The.ix. chapyter

The author sheweth that yt ys a grete token yt the worlde ys nere at an ende / whyle we se ye peple so far fallē fro god / yt they can abyde yt to be cōtent wyth this pestylent frantyke sect / which no people crysten or hethen coude haue sufferd afore our days.

IF the worlde were not ne[…]e at an end / & the feruour of deuocyon so sore coled y• yt were almost quēched amōg crystē people / yt coude neuer haue comē to passe yt so many peple shold fall to the folowīg of such a bestly sect. For albe yt yt ye machometanꝭ beyng a sensual & fylthy sect / did in few yerꝭ draw ye gret part of ye world vnto yt / by ye self same ways which now ye lutherās vse / that ys to wytte voluptuouse lyuynge and vyolence / offeryng delyte vnto the recey[…]ours and deth to the re[…]usours[…] yet was there byfore thys abomynable secte neuer eny secte so shamelesse / that wolde styll […]uowe theym selfe for crysten folke grauntynge the scrypture to be trewe / and therwythall so enemyously blaspheme and oppugne ye chyrch of Cryst / ye sacramētis of Cryst / the sayntis of Cryst / ye crosse of Cryst / the mother of Cryst / & the holy body of Cryst / so shamfully lyuyng and openly profes[…]ynge a bestyall maner of lyuynge / clene contrary to the doctryne and lyfe of Cryste. Cha[…]ryanys / the Pelagyanys / the Manytheis / and so forthe euery sorte of heretyques / bygan of suche as thoughe they wyckedly erred in substauncyall artycles of the faythe / yet was theyre outwarde fassyon of lyuynge so honest and spyrytuall in apparence / that mē thought theym selfe bounden the better to byleue theyre doctryne as crysten / for som spyrytual forme & fassyon of theyr crystē lyuynge. But now ye chyefteyns of these execrable heresyes / both teche and vse more sensuall and lycencyous lyuīg / thā euer dyd Machomet. whych though he lycence mē to many wyuis / yet he neuer taught nor suffred his folk to breke theyr chastyce promysed onys and solempnely dedycate to god. wher as L[…]ther not onely techeth monkys […]re[…]ys and nonnes to ma[…]yage / but also beynge a fre[…]e hathe maryed a […]unne hym selfe / and wyth her lyueth vnder the name of wedlocke in open incestuouse lechery wythowte care or shame / bycawse he hath procured and gotē so many shamefull and shameles companyons.

who coud haue byddē to loke eny mā in ye face yt shold haue don thus in saynt Hieromes & saint Austyns days? what speke we of saynt Hierom & saynt Ansteyn? who durst haue don it for sh[…]e eny tyme synnys Cry[…]ys byrthe vntyll our wreched days? Or who synnys Adams tyme amonge the chosen people of god? What speke we of the chosen people of god? the very Paynyms and Paganys ydolaters kepte theyr chastyte vowed onys to theyr false goddys / and rather ch[…]se to cut of the mēbres with whych they might breke yt than to stande in the ieopardy to breke yt. And in Rome of olde tyme when they were Paganis / yf eny vestal vyrgyn (for so called they theyr nunnes) were vyola[…]ed / they not only bette the man to deth wyth roddys in the market place / and beryed the woman quycke / but also rekened it for a wonderfull monster / and a token of wrath and indygnacyon of theyr goddys towarde theyr cyte and empyre / puttynge theruppon them selfe in deuoure wyth open processyons and prayers and sacrefyce / to procure the recouerye of theyr goddys fauour. Ys it not than nowe a wonderouse case to se / synnys that the chastyte promysed […]nys to god / and also to the false ydols vnder the name of god / hath alwaye ben syth the worlde bygan / amonge crysten and hethen so hyghly estemed / that the brekers therof haue alwaye ben by the comm[…]ne consent of the hole worlde / as a thynge taught by god vnto good men / and by nature to all men taken / reputed / and punysshed as abomynable wycked wredches / is yt not I saye nowe a wonderouse thyng to se that in ye flok of crystē ple / which by Cryst hymself / by all his apostles / by all hys holy martyrs / confessours / and doctours / by all hys hole chyrch / all y• hole tyme of these.xv.C. yerꝭ passed / chastyte hath bē more hyghly praysed & estymed than euer yt was of eny other sect syth the world bygan / we shold se now a lewde frere so bolde & so shameles to mary a nunne & byde therby / and be taken styll for a crysten man / and ouer that for a man mete to be the begynner of a new sect / whome eny honest man sholde vouche[…]fe to folowe? Yf our lorde god / whose wysdom ys infynyte / sholde haue syt and studyed to deuyse a waye / wherby he myght caste in our face the confusyon of our foly / how myght he haue founden a more effectuall / openly to shewe vs the shame of our synne / than to suffer vs that call our self crysten folk / to se suche a rable sprynge vp amonge vs / as professynge the fayth and relygyon of Cryste / let not to set at nowght all the doctours of Crystys chyrche / and lene to the only authoryte of frere tuk and mad Maryon?