The thyrd chapyter

NOwe where […]s these good blessed bretherne say, y• my wrytyng is so long and so tedyouse, that they wil not ones vouchsaufe to loke theron / they shew thē self that my wrytynge is not so longe as theyre wyttes be shorte / and the yien of theyr soules very poore blynde, whyle they can not se so farre, as to perceyue that in fyndynge so many fautes in that boke, whych they confesse thē selfe they neyther rede nor canne fynd in theyr hert to loke vppon, they shew theym selfe eyther of lyghtnes redy to geue hasty credence to other folke, or of malyce to make many lyes them selfe.

It is lytle meruayle that yt seme long and tedyouse vnto them to rede yt ouer wyth in, whome yt irketh to do so myche as loke yt ouer wythout / & euery way semeth long to hym that is wery ere he begynne.

But I fynde some men agayne, to whome the redynge is so farre fro […]edyouse, that they haue redde the hole bok[…] ouer thryes / and some that make tables therof for theyr owne remembraunce / & that suche men as haue as myche wytte and lernynge both, as the best of all thys blessed bretherhed that euer I herd of.

Now be it gladde wolde I haue bene yf it myghte hau[…] ben mych more shorte / for thā sholde my labour haue ben so mych the lesse.

But they wyll yf they be resonable men, cōsyder in them selfe that it is a shorter thyng […]nd soner done to wryte heres[…]s than to answere them.

For the most foly she heretyke in a town, may write mo fals heresyes in one lefe, than the wysest man in the hole world can well and cōuenyently by reason and authoryte soyle & confute in fourtye.

Now whan that Tyndale not onely techeth false heresyes, but furnysheth hys er […]ours also wyth pretence of reasone and scrypture / and in stede of reason somtyme with blont subtyltyes and rude ridyls, to the makynge open & lyghtesome to the reader, the darke wrytynge of hym that wold not by his wyll be well perceyued, hath putte me to more laboure and lengthe in enswerynge, than some man wold peraduenture haue ben contente to take.

And I somtyme take the payne to reherse some one thynge in dyuerse fasshyons in mo places thā one, bycause I wo[…]de that the reder sholde in euery place where he fortuneth to fall in redynge, haue at hys hand wythout remyttynge ouer ellys where, or labour of ferther sekyng for it, as mych as shall seme requysyte for y• mater that he there hath in hande. And therin the labour of all that lengthe ys myne owne, for ease & shortenynge of the readers payne.

Now on the other syde, as for Tyndale and Barns, I wote nere well whether I may call them longe or short.

For somtyme they be short in dede, bycause they wolde be darke, and haue theyr false fo lyes passe and repasse all vnperceyued.

Some tyme they can vse such a compendyouse kynde of cloquēce, that they conuay and couche vp to gether, with a wonderfull breuyte, four fo lyes and fiue lyes in lesse then as many lynes.

But yet for all this, I se not in effec[…] any mē more long then they. For they preache some tyme a longe procesle to very lytle purpose. And syth that of all theyre whole purpose, they proue in cōclusyon neuer a pyece at al, were theyr wrytynge neuer so shorte / yet were theyre […] worke at […] to longe by all to gether.

But greatly can I not meruayle, though these euangelicall brethern thinke my workes to long. For euery thyng thynke they to longe that ought is.

Our ladyes psalter thinke they to longe by all the Aue Maryes / & some good pyece of the Crede to.

Then the masse thynk they to longe by the secretes, and the canon, and all the colectis wherin mencyon is made eyther of saintes or soules.

In stede of a longe portuouse, a shorte prymer shall serue them. And yet the prymer they thynke to longe by all our lady matens.

And the seuen Psalmes thinke they long inough with out the lateny.

And as for Dyryge or cō mendacyon for theyr frendes soules, all that seruyce they thynke to longe by all to gether.

But now good readers, I haue vnto these delycat daynty folke that can awaye wyth no longe redynge, prouyded wyth myne own payne and labour, as myche ease as my poore wyt coulde deuyse.

Fyrs[…]e when they were byfore faste in the catholyque fayth▪ they neuer neded to haue redde any of these here tiques bokes, y• haue brought them in to these new fangled fantasyes. But now syth they be by theyr owne foly, fallen fyrste into doutynge of the trouth, and afterwarde into the lenyng to warde a false by lyefe / they be very neglygent & vnreasonable, yf they wyll not at the leste wyse for theyr owne suerty, serche & se somwhat, wherby they maye per ceyue whyther these newe tea chers of theyres be suche as they take them for.

Now haue I then cōsydered, y• they wold peraduēture ware wery to rede ouer a lōg boke / and therfore haue I taken the more payne vppon euery chapyter, to thentent that they shal not nede to rede ouer any chapyter but one, & that yt shall not force greatly whych one thorow out all the boke.

For I dare be hold to say, and am redy to make yt good with the beste euāgelyst of all this euangely call bretherhed that wyll set his penne to the cōtrary, y• there is not one chapyter of Tyndales or Barns eyther, that I haue touched thorowe myne whole worke, but that I haue so clere and so fully confuted hym, that who so rede yt indyfferently, maye well and clerely se that they hādle theyr mater so falsly, and yet so folyshely therwyth, that no man whyche regardeth eyther trouth or wit, sholde ones vouchesaufe to rede any farther of them

Now he that wyll therfore rede any one chapyter, eyther at aduenture, or ellys some chosen pyece in whyche hym selfe had went that hys euangelycall father Tyndale had sayed wonderfull well, or els frere Barns eyther / when he shall in that one chapyter as I am sure he shall, fynde his holy prophete playnely proued a fole, he maye be soone eased of any ferther laboure. For than hath he good cause to caste hym quyte of, and neuer medle more wyth hym / & thā shall he neuer nede to rede more of my booke neyther, and so shall he make it shorte inough.

How be it yf he lyste for all that to perdon hys prophete in that one place, aud thynke that he wrote that pyece peraduenture whyle the spyryte was not vpon hym, and that he sayth mych better in some other place, and so wyll rede on ferther to fynde it: than shal hym self make my worke longe. For he shall I truste rede it ouer, and yet shall he neuer come to it. And thus as for the tedyouse length of my wry[…]ynge, I haue I truste without greate length geuen the good bretherhed a suffycyent answere.