The.vi. chapyter

ANd thys precher hym selfe so well ꝑceyueth that thys poynt is trewe that I tell you, that he wold fayne yf he coulde proue it, say that all suche thynges are wryten all redy in scrypture. And therfore though bycause he seeth that I haue in the laste chapyter of my fyrste parte of Tyndals confutacyon, ouerthrowen Tyndale therin, he forbare to afferme it forth out in playne and open wordes: yet he gyueth hys audyence a proper insinuacyon therof, & maketh a prety glaūce therat, in those wordes where he sayth in the la[…]te ende. But good lorde, yf yt had not ben writen by the euā gely[…]tes in those dayes, h[…]we sholde we do in these dayes, the whych bryng forth the scrypture for theym in dede / and yet they wyll bere theym in hande that yt is no scrypture, and yf yt ha[…]de not ben wryten in bokes then. Not wythstandyng ye may perceyue how the word was or euer the chyrche was, and the worde begate vs and not we the word / and also yt was wryten or euer the chyrche alowed yt to be wryten.

By these wordes wolde he lo (though he say it not playn oute) that folke sholde wene that of any thynge whych we be bounden to byleue, the euā gelystes and apostles lefte in theyr dayes nought vnwrytē ▪ whyche poynt yf yt coulde be proued wolde helpe some heresyes well forth, but yet not so many as heretyques wold make men wene. For many thynges that they saye be not in scrypture, are yet in scrypture ī dede. As is for the sacrament of cōfyrmacion, and anelyng, & holy orders, and matrymony, and the very blessed body and bloud of Chryste in the holy sacrament of the aulter. And for good workes agaynste fayth alone, and for holy vowes of chastyte agaynst thabominable bychery of freres that wedde nonnes, and many suche other thynges. And in all suche maters the questyō is not of the word wryten or vnwryten, but vppon the interpretacyō and the ryght vnderstādynge of goddes worde all redy wryten.

And therin is in effect the questyon also no more but whether that in the construccion & exposycyon of holy scrypture, we sholde of reason better byleue holy saynte Austayne / holy saynt Ambrose, holy saynt Hierom, holy sayn Cypriane, holy saynt Chrysostome, holy saynt Basyle, holy saynte Cyryll, and the thre Gregoryes of Greke holy saintes all thre, and holy saynte Gregory the pope, wyth all the other olde holy doctours and fathers of the faythfull doctryne on the tone syde / or els on the tother syde lewde Luther, and Lambert, Barns, Huyskyn, and Swynglius, Swartherth, Tyndale, George Ioy, and Denk[…]hius, Baynam, Bayfelde, Hytton▪ and Teuxbery, wyth brother Byrt, and yong father Fryth.

There wolde be nowe bytwene these two sortes no gre[…]dou[…] in the choyce (as me thynketh) yf he that sholde chose haue wyt.

And in suche maters thys is the great questyon in dede / whyche thyng yf any of theyr fauorers dare denye, and wyl afferme, that in the cōstrucciō of the scrypture they haue the olde holy doctours on theyre syde / let all these heretyques and al that bere them fauour, fynde out amonge theym all so myche as one of all the old[…] holy sayntes, that so dyd construe the scrypture, as nowe these newe heretyques do for weddynge of monkes, freres, and nonnes, which the whole catholyke chyrch all thys fyften hundred yere, byfore these late lewde heresyes beganne haue euer more abhorred and holdē for abominable / let these new bretherne (I say) nowe fynd out among them all, any one of the olde holy sayntes, that sayde the breche of theyr vowes was no synne / & then am I content they say that all the remanaūt be whole vpon theyr part in all the remanaū […] of al theyr poysoned heresies.

But on the tother syde, y[…] they can not among them all fynde out so myche as one old holy man for theyre parte in this poynte, in whych we can brynge many agaynst them: then must they nedes cōfesse, that in the construccion of the scrypture (for as mych at the leste wyse as apperteyneth to this poynte) sauynge for the vndouted fayth of the whole catholique chyrche full fyften hūdred yere to gether agaynst these vowbrekynge brethern (which thyng alone suffyseth for theyr full condēpnacyon) ellis standeth all the question but in this, whyther of the twayne shold in thexposycion of holy scripture be by reason amonge the vnlerned people better byleued / the olde holy gracyouse doctours and sayntes, or these new wedded mō kes and freres gracelesse apostatas and heretyques.

And then syth no good crysten man can doute whyther parte ys the better of these twayn / no good mā can there dout (ye se well) but that these new doctours, Luther, Lambert, Tyndale, Huyskyn▪ and Swynglius, wyth all theyre adherētes, be playn abomynable heretikes in this one point at the lest. which poynt while yt is so shamefull and full of fylthy bestelynes / I dare be bold to say that neyther hath that man nor that womē any respect or regarde of any clennesse or honeste, that can with fauoure vouchsaufe to rede theyr bokes or here them, tyll they fyrste forswere & abiure the defence and mayntenaūce of that incestuouse sacrylege and very bestely bychery.