The.xi. chapyter

The messenger fyndeth fawte wt the clergye / in y• he sayth they haue made a constytucyon prouyncyall y• no byble in englysh shold be suffred. And in thys chapyter incydently y• messenger mych reproueth y• lyuyng of the clergye. Whervnto y• author somwhat sheweth his mynd / defferrynge for the whyle hys answere to thobye[…]yon made agaynst the constytucyon.

S[…]r quod your frende I wyll not gretely s[…]ykke with you in that poynt. But surely the thyng y• maketh in this mater the clergye most suspect / and wherin as yt semeth yt wolde be full hard to excuse theym / is this / that they not onely d[…] ̄ […]ne Tyndals translacyon (wherin there is good cause) but euer that do dampne all other / & a[…] though a lay man were no crysten m[…]n / wyll suffer no ley man haue eny at all. But whan they fynde eny in hys […]epyng / they lay heresye to hym therfo[…]e. And thervppon they burne vppe the boke and somtyme the good man wyth all / alledgyng for the defence of theyr doyng a law of theyr owne makyng a cōstytucyon pro[…]yncyal / wher by they haue prohybyted that eny man shall haue eny vppon payn of heresye. And thys is a lawe very prouyncyall / for yt holdeth but here. For ī all other cūtrees of chrystēdome the people haue the scrypture trāslated īto theyr owne tong / and the clergye th[…]re fyndeth no […]he fawte therin. Wherfore eyther our people is worste of all people / or ellys our clergye is wor[…]e of all clergyes. But by my trouth for aught that I can se here or perc[…]yue by them that ha[…] bene els where / our ley peple be as good & as […] as be eny […] And yf eny be other wyse / thoccasyon and exemple cōmeth of the clergy[…]/amonge whome we se myche more vy[…]e thā among our selfe. Where as they shold gyue vs example of vertue and y• lyght of lernyng / now theyr examples what they be we see. And as for lernynge / they neyther wyll teche vs but selde / and that shal be but such thyngꝭ as pleaseth theym som gloses of theyr own ma[…]yng / nor suffer vs to lerne by our selfe / but by theyr constytucyō pull Crystys gospell out of crysten peoples handys. I can not well se why but left we shold se the trouth. The Iewes be not letted to red theyr law both lerned and lewd. And yet are there in the old testament thyngys for vnlerned folke farre more straunge and peryllous thā in the new. And why sholde then ou[…] ley men be forboden the gospell / but yf they wyll make vs worse than Iewes? Wherin I can in good faith se no scuse they can fynde. For the scrypture is to good folk y• nouryssher of vertue / and to theym that be nauh[…] yt is the meane of amendement. And therfore whyle the clergye doth wyth[…] it vs / yf our soules be in good helth / they take a waye o[…]refode / yf our soules be […]yke they take away y• medycyne. And therfore as I sayd the f[…]ut is not in y• damnyng of Tyndals translacyō / but in that they haue by an expresse lawe forboden that we shold haue eny at al Your wordys quod I be somwhat poy[…]naūt and sharpe. But surely they pry[…] somwhat more the men th[…]n the mater. For where y[…] towche in effecte two thyngys / […] the constytucion pr[…] uyncyall by whych yt thynke the clerg[…] […] haue euyll pro[…]byted all […] of sc[…]ypt[…] in to our tonge / a nother the vycys of ye clergye in generall / the fyrst poynt whych in dede towcheth our mater / I can and wyll wyth fewe wordys answere you. But as for y• other whych toucheth the men / as where ye accuse the clergye in theyr ꝑsons of very vycious lyuyng as mē mych worse thā ye say that we be / and yet as though theyr owne fautys were to few / charge theym wyth ours to / wherof ye call theym the cause / in thys poynt wyl I kepe no scolys wyth you / nor entre in to dyspycions therof / nor gladly medle wyth the mater. For as I told you in the begynnynge syth we talke but of mennys lernynge / I wyll not medle of mennys lyuynge / nor in ye treatyng of thys mater eyther prayse or dysprayse eny mānys maner / except some such as are for theyr heresyes & euyl doctryne cast out of Crystꝭ chyrch / and through all Crystendome dampned & dy[…]famed all redy by theyr owne obstynate malyce. But yet wher ye speke of other contrees / makyng an argumēt that our clergye is the worst of all other / I wote well y• hole world is so wreched that spyrytuall and temporall euery where all be bad ynoughe god make vs all better. But yet for yt I haue my selfe sene / and by credyble folke haue herd / lyke as ye say by oure temperalytye that we be as good and as honest as eny where elles / so d[…]re I boldely saye that the spyrytualytye of englande / and specyally that p[…]rt[…] in whyche ye fynde most faute / that is to wytte that parte whyche we comenly call the secular clergye / is in lernynge & honest lyuyng well able to m[…]che & (sauyng yt cōparysōs be odyoꝰ I wold saye ferther) far able to ouer m[…]tch[…] nomber for nōber the spyrytu[…]lyte of eny nacyon crysten. I wote well