The.xxv. chapyter

ANd vpon all these maters there […] rysen a great opynyon in the people, in maner vnyuersally, that in puny shyng & correccions all these persons before rehersed sholde haue lyke punishemēt, yf spyritual men might haue free lyberty in that behalfe. And that spyrytuall men wold yf they coulde, as well put them to sylence, that speke agaynste the abusyon or dysorder of suche thinge[…] as be byfore rehersed, as them that spek[…] agaynst the thynge selfe.

Those wordes be not very well spoken of thys pacyfyer by the people. For yf he haue spoken wyth many mo then the tone halfe, and felt theyre opynyons hym selfe / ellys is yt not onely agaynst the spyritualty spokē very shamfully, but also to the false contryued rebuke of the whole peple in maner vniuersally. For syth that neyther this pacyfyer nor any man ellys, can brynge forth any one of these heretyques, that haue ben by theyr ordynaryes delyuered for theyr obstinacy in the seculare handes and burned, that haue hadde any wrong done them, or ben therin otherwyse hādeled then charyte wyth iustyce, accordyng to the comen lawes of all Chrystes catholyke chyrch, and the lawes of thys realme haue requyred: there is no good man nor reasonable that hath any cause therby to conceyue by the clergye such a malycyouse folysh suspycyon, as thys pacyfyer here vntrewly layth vnto the whole people of thys realme in maner vniuersally / whan he maketh as though y• hole people in maner vniuersally were so malycyouse and so folyshe, as bycause the clergy whyche hath towarde many heretykes bene ouer myche fauorable, haue of necessyte be dreuen to delyuer thē to the seculare handes & therin haue done them ryghte, he maketh as though the whole people were in maner vniuersally so madde and malycyouse, as theruppon to take an opynyō that to those whych are none heretykes the clergy wold do wronge.

Surely in thys one poynt is thys boke of hys the moste indyfferent that it is in any parte that I se therin. For there is no poynte in all the booke wherin it more dyffameth the spyrytualtye, then in thys one it dyffameth in maner all the whole people vnyuersally.

But now yf he say the people in maner vnyuersally, thynke that those whyche are as he saith for lacke of good & cherytable handelynge loste and peryshed in body & soule, had wronge and oughte not haue bene by the clergy delyuered to the seculare hādes / and that therfore the whole people in maner vnyuersally do and well maye, thynke in theyr myndes that the clergy wolde in lykewyse do wrong to other, and brynge to lyke punysshemēt all those persōs that any thing speke agaynst onely the abusyons of suche thynge as brynge rychesse in to the chyrche: now can not thys pacifyer thus excuse his wordes. For he confesseth in hys owne wordes, that they whyche thus haue bene loste and perysshed, that myght as he sayth wyth good and cherytable handelynge haue ben saued, be of those that haue mysse taken them self in those artycles of purgatory, trentallys, obitys, & pilgrimages, and haue as hym selfe sayth before, spoken agaynste them and dyspysed them / and then hadde they no wronge. For I am sure there was none of them, but that he was eyther relapsed, or ellys dyd of obstynacy stand styll in them. And then appereth it yet agayne, that in goynge aboute to dyffame the clergye, he dothe in dede greatly diffame the people / whan he sayth that bycause the clergy hath punysshed th[…]m that haue so farre myssetaken them self in those articles, that they haue spokē agaynst those holy thynges & dyspysed the thynges selfe, the people wolde be so farre vnreasonable as therfore to thynke y• they wolde punyshe in lykewyse all those y• wolde onely speke agaynst the abuses and not agaynst the thynges. For all the people seeth perde, that the clergye punyssheth those that speke against the sacramēt of matrymony / & yet they punysshe not those that speke against the abuses ther of, as aduowtry / or agaynste those that vnder the name of matrymony, lyue in sacrylege and incestuouse lechery / as frere Luther doth & frere Lābert, & frere Huyskyn and Otho the monke, & suche other.

