The.xi. chapyter

BUt nowe where as the bretherne lay a blame in me, that I hadde not vsed suche a goodly mylde maner, and suche an indyfferent fasshyon, as they fynde vsed by him that made the boke of the dyuysyon betwene the spyrytualty and the temporalty: I am not greatly blame worthy therin. For his boke was put out synnes / & therfore coulde I when I wrote take none ensample therof / & euery man is not lyke inuētyue of his own wyt. For surely he hath founden some certayne proper inuented fygures in that boke, in whych I am so farre from fyndynge the lyke of my self, that beynge as they nowe be founden to myne hande all redy, harde were it for me in the lyke mater to folow them.

And yet though my bokes be very farre vnder his / they may be for all that (ye wote well) metely good, yf hys be so farre excellent as the brethern boste yt. In which boke yet as mych as they boste yt / he declareth and expressely testyfyeth lyke a trewe crysten man, how so euer the maters go betwene the temporaltye and the spyrytualty, that yet theyr opynyons are heresyes.

But they take as it semeth all those wordes of his wel in worth, bycause they reken thē selfe recompensed in a nother parte, in that they falsely persuade vnto them selfe, eyther that he dyssymuleth for the whyle and byleueth as they do / or elles that byleue he neuer so well him self, yet eyther of pytye or some other affeccyon, he could be cōtent to helpe, that they sholde theym selfe with theyr euyll bylyefe be let alone and lyue in reste, and be sufferd to byleue as they lyste.

But I trust in god that in that poynte they lene to mych to the letter of his wordes, & of theyr owne fauour to them selfe, mysse constre the good mannys mynde. For god forbede that any crystē mā shold meane so.

Howe be yt as touchynge y• mater wherwyth we be now in hande, that is to wytte the maner of mylde and indyfferent writyng by me or by him concernynge the spyrytualty and the tēporalty / therin am I very sure that his myld indyfferent boke of the dyuysyon, neyther is more myld nor more indyfferēt then any boke of myne.

For fyrst as for myne own parte, loke my dyaloge, my supplycacyon of soules, and both the partes of the confutacyon / and ye shall clerely se y• I neyther haue vsed towarde the clergy nor toward the temporalty, any warme dyspleasaunt word / but haue forborn to touch in specyall eyther the fautes of the tone or of the tother. But yet haue I cōfessed the thyng y• trouth is / neither part to be fautlesse. But then whyche is the thynge that offēdeth these blessed bretherne / I haue not letted forthermore to say the thynge whyche I take also for very trewe / that as thys realme of englande hath had hytherto god be thā ked as good and as laudable a temporalty, nōber for nomber, as hath hadde any other crysten region of the quātyte / so hath it had also nomber for nomber compared wyth any realme cristened of no gretter quantyte, as good and as cō mendable a clergye / though there haue neuer lacked in any of both the partes, plentye of suche as haue alwaye be noughte / whose fautes haue euer ben theyr owne, and not to be imputed to the whole body neyther of spyrytualty nor tēporalty / sauyng that there haue ben peraduenture on eyther parte, in some suche as by theyr offices ought to loke therto, some lacke of the labour and dylygēce that in the reformynge of yt sholde haue belonged vnto them, whyche I declare alway that I wold wyshe amended, & euery man specyally labour to mēde him selfe / and rather accustome hym selfe to loke vppon hys owne fautes then vpon other mennes / and agaynste suche as are in eyther sorte founden […]pen, euyll, and nought, and noyouse vnto the comenwell, as theuys, murderers, and heretyques, & such other wreches / the whole corps of the spyrytualty and temporaltye bothe, eche wyth other louyngly to accorde and agre / and accordynge to the good auncyent lawes and commendable vsages long contynued in this noble realme, eyther parte endeuour them selfe dylygently to represse and kepe vnder those euyll and vngracyous folke, that lyke sores, scabbes, and cankers, trouble and vexe the body / and of all them to cure suche as may be cured, & for helth of the whole body, cutte and caste of the incurable cancred partes there fro / obserued in the doynge euermore such order and fasshyon as may stand and agre wyth reason and iustyce, the kynges lawes of the realme, the scrypture of god, and the lawes of Crystes chyrch / euer kepyng loue and concord betwene the two pryncypall partes the spyritualty and temporalty, lest the dregges of both sortes conspyryng to gether & encreasyng, may litle and litle grow to strong for both / wherto they myghte haue a fayre gappe and a brode gate to entre, yf they myghte fynde the meane by crafte to seuer and sette a sunder the temporalty against y• clergy to stryue, and so let as yt were the soule and the body brable and stryue to gether / and whyle they study nothyng elles but the tone to greue the tother, the noughty then conspyre and agre to gether, and set vppon the good people of both.

Thys hath bene hytherto the whole somme of my wrytynge, wythout any dyspleasaunt worde vsed eyther towarde temporaltye or spyrytualtye. And more mylde maner then this toward al good folke, hath not thys other boke of dyuysyon, nor yet a more indyfferent as farre as I can se / but yf he be rekened more myld, bycause he setteth hys wordes mych more myld and colde when he speketh awght of heretikes, & sheweth hym selfe therin more temperate & therby more dyscrete then I / and but yf he be […]ekened for more indyfferent, bycause hys wordes ī rehersyng the fawtes of the spyritualty, be not in the wurste thynges parcyally poynted towarde suche as be nought, but indy[…] ferētly dyrected and poynted towarde the whole body.