The.xlix. chapyter

ANd thus good crysten readers I make an ende of this mater, the boke I meane of thys dyuysyon / wherin I haue nothyng touched nor entēded, but onely y• I wold not the tēporalty bare the spiritualty y• worse mynde or affeccyō, for any such suttle inuēced ways that lay the fau […]es of the badde to the whole body, wherin be many good / and vnder a fygure of some say, saye some thynges false them selfe / nor that men shold causelesse vppon such surmysed and vnproued crueltye, chaūge the good lawis byfore made agaynste heretyques, wherby to the dyspleasure of god & prouokynge of his indygnacyon, we were lykely to haue the fayth decay, & more harme grow theron then any man yet can tell.

The whole sōme & effect therfore of my mynde in this mater is, that as touchynge the spyrytualtye, I bere a tender mynde of trouth towarde (I say) y• body not toward those that are noughte therin. And thys mynde ys euery man bounde to bere / and I truste so doth this pacyfyer to, and wyll of hym selfe I wene do well ynough, yf he vse to the contrary none euyll coūsayle.

As touchynge here[…]ykes, I hate that vyce of theyrs & not theyr persones / and very fayne wolde I that the tone were destroyed, and the tother saued. And that I haue toward no mā any other mynde then thys, (howe lowdely so euer these blessed newe bretherne the prof[…]ssours & preach[…]rs of verycye bylye me) yf all the fauour and pytye that I haue vsed amonge theym to theyre amendement were knowen, y[…] wo[…]de I warraūt you well and p[…]ayne appere / wherof yf it were requysyte I coulde bryng forth wytnesses mo then men wold wene.

And sure this one thynge wyll I be bolde to say, that I neuer founde any yet, but had he ben neuer so bad, nor done neuer so myche harme byfore: yet after that I founde hym ones chaunged and in good mynde to mende, I haue ben so gladde therof, that I haue vsed hym fro thens forth not as an euyll man or an abiect, nor as a straūger neyther, but as a good man and my very frende.

Howe be yt bycause yt were neyther ryghte nor honestye, that any man sholde loke for more thāke then he deserueth / I wyll that all the world wyt it on y• tothersyde, that who so be so depely grounded in malyce to the harme of his owne soule and other mennes to, and so set vppon the sowynge of sediciouse heresyes, that no good meanes that men maye vse vnto hym, can pull that malycyouse foly oute of hys poysened proude ob[…]tynate harte: I wolde rather be content that he were gone ī tyme, then ouer longe to tary to the destruc[…]yon of other.

Finally as for the authour of y• boke of dyuisyō, bycause he ꝓfesseth these herety[…]ues opyniōs for heresies as thei be / I truste in all his other thynges hym selfe meaneth but well / but partely may be by some pytyfull affeccyon ledde. And some thynges he sayth but vppon report / and somethynges affermeth peraduenture as of hym selfe, bycause of y• fyrme c[…]edence that he therein hath geuen to some that were not so credyble as he toke theym fore. But in conclusyon what so euer he be, for a[…]y thynge that I perceyue in his boke, he shall I trust in conclusyon be founden no suche maner of man, as folke shold of reason reken to bere vnto the weale of the prynce and the realme, any better mynde thē I. How be yt yf his wytte and hys lernynge fynde a better waye, then not onely I (whyche am but a playne soule and can inuent no neweltyes, but am content to stande to the olde order and lawes) but also then all they, whyche for this realme in specyall, and for the whole chyrche of Cryst in generall, haue made those prouysyons of old: I neyther can nor wyll forbede any man to folowe hym.

But thys wyll I be bolde to counsayle euery man, to whose parte so euer any suche chaunge shall perteyne, fyrste that they haue as I dout not but they wyll, a good christen mynde to the mayntenaunce of Crystes catholyke fayth / & that they therin stande by the olde, wythout the contrary chaunge of any poynt of our olde bylyefe, for any thynge brought vppe for newe, not onely by Luther, Tyndale, Fryth, or frere Barons / but also yf there wolde (as there neuer wyll) an angell (as saīt Poule sayth) come out of henyn & preche a contrary new.

