The.xlviii. chapyter

WHich, where as he vseth to y• settyng forth of his purpose, a surmised suspicyō agaynst the spyrytualty, makyng men byleue vnder his fygure of Some saye, that the spyrytuall iudges mysse handle those maters, & vse them selfe therin cruelly: I dare be bounde to warraunt, that ryght good wytnesse & worshypfull shal recorde and testyfye, that they haue ben present and sene the iudges hādle them with very great fauour alway, and somtyme to say the trouth to tenderly.

wherof for the meane whyle me thynke I may take to recorde for all hys Some sayes this pacyfyer hym selfe and hys awne wordes, whyche in this pyteouse booke of dyuysyon hym selfe sayth. For in hys fyrste chapyter he sayth (as I shewed you) that some men to pull rychesse from the chyrch, haue not onely spoken and by playne wordes affermed heresye, but haue also dyspysed pylgrymages & purgatory, & playne inueyed agaynst them of polycy.

Now seeth euery man that any eyen hath, that yf the ordynaryes and the spyrytuall iudges were so fyerse and so cruell as thys pacyfyer speketh of, then wolde not those other men thinke that openly to speke and afferme false heresyes, were for any maner purpose any proper polycy. And therfore as for such crueltye and mysse handelynge of innocentes / that thys pacyfyers […]ale is vntrewe, bothe other good folke can testyfye, and hys owne wordes also beare wytnesse.

And therfore nede we no suche chaunge of the lawes for that purpose. But on the tother syde, what harme wold come of hys mytygacyons, & what increace of heretykes, the hole summe and sequele of hys deuyses do more than many festely shewe.

For suppose me now, that a tynker or a tylar whyche could (as some there can) rede englysshe, and beynge instructed and taught by some olde cunnyng weuar in wyclyffes wyckette, & Tindals bookes, and Frythes, & frere Barons were now become hym selfe an vsshar, or after hys maysters deceace a doctour / & that were suche a one as Fryth wryteth resorted to hym, wh[…] che though he was but Frythes dyscyple and scolar, was yet (he sayth) more meately to be bysshoppe than many that weare the myter: now yf this tynker or tylar lurking about and teachynge hys gospell in corners, were secretely detected to his ordynary, and thervpon sent for & came / he shold by the deuyse of this pacyfye[…] for the fyrste shyfte say bryng me forth myne accuser / & thā syth the callynge ex officio were gone, home goeth the tynkar agayne merely for that tyme, and taketh forth hys scolars a newe lesson.

Then yf the court will appoynt an offycer of theyr own for an accuser, as an officer of a temporall courte may geue informacyon for the kynge: the tynkar yet when he were called agayne, wold crye oute vppon that. And who so holdeth agaynst the processe ex officio, wolde take the tynkars parte therin to, and call those twayne but bothe one / and so home goth the tynkar agayn.

Then yf some man (whych wolde be longe erste I wene) could yet at the laste be founden, that wolde offer hym self as an accuser agaynst this tinkar, when he were called agay[…], and his heresyes were layed vnto his charge: yet yf the wytnesses were peraduen ture some scolars of his own / and lackyng the wyly shyftes that hym selfe had, fyrst had denyed theyr heresyes vppon theyr othes, and after yet confessed theym agayne both vppon them self and theyr mayster tynkar to, then were there neuer so many of them, yet by the deuyse of this pacyfyer, al theyre wytnes were naught worth, bycause they were naughty men, here[…]ikes them self, and fyrst forsworen also / […]o that yet home goth the tynkar agayne.

Nowe yf there were after other good honeste proues, that wolde come in and proue playnely the heresyes that he helde / when the tynkar were therto called, he wolde say he […] yt all of ignoraunce.

