The.xii. chapyter

HIs.xii. chapiter begynneth in the xxxviii. lefe / whych bycause yt ys a good swete sermone & a shorte, made vnto my selfe, to put me in remembraunce howe I shold […]ere the lyke lyght fautꝭ of other men, as I some tyme fall in my self: I shal take his chapyter in here euyn hole. Lo good readers thus yt sayth.

MAyster More in the.217. lefe of hys Apology, speking of defautes, that as he thynketh, shulde haue ben leyde for causes of thys dyuysyon, concludeth thus: If there be such a dyuysyō: wherby it appereth that he doubteth, whether there be any diuysyon or not: for this coniunccion, yf, purporteth alway a doubte. And after in the same Apologye, fo. 241. he confesseth playnely, that there is a dyuysyon / and maketh no doute at yt: and he calleth yt there the late spronge dyuysyon. And so in one place to make a doute, whether there be suche a dyuysyon or not / and in a nother place to agre, that there ys suche a dyuysyon / semeth to be a varyaunce and contradyccyon in yt selfe: howe be yt surely I do not intende to laye that varyaunce to hym as for any notable defaute: For a lyke thynge may soon happen in any man by a lyght ouersyght. But the cause why I speke of yt is this, to put hym in remēbraunce / that he hereafter ought the rather to beare suche lyghte defaute[…] of o[…]her the more charytably / syth he hym selfe hath lyke wyse ben oue[…] sene. For we be all […]rayle ignorant and vnstable / though we be estymed and taken as angels in cure conuersacyon. And therfore ys yt sayde in the fyrste boke of the folowynge of Cryste the.xvi. chapyter, that no man is in this worlde wythout defaute, no man wytho[…]te burden, no man suffycyent to hym selfe, no man wyse ynough of hym selfe. Wherfore yt beh[…]ueth eche one of vs to beare the burden of other, to comforte other, to helpe other, to enform[…] other, and to instructe and admonysh other in al charytie. And yf we wyll note well the sayde wordes, we shall the sooner lerne thys lesson / to do in al thynges as we wolde be done to: and to do nothyng that we wold not haue done to be. And that is as I tak[…] yt one of the moste souerayne doctrynes that is / to instructe a man how he shall in e[…]ery thynge conce[…] nynge hys neyghbour, kepe hym selfe in a clere conscyence, lerne yt who so may[…].

Lo good readers, fyrste he bryngeth forth myne ouersyght, in contradyccyon vsed betwene myne owne wordes / and after wyth good wordes and fayre, excuseth my faute, by suche ouersyght of frayltye as maye soone happen in a man. And then he putt[…]th me after in remembraunce, that I muste bere suche thynges the more charitably in other men, syth I am ouersene lykewyse my selfe. He fareth in all this tale, as though we sat to gether playeng at post. For fyrste he casteth my contradiccion as a vye, to wyt whyther I wold geue yt ouer with a face. And bycause that wyll not be, falleth after to treatye, and wold fay[…]e parte the stacke, and diuide all such ouersyghtes betwene vs. But all this is in vayne / for I am as sure of this game and there lay.xx.li. vppon yt, as he that hathe thre acys in his hande.

For loke good readers in his own fyrste chapyter of thys booke of hys and there shall you se the thyng tha[…] shall serue me, suffycyently shew[…] euyn by hys owne wordes, that there ys no suche contradyccyon in myne. And than loke myne auswere to the same / and than shall you se yt yet more clerely. Or ellys yf any man be lothe to tourne the leuys, and loke bakke: ye shall nede to take no besynesse in tournynge bakke at all. For he soyleth hys argument hym selfe agaynste hym selfe, euyn in the makynge therof, and all wyth one worde vnware.

For nowe rede yt agayne / and you shall se that he sayeth hym selfe, in the tone place I saye, If there be any suche dyuysyon. And so bycause thys coniunccyon If, he sayth inporteth all waye a doute: therfore he sayth that fo.217. I doute whyther there be any suche dyuysyon or not. And after he sayth that in the tother place I confesse that there ys a dyuysyon / and call yt there the late sprongen dyuysyon. Lo nowe he forgetteth thys lytle shorte worde, this monasyllable, Suche, whych he rehersed fyrste in bryngynge forthe my fyrste place / and then by and by, eyther of forgetefulnes or ellys of wylynesse, leueth oute in hys illacyon that he maketh vppon the same wordes of myne.

Nowe good readers you se well that to saye there is a dyuysyon, and to saye there ys no suche dyuysyon, be nothynge contrarye at all. For I dyd in dede not deny but that some dyuysyon there was, that ys to wytte some lytle varyaunce in some place begonne, and by some fewe naughtye folke blowne forthe to farre (For a lytle waye ys to farre in suche a thyng). But than meane I a dyuysyon such as yt ys, not suche a dyuysyon as thys man by hys booke maketh yt. I maye well wythoute contradyccyon saye to hym, There ys a dyuysyon / and yet saye that there ys no suche dyuysyon as he speketh of. For yt is not all one to saye there ys a dyuysyon, and […]o saye there ys suche a dyuysyon.

Nowe yf I wolde stycke wyth hym vpon tryflys: I coulde proue hym that If, dothe not alwaye purporte a doute, as he sayeth that yt alwaye dothe, but ys sometyme vsed to conferme a certayntye. As yf a man say he that dyeth in dedely synne shal go to the deuyll, yf goddes word be trewe, douteth not of the trouthe of goddes worde / but by the trouthe therof, meaneth to cōferme the damnacyon of theym that dye in dedely synne.

But I saye not this as though yt sholde be lyke in myne. For I do not in dede take If there in such fashion. And therfore I wyll not do here by If, as thys man doth by As, in hys chapyter nexte byfore, in heresyes spoken as of polycye / vsynge ye sample of wordes spoken by a good man in reprochynge of hypocrysee, to be lyke hys owne wordes spoken in the mynyshynge of theyre blame, that vnder suche pretexte of polycye / wolde speke and sow aboute playne and open heresye. I nede here no suche wayes for my wordes. For here haue you sene your selfe by his owne wordes, that there ys in my wordes, no contradyccyon at all.