And yet yf he wyll go from his owne wordes agayn, and saye now that some of theym that be for lacke of good and charytable hādelyng in body and soule so peryshed, dyd not mysse take themselfe at al, nor dyd not speke agaynst any of y• thīges, but dyd onely speke against the abuses, & that therfore he may without reproche of y• peple well say y• the peple haue an opinion, that the […]ergy wolde yf they myght, haue fre lybertye in lyke maner to punyshe all other that wolde in lyke maner speke / that is to wytte not agaynste the good & holy thynges, but agaynste the abuses of them: to this I say yet ones agayne, that he styll dyffameth the people of a great intolerable faute, that is to wyt an vniuste and vnreasonable iudgement / whyle he sayth that they thynke and byleue that the clergye hathe done to those men in so great a mater so great wronge, and hytherto not one such wrong proued.

But I shall in this poynt go yet a litle nerer hym. Sith he speketh of those that might wyth charytable handelynge haue ben in body and soule saved / yt appereth well as I haue sayde, that in thys pyece of his tale he speketh of those that haue not be saued, but in erthe here condemned and burned, and in hell dampned and there burning styll. Now as for any tyme so late byfore this brablynge or speche of any dyuysyon betwene the spyrytualty and the temporalty, that this pacifyer might seme to meane of / I remēber none delyuered to the seculare handes, but syr Thomas Hytton at Maydestone, and syr Thomas Bylney at Norwyche, and one of late at Excester, & one of late in Lincoln̄ diocese, and in London here Bayfeld the monke, and Teuxbery the powchmaker, and Baynam. Now this wyll I say / let th[…]s pacyfyer come forthe / or yf he be any religyouse recluse that can not come abrode, let hym appere by attourney (How be yt, yt appereth that he can be none suche, but muste nedes be of lykelyhed some suche as gooth myche abrode, for eli[…]s he coulde not surely tell vs of so many some sayes, nor what opynyon the whole people of the realme hath in maner vniuersally) and therfore let hym come forth and appere in hys own proper person, byfore the kynges gra[…]e and his counsayle, or in what place he lyst, and there proue callynge me thereto, that any one of all th[…]se hadde wronge, but yf it were for y• they were burned no soner / and bycause he shall not saye▪ that I bydde hym t[…]otte about for nought / thys shall I profer hym, that I wyll bynd my selfe for suerty and fynde hym other twayne bysyde of better substaunce then my selfe, that for euery one of these whom he proueth wrōged, hys ordynary or his other offycer by whome the wronge was done, shall gyue thys pacyfyer all hys costes done aboute the profe, and a reasonable rewarde bysyde.

And yet now though no man wolde gyue hym nothynge / it were hys part perde to proue it for hys owne honestye, syth he hath sayde so farre.

And thys dare I be bolde to offre, to se the trouth openly proued. After whych well proued onys to be as he sayeth, men may be bolde to saye the thynge that they se proued trew / & therupon yf they lyft, to cast & suspecte some ferther fere of the lyke, ye or of wurse yf they wyl, I wyl not let thē. But without any such thyng proued before / there wyll no reason nor good conscyence bere it, that we shuld suspecte that our prelates and ordynaryes in theyr iudgementes agaynste heretykes, vse to do them wrong / syth all y• lawes bothe spyrytuall of the whole chyrch, and temporall of this realme, haue ordayned full fayth and credence to be gyuen to them therin. whyche lawes to contrary now there appereth lytle cause, consyderynge that the kynge our souerayne lorde that now is & longe mote be, hathe in hys tyme as prudentely & as vertuousely prouyded for thys realme, that it sholde haue suche prelates and ordynaryes as sholde in lernynge, wysdome, iustyce, & lyuynge, be mete and conuenient therfore, as any prynce hath (nō ber for nōber) that hath reygned ouer thys realme, I dare boldely say thys hūdred yere / and sholde in my mynde kepe my selfe a great waye within my boundes, all though I wolde sette an other hundred to it. But now lettynge thys pyece passe, wherin I myght yet saye many thynges mo then I do, & wolde saue that the bretherne wolde than call me longe, and wyll yet peraduenture say that I am scant shorte inough: lett vs go ferther and spede vppe thys one chapyter of hys.