Then yf the mater were such, as he muste nedes haue herd of and knowen the trew fayth byfore, as pylgrymage, purgatorye, or the sacrament of the autre: he wyll not yet stycke myche to saye, brynge in some bodye here that wyll swere that euer he dyd teache yt me. And yet when that answere in suche an open mater wyll not serue / he wyll saye that he sayd yt of symplycyte, and that he byleueth as the chyrche byleueth he. And whē he is asked howe the chyrche byleueth, he wyll saye he woteth nere. And yf his wordes be rehersed vnto hym clene cō trary to the comen knowen catholike fayth of the chyrch / he wyll say he was not ware that the chyrche byleued so / & wyll say that they sholde not speke of suche hygh maters y• serue for doctours, to suche a pore tynkar y• medleth wyth brasse and not with latyn. And there shall he then haue some of his other faculty gather & stande about, and saye yt is pytye in dede that suche a pore symple soule sholde haue any suche questyons asked hym. But they wyll put yt for no pyty[…] at all, that suche an vnlerned fole shall amonge suche other as are lesse lerned then hym selfe, teache boldely the false parte, and there brage & boste that he better vnderstandeth y• mater, then all the doctours in the towne.

yet yf it appere that by sore wordes he despysed & inueyed agaynst pylgrymages & purgatory, & suche other thynges so that he dyd it not of sym. plycyte when he spake therin so shrewdly / then hath thys pacyfyer taught hym to saye, that he dyd it of polycy to pul awaye ryches from the chyrche / and therfore can that be no heresye.

Now yf the iudges be so sore & so cruell, that they wyll not alowe that polyccy / yet hath thys pacyfyer taughte hym farther to say, that he dyd but speke it affyrmatyuely, and wyll not hold it opinatyucly / and than ye wote well it is by thys pacyfyer no heresye.

And therfore muste hys iudges when they haue all done, sende thys tynkar yet onys home agayne / and not kepe hym to longe a way, lest hys scolars sholde playe the truantes and lacke theyr lernynge the whyle.

And yet yf he sayd as myche after agayne, and theruppon were called agayn / he myght say agarne that he were ouer[…]sene in y• sayenge, of a […]yghtne[…]e of wytte and slyppernes of tonge. But he wyll not holde it opynatyuely / & therfore yet agayne it maye be no heresye / so that home muste the tynkar agayne.

And now y[…] it sholde happen him to say and do so farre as he were afrayde to byde any farther rek[…]ning, namely where spyritual men so f[…]erce and so cruell sholde be hys iudges / the bysshoppe myght not arest hym yet, tyll proues be brought in fyrste, that the spyrytualtye haue lefte theyr greate desyre to abiure and punysshe heretykes / but must all the meane whyle cyte hym suspende hym, & accurse hym, and fet hym in by the kynges wryt when he is runne ou[…]e farre of into an other cūt[…]ey, and there ha[…]h chaunged his name and set vp a newe scole, where as men can neyther fynd hym nor yet wote where to seke hym.

when sholde there by these meanes wylfull offenders be punysshed? whyche though thys pacyfyer pretende that he wolde haue done / yet consyder these th[…]e chapyters of hys whyche I haue rehersed you, the fyrste, the seuenth, & the eyghte, and ye shall fynde hys deuyses come to lytell better effecte, than after thys fasshyon that I haue here descrybed you.

And than yf suche good prouysyons may be made for them, that they maye neuer be brought into answere, and that they may haue so many shyftes whan so euer they come: it wyll lytell fere them what payne ye sette after con̄ uyc[…]yon / burne them twyse yf ye wyll after iudgement, they wyll wyth good wyll agre / prouydynge fyrste such good actes for them as they shall neuer come so farre.

And therfore good chrystē readers, wolde god the world were such as euery man were so good, spyrytuall, tēporall, and all, that neyther parte coulde fynde any fawte in other / and all these heresyes so clene gone and forgeten, & al those that are infected were so clene turned and chaūged, that no man neded eyther abiuracyon or punysshement.

But syth that thys is more easy to wyshe, than lykely to loke for: therfore is it wysedome that spyrytuall & temporall both, albe it men be not all sayntes, yet yf theyr condycyōs be tolerable, eyther part labour to make hym self better, and charytably somwhat eyther part beare with other. And those extreme vices whiche neyther the tone nor the tother ought in any wyse to suffer, as thefte, adultery, sacrylege, murder, inceste, and periury, sedycyon, insurreccyon, treason, & heresye / bothe partes in one agreyng, to the honour of god and peace of Chrystes chyrche, wyth reste, welth, and surety of y• prynce and the realme, dylygently refourme and amēde in suche as are mendable / and those whose corrupt canker no cure can heale, cut of in season for corruptynge farther.