The.xxxviii. chapyter

WHyche if he do, he doth yt not alone. For this poynt played also Thomas Philippis of Lōdon letherseller nowe prysoner in y• towre▪ whom when I was chauncellour, vpon certayn thynges y• I found out by him, by thexamynacyon of dyuerse heretyques whome I hadde spoken wyth, vppon the occasyon of the heretyques forboden bokes, I sent for / and when I hadde spoken wyth hym, and honestely intreated hym one day or twayn in myne house, and laboured about his amē dement in as harty louynge maner as I coulde: when I perceyued fynally the person suche that I coulde fynde no trouth, neyther in his worde nor his othe, and saw the lykelyhed that he was in the settynge forth of suche heresyes closely, a man mete and lykely to do many folke myche harme: I by endenture delyuered hym to his ordynary. And yet for bycause I perceyued in hym a great vayne gloryouse lykynge of hym selfe, and a great spyce of the same spyryt of pryde that I perceyued byfore in Rycharde Hūne when I talked with him / and fered that yf he were in y• bysshoppes prysone, his gostely enymy y• deuyll myghte make hym there destroy hym selfe / and then myght suche a new besynes aryse agaynste mayster chauncellour that now is, as at that tyme arose vppon the chauncelloure that was then / whyche thynge I fered in Thomas Philyppys somwhat also the more, bycause a cosyn of his a […]arbour in Pater noster row called […] Iohn̄, after that he was […]u[…] spected of heresye and spoken to therof, […] the shame of the worlde drowned hym self in a well: […] for these […] aduysed & by my meanes holpe, that Thomas Philips (whych[…] all be yt that he sa[…]d that y• clergy […]oued hym not, s[…]med no[…] yet very loth […] to the byshoppes pr[…]on) was receyued pryso[…]r into […] towre of London. […]nd yet […] that he […] to know how the mater stode. whyche knowen and reported to y• kynges grace / his hyghnes as a most vertuouse catholyque prynce gaue vnto Thomas Philippis such answere, as yf he had ben eyther halfe so good as I wolde he were, or halfe so wyse as hym selfe weneth he were, he wold forth wyth haue folowed / and not stande styll in his obstynacye so longe, as he hath now put hym selfe therby in a nother deper parell.

Other haue besydes thys complayned, that they haue ben vntrewly and vniustely handeled / and thys haue they not letted to do after that they haue ben conuycted and ab[…] red, and theyr iuste condemnacyons after theyr open examynacyons and playn and clere proues, so well and openly knowen, y• they haue by theyr shamelesse clamoure nothyng goten, but rebuke and shame. And yet were some of theym yf theyr ordynaryes had ben so sore & so cruell as this boke of this pacifyer maketh them, fallen agayne in the daunger and parell of relapse.

And some hath ben herd vppon importune clamour, and the cause and handelyng examyned by the greatest lordes temporall of the kynges most honorable coūsayle, and that synnes that I left the offyce / and the complaynour foūden in his complaynynge so very shamelesse false, that he hath ben answered that he was to easely delt wyth, and hadde wronge that he was no worse serued.

And suche haue these folke euer be foūden and euer shall. For when they fall to a false fayth in herte / theyr wordes can not be trew. And therfore if this pacifier well & thorowly knewe them / I bare say he wolde lesse byleue theyr lamē table […]ales, thē I fere me that he hath byleued some in complaynyng vpon theyr ordyna […]es, agaynst whome he se […]th vppon such folkes false complaynyng, to haue cōcey[…]d thys opynyon that hys […] of dyuysyon sheweth, y• is to wit▪ that y• clergy thynke that […] man that speketh agaynst theyr mysseorder and abusyons, loueth no prestes, and that therfore they haue punyshed many men, whyche god forbede were trew. For yf yt were / surely they that so punysshed any one man for that cause, that is to wyt, bycause theym selfe conceyue a false suspicyon agaynst hym / yt were pytye that they lyued. But I thynke in good fayth that the prelates wyll neuer desyre to lyue lenger, then tyl this pacyfyer proue that same false tale trew.