The fyrst ch • pyter

The mes[…]enger recapytelyng certayne thyngys before proued / & for hys parte agreynge that the chyrch of Cryst can not in eny nece[…]ry artycle of ye faythf[…]ll in eny d[…]mpnable errour / doth put in dowte & questyon whyche is the very chyrch of Cryst / alledgyng that they peraduē ture whom we call heretyques wyl say that th[…]ym selfe is y• chyrch and not we. Wherof the author sh[…]weth the contrary / declaryng wh[…]by we may know yt they cā not be ye chyrch[…]

AFter dyner we w[…]lked in to ye gardyn. And there shortely sytting in an […]ther / […]egan to go forthe in ou[…] mater / d[…]y […]ynge hym to shew what thynge myght that be / that m[…] de our lōge f[…]renone pro[…] fr[…]r[…]t / and lefte vs as vncertayn a[…] we begā. Syr q he that shall I shortly shew you. Where as there w[…]s pryncypally in questy[…]n whyther worshyppyng of ymagys and relyques / and prayeng to sayntys / and goyng on pyl[…]ry[…]ges / were lawfull or not / & that I […]t you in mynde that mē layd agaynst theym certayne textys of holy scryp[…]ure / and also sayd vnto you yt yt semed the textꝭ self whyche be the wordys of g[…]d […]re of more authoryte agaynst theym thē the glo[…]ys of […]/that in suche wyse expowne the textys as they may sem[…] to make for theym / ye layd on the other syde the consent and agrement & comē catholyke fayth of the chyrche / whyche ye sayd / and in dede to say the trouth b[…]th by reason and by scrypture ye proued / that yt cowld[…] not be err[…] nyouse / and that the chyrch coulde not err[…] in the fayth that god wolde haue kn[…]wen and byleued. Ye proued y• mater also by myracles. In whych whan I layd dyuers thynges mouynge men to dowte / partely leste they were not trewe / but specyally leste they were not done by god for corroboracyon of the fayth / but were per[…]ase by goddys sufferaunce done by the deuyll for our delusyon / deseruyng so to be serued by our fallynge frome the worshyppe of god hym selfe to the worshyppe of hys cre[…]turys / ye proued me yet agayne that ye myracles were trewe / and that they mu[…] nedys be done by god. And that ye proued me by this that yt shold ellys folowe / that the chyrche had a wronge byleue & a dampnable. Whych […]fte[…]nys ye proued well and substaū cyally to be īpossyble. And for as mych as there fell in the waye / occasyon to s[…]eke of the contraryetye that semed sometyme to fall bytwene the textys of holy scrypture selfe and the comē per […]syō and fayth of the chyrch / wher[…] I s[…]yd that yt was thought reasonabl[…] to byleue y• scrypture beynge goddꝭ […] […]rdys rather than the wordys […]/yt therin proued that the comen[…]ayth of the chyrche was as well godd[…]s owne wordꝭ as was holy scrypt[…]e self / and of as grete authoryte / […] […]uden[…] in scrypture shold […] to trye examyn and iudge the […] fayth of Crystꝭ chyrch by ye […]/but by the catholyque fayth […]f Crystys chyrche sholde examy[…]e & […]xp[…]wne the textys of scrypt[…]r[…]. And that in the study of scrypture this we […] the sure waye / wherein sholde gyue y[…] sayde grete lyght the wrytyng[…] of the olde holy doctours / wherby we […]e acerteyned that the fayth that the chyrche hath now / is the same faythe and the same poyntes that they had than of olde in euery age and euery tyme. And in this parte ye proued yet agayn by r[…]ason and holy scrypture / that the chyrche hathe by the techynge of god and the holy ghoost the ryght vnderst[…]ndynge of scrypture / in all poyntys th[…]t are of necessyte to be knowen. And theruppon eftsonys ye deduced & proued that no texte of the scry[…]t[…]e w[…]ll vnderstanden coulde […] the worsh[…]pynge of […] & r[…]lyques and the sekynge of […]/but that all these […] be […]ll proued good and pleasaunt[…] to god / and the myracles done in suche placys done by god / syche hys […] so informeth and […] hys chyrche in so grett and so […] cyall an artycle so hyghly […] the honour or dyshonour of god / […] yt can not be suffred to fall to sup[…]r[…]ycyon and ydolatry in stede of faythe and honoure done […] god. And thys is q ge as far as I […] and effecte of al that hath […] myght gr[…]unte th[…]t that the chyrche doth not […]/and that the ch[…]rch h[…]th the ryght faythe / and that the chyrche doth not mys[…] take the scrypture. And whan all thys were agreed / he myght saye that the chyrche peraduenture do[…]h not […]yl[…]ue as ye say it doth. For he mygh[…] happely denye the chyrche to be that people that ye take yt for / and saye that yt is the people that byleu[…]th as he byleueth / th[…]t is to wyte all th[…]se kyndes of worshyppe to be wronge / […]d that byleueth th[…]m whō ye take for the chyrche to byleue wronge. Yf he and hys company quod I be the chyrche / he must tell where hys fel[…]wes be? Why so q he yf mē sholde aske you and me where the chyrche as / we co[…]de tel no one place but many […]. Let hym quod I in lyke wyse assygne some companyes th[…]t be knowen for congregacyons […]o gether in dyuers countrees. Why quod h[…] in the begynnyng and a good w[…]yle after / ye chyrche of Cry[…] in euery pl[…]ce […]ydde yt selfe / that men […]owlde not t[…]ll in eny […] they were / nor […] oute and […]hew[…] […] […] […] […] is gone out of the gate of goddys chyrche before actuall excōmunycacyon / & fallē of the body of y• vyn[…]y[…]rde. And yf they be secrete / neyther professynge theyr heresyes nor actually beyng accursed and cast out / they be in the chyrche but not perfytly of yt. But in such wyse ī ma[…]er therof be they / as a ded hande is rather a burden in the bodye / than veryly eny membre organe or instrumēt therof. And therfore sayth s[…]īt Iohn̄ as I sayd before / that the heretyques be gone out of vs / but they were not of vs. For yf they had ben of vs they wolde haue taryed with vs. Meanynge therby not as some wolde haue yt seme / yt a good man is not of y• chyrche nor in goddys […]auour whyle he is good / bycause he happeth to wax worse afterwarde. But he meaneth that in y• they wente theyre waye from vs / they shewed that they were nought in dede whyle they were wt vs. And […]o though they were wyth vs / yet w[…]re they not of vs. For though heretyques & infydelys be amōg faythfull and well byleuynge people / yet be they perd[…] […] of the[…]. And so it appereth as ye s[…]yd before / that the chyrch of Cryst is before all the chyrches of heretyques / and that all congregacyons of heretyques haue comen out of the chyrch of Cryst That is very true quod he. […]ell quod I yf that be true as yt is in dede / thā can no […] in Bohe[…] be y• r[…]ht chyrche. For the chyrch […] we call the chirch that byleueth as […] by[…]/was there before all […]. And neuer a chyrch had […]ny chyrch of […] yet / but yt […]as […] by […] […]rch to theyre handys […] that yt is […] that no[…]e of all theym can be […] chyrche / but Crystys chyrche […] […] dys be that chyrch y• was before theym all / and oute of whyche all they haue s[…]rongen / and synnys seueryd they[…] selfe / whyche is the chyrche y• all they deny not / to byleue agaynst them / the poyntys whych we byleue and they reproue.