there be therin many very lewde & naught. And surely wher so euer there is a multytude / yt is not without myracle wel possyble to be otherwyse. But now yf y• bysshopys wolde onys take vnto presthed better ley mē and fewer (for of vs be they made) all the mater were more than half amēded. Now where ye saye that ye se more vyce in theym th[…]n in our selfe / trouth yt is that euery thyng in theym is gretter / bycause they be more bounden to be better. But ellys the thyngys that they mysdo / be y• self same that we synne in our selfe which vycys that as ye say we se more in thē than in our selfe / y• cause ys I suppose / for we loke more vppon theyrs thā on our own / and fare as Esope sayth in a fable / that euery mā caryeth a dowbl[…] walet on hys sholder / & in to the tone that hangeth at his breste he putteth other folkys fawtys / and therī he tooteth and poreth often / In the tother he layeth vp all hys owne and swyngeth yt at hys backe / whyche hym self neuer lysteth to loke in / but other that cū after hym cast an eye in to yt amōg. Wold god we were all of the mynde yt euery mā thought no man so badde as hym self. For yt were the waye to mend bothe theym and vs. Now they blame vs / and we blame thē / and both bl[…]me worthy / and eyther parte more redy to fynde others fawtys than to mende theyr owne. For in reproche of thē we be so studyous / that neyther good nor bad passeth vnreproued. Yf they be famylyer we call them lyght. Yf they be solytary we call theym fantastyke. Yf they be sadde we call theym solempne. Yf they be mery we call theym madde. Yf they be cūprynable we call theym bycyouse. Yf th[…]y b[…] holy we call them vpocrytys. Yf they kepe few seru[…] tys we call them nyggardys. If they kepe many we call them pompose. If a lewd[…] preste do a lewd dede than we say / l[…]se what s[…]mple the clergye gyueth vs / as though that preste were ye clergye. But th[…]n forgete we to loke wh[…]t good men be theri[…]/and what good counsayle they gyue vs / & what good example they sh[…]we vs. But we fa[…]e as do the r[…]uens and the car[…] crowys that neuer […]dyll wyth eny […]uycke flesshe. But where they maye fynde a dede dogge in a dyche / therto they […]l[…] and theron they fede a pace. So where we se a good man / and here or se a good thyng / there we take lytell hede. But whan we see onys an euyll […]ede / theron we gape / therof we talke and fede oure selfe all day[…] wyth th[…] fylthy delyte of euyll cōmunycacyo[…] Lette a good man preche / a shorte tale shall […] a preste gyuen lyghte to the people that was but very yonge. Mary quod I god forbede ellys / ye maye se that often and ye wyll. Trewly quod he yt ys pytye that we see suche lyghte so selde / beynge thys wreched worlde in suche darkenesse as yt ys. For I neuer sawe yt but onys. Nor as yt semede fewe of the people n[…]yther. For in faythe they wondred as faste theron as thoughe they hadde neuer sene yt byfore. Howe happed that quod I. Mary quod he yt happed that a yonge preste very deuoutel[…] in a processyon / bare a […]andell byfore the crosse for lyenge wy[…]h a wenche / […] bare yt lyghte all the longe waye. Wherein the people toke suche spyrytuall pleasure and inwarde solace / that th[…]y lawhged a […]. And on[…] mery marchaunte sayde vnto the prestys that folowed hym / […] whyche fell in to the curse of hys fa […]er Noe / for that he m[…]de a g[…]de & shewed forthe in skorne the secrete members of hys father / that of aduenture lay and slepte vncouered / whyche partys Sem and Iaphet the blyssed chylderen […]rently couered / goynge backward[…] to hym bycause they wold not se hym. And surely we h[…]ue lytell […]awse to lawghe at theyr lewdnesse. For vndou[…]y yf the clergye be nought we muste nedys be worse / as I herde […]nys mayster Colett the good deane of powlys preche. For he sayde that yt can be none other / but that we muste […] be one degree vnder theym. For surely as he sayde yt can be no lye that our sauyours […]aythe hym selfe / whyche saythe of theym that they be salt of the erthe. And y[…] […]alte onys ap[…]lle / the worlde […] were all knowen to go about and tell theym by the pollys / to se whyche syde were the more. And therfor[…] in the menne whyle I truste in god the better parte ys the gretter. Howe be yt y[…] there were in dede amonge theym very fewe / yet thynke I veryly that for those fewe all the worlde fa[…]th the better / and ys in theyre ver[…] and praye[…] by goddys grete mercy […] […]yned and vpholden / as we fynde in scrypture placys […] one / […] cla[…]ynge playnely the pro[…]y[…] that an hole synfull […] some tyme […] hole regyon / taketh by the prayer of a fewe godly men. And no dow[…] ys there but lyke wyse as he that ys in the clergy[…] nought[…]/ys farre the worse bycawse he ys therin / so he that therin ys good / ys fo[…] hys clergye […] farre the better / and hys prayer to g[…] for hym selfe & all other farre the […] […]ylable.