The defence of the mariage of preistes agenst Steuen Gardiner bisshop of Wynchester, Wylliam Repse bisshop of Norwiche, and agenst all the bisshops and preistes of that false popissh secte, with a confutacion of their vnaduysed vowes vnaduysedly dissined: whereby they haue so wykedly separated