertaineth vn to you to know / or as though I had hidden anything from you which should be necessary unto your salvation. I cannot tell what to say more / but only to commit and refer you unto the word of the grace of god / that is to say / to the holy scriptures which all are able to edifye and to bilde you upon the true foundation which is christ / whereupon the whole church / all the patriarckes / prophets and apostles be bylded and grounded / Christ is the foundation of the church we be the stones and stikes which are proved and assayed with diverse tentaciōs and aflictions / The holy ghost is the master bylder or work man / and the word of god is the clay & lyme which holdeth the whole bildīg to gether. For by the word of god we are incorporate unto the church / and by it we abide and remain in the church. This word also incorporateth joineth / & groundeth us perfightly to christ / that we should not be drawn away and led about with every blasing wynd of doctrine and so fall a way again. This is a good bucler against all the fiery darts of the deuel. This is the stern whereby alone / the shyp of the church is ruled. This is the anker which ones brokē or lost / our faith must needs utterly perissh. To this word peter biddeth us loke as unto a lantern which in the dark night of ignorance / of the contempt of god of infidelite and of all weakness of such hearts as be blinded of the deuel showeth the light of faith and the knouledge of gods will that we fall to no heresis nor receive the doctrine of the false lying prophets. And by this light which chaseth a way all darkness of errors / Christ and Peter command us to examen and try all manner of doctrine as by the true toche stone. And Paul biddeth us ronn unto this in all storms as unto the most sure anckar / & to resist or withstand all manner of strange doctrines with the holy scripture / and Christ doth plainly pronounce that by this we shall be judged at the last day. John writeth / this to be sufficient to obtain ever lasting life by. And christ sendeth the man which inquired of him by what means he might be saved / unto this scripture / which luke saith that he hath writton with all dyligence. Isaiah sent them which sought new reuelacions unto this word / Christ also sent them which required miracles unto this: saying Thei have Moses and the prophets if thei will not byleue them / neither would thei bylefe if any should rise from death. By this word doth Moses command kings to fear god / and he biddeth the priests to judge by this word / and at last he saith / let this word be writō out to you before your eyes / that no man may be excused of ignorance / and he saith further / that heavē & erth shall witness against us at the latter day / that we give over our selves again freely / willingly and wetingly unto the deuel / if we receive any doctrine not approved by the word of god / or if we judge & determine anything of the will & pleasure of god without some testymony of the holy scripture. Now these testimonys gathered out of the holy scripture be sufficient against this gross blasphemy of the vnwritton word.