Secundely for as myche as these newe fathers of these new bretherne, lyke as they make falsed treuth & treuth falsed, and fayth heresies and heresyes fayth, so do call also the newe olde and the olde newe / not lettynge to call in theyr bookes that fayth but new, whyche them selfe confesse in the same bookes to be more old than thage of eyght hundred yere: I wyll aduyse you therfore good readers for the trewe takynge of the olde fayth, and for the dyscernyng therof from all newe, to stand to the common well knowē bylyefe of the comon knowen catholyke chyrche of all chrysten people / such fayth as by your selfe, and your fathers, and your graūdefathers, you haue knowen to be byleued / and haue ouer that herde by them that the contrary was in the tymes of theyr fathers & theyr graundefathers also, taken euer more for heresye. And also ye y• rede but euyn in englysshe bookes, shall in many thynges perceyue the same, by storyes fyue tymes as farre afore that.

we must also for the perceyuynge of the olde fayth from newe, stande to the wrytynges of olde holy doctours & sayntes / by whose exposicyōs we se what poyntes are expressed in the scrypture, and what poyntes the catholyke chyrche of Cryst hath bysyde the scrypture receyued & kept by the spyryte of god and tradycyon of hys apostles.

And specyally must we also stande in this mater of fayth, to the determynaciōs of Crystes catholyke chyrche.

Now yf any man wyll bere other in hāde, that this poynt or that poynt is not determyned, or that the holy doctours of y• chyrche wryte not in such wyse but the contrary / than who so euer is not of suche lernynge, as to perceyue by hym self whither of those two saye trewe that holde therin contrary partys: than except the artycle be a playne open knowen thynge of it selfe, not dowted of before, let hym not be lyght of credence in the byleuynge eyther the tone dysputer or the tother, thoughe they wolde bothe preche hygh prayses of theyr owne connynge, and saye that bysyde all theyr mych worldely busynesse they hadde spent many yeres about the studye of scrypture, and bost that theyr bokes of dyuynyte were worthe neuer so myche money, or that by the spyryte they were inspired and wyth the celestyall dew sodaynly sprongen vp dyuynys, as lustye freshe and grene as after any showre of rayne euer spronge any bedde of lekes. Lette no man I say be lyght in byleuynge theym for all that / but let hym by my pore cōsayle pray god inspyre hym self, to byleue and folow the thynge that […]aye be hys hygh pleasure / and lette hym therupon appoynt with hym selfe to lyue well / & forth with to beginne well, gete hym self a good goostely father, and shryue hym of hys synnes / & than concernyng the questiō, aske aduyce and counsayle of those whom hym selfe thynketh bytwene god & hys new clensed cōscyence, for lernyng and vertue moste lykely, without any parcyall lenynge, indyfferētly to tell hym treuth.

And thus farre I saye for the fayth it selfe, bycause I here some men myche speke & boste that they wyll labour for declaracyons of heresye, whyche as me semeth is a thynge that lytell nedeth. For I neuer wyste any man in my lyfe putte in trouble for any poynte of heresye, but suche poyntes as were for heresye well and openly knowen among the comon p[…]ople. And saynt Poule sayth y• heresyes be manyfest and open / so that he thought as it semeth, that there neded none other declaracyon than the comon receyued fayth of the chrystē pepl[…] to the contrary.

But now as touchyng any new order concernynge heresyes, wyth the chaunge of lawes before dyuysed for the repressyō of them: I haue n[…] more to say therin, but aduys[…] euery good man endeuour[…] hym self to kepe well y• lawes all redy made of olde / excepte he se the cause of the makyng chaūged, or some other great necessyte / and that he se that poynt by more ordinary meanes proued, than eyther by some say, or they say, or many say / or ellys that he perceyue well at y• leste, that those folke which wold labour to chaūge them be better & wyser bothe, than euer were those y• made them. And thus fynysshe I thys mater concernynge heresyes / besechynge our lorde and sauyour for hys bytter passyon, that as hys holy sacramentes therof toke theyre strength, so by the prayour of all those holy sayntes y• haue bothe by theyr holy doctryne and ensample of lyuynge, some of them planted y• fayth, and some of theym in sundry tymes well watered the plantes, so hym selfe wyll of hys goodnes specially now vouchsaufe as the warme sonne (the […]ery eternall onely begotten sonne of hys eternall father) to […]prede hys beames vppon vs, and aspyre hys breth into vs, and ī our hartes as saynt Poule sayth geue hys fayth strength and encreace.