The.xv. chapyter

That pryncys be bounden to punyshe heretyques / & that fayre handelyng helpeth lytell wyth many of theym.

HAd surely as the prīcys be boū den yt they shall not suffer theyr peple by infydelys to be inuaded / so be they as depely bounden that they shall not suffer theyre people to be seduced & corrupted by heretyques / syth ye parell shall in short whyle growe to as grete bothe wyth mennys sowles wythdrawen from god / and theyr goodys lost / and theyr bodyes destroyed by comē sedycyon / insurreccion / and open warre / wythin the bowellys of theyre owne lande. All whyche maye in the begynnyng be ryght […]asely auoyded / by punyshment of those few that be ye fyrste. whyche few well repressed / or yf nede so requyre vtterly pulled vp / there shal fa[…] the fewer haue lyste to folowe. For yf they were handled in a contrary maner / & as ye semed to mene in the begynning of our mater / in s[…]ede of punyshmēt / ent[…]eted / fauored / & by fayre wordys and rewardys brought home agayns / I fere me then that ye sholde fynde ly[…]ll f[…]yte in that fas[…]yon. For fy[…] where as they fall in to heresy[…] by pryd[…]/that way wolde make them pro[…]der / & set ye more by thē selfe. And […] wold many mo fall therto / of purpo[…] […] agayn […]. So yt a[…] māmolukꝭ & genysaryes about ye tur[…]e a[…] sowdeyn haue vsed […] crystē theyr […] theyr fayth after / they myght be made mā molukes or genysaryes as theyr fathers were / and may be had in ye more estymacyō and fauour about the grete turke / euen lyke wyse wythin a whyle yf we take that way wyth heretyques we shall haue yong fresh felowes fyrst bycome heretyques / that they maye be prayed & hyred after to com to Crystys fayth agayne. I wolde not they were ouer hastely handled / but lytel rygour and myche mercy shewed where symplenes appered and not hygh hart or malyce. For of suche as be prowde and malycyouse / myche profe hathe bene made all redy. For of some sorte many full fayre handled / lytell chaū ge theym self or come to good amendement. I tolde you my selfe and very true yt was of twayne that were detected of heresye vnto the moost honorable prela[…]e of this realme / & in what benygne fatherly maner and lyberall also he delt wyth them. And yet what amendement made hys gentyll & courteyse intretye / in theyre stoburne stomake? were they not after worse then they were byfore? and so vsed themself that after myche harme done by them / the came in shorte space after to theyr open cōuyccyon? They be ye wo[…]e wel at ye fyrst custumably receyued to grace / & veryly that for such merytys / forgyuenes ys rewarde ynoughe. And yf they can not by that warnyng be war […]ed / surely as saynt Powle saythe he ys not to be trusted oftē / but rather of all good crysten peple to be eschewed & auoyded from the flokke. For they be so f[…] waxē croked / that seld[…]me can they be […]yghted agayne.

Forsoth quod youre frende yet as I sayd at my fyrst […] to you / […] I worthy to be of counsayll wyth the clergye when there were a man founden fawtye therin / whome the people haue in good estymacion for som grete opynyon of lernynge and vertue / they shold be secretely & soberly monysshed / and not the mater publyshed among ye peple. And fynally yf they so shold nedys be openly conuented and corrected in face of the world / th[…]n wold I not yet haue thē called Lutheranys / lest y• peple whych had good opynyon of thē / or yf they happen to perceyue theym for nought and so take them / thā shall they peraduenture gyue the lesse credence to all good men / and set the lesse by all good precheours after.

Surely quod I certayne rule that were alway best / were hard to gyue in suche case. Somtyme there may peraduenture suche honestye be ioyned wyth such repentaunce / that yt wolde not be myche a mysse to preserue the mannys estymacion among the peple / to whom hys perfayts chaung, may per[…]as more than recompence hys for more erroure and ouersyght. But where as the contrary shall seme conuenyent / there can I not se[…] why we sholde forbere to tall theym Lutheranys / syth yt is both an olde vsage to call heretyques after the name of hym whō they folow in theyr heresye / and also as Luthers sect ys in effecte the hole hepe of all heresyes gathered together / yt ys nowe all one to call hym […] Lutherans or to call hym a[…] heretyque / […]hose […] beyng in […] equyualent Luther techyng all must nothynge but heresyes / nor […] name of Lutheranys shold be custumably brought in mēnys erys as adyou[…]e as the name of heretyques. Nor I se not so grete fere that ryther folke shall for opynyon of eny mannys vertue in whom they se theym self deceyued / wt drawe theyr fauoure and affeccyon frō such as are good in dede / or fall in to ye fauour of Luthers secte for thestymacyon of the mā whom they now se pre […]ed nought. For thys wyll no man do but suche as eyther be so folyshe yt they wolde hate all Crystys appostles for ye falshede of Iudas / or so noughty that thy wold fayne haue all the world fall to the same sect & be of theyr own s[…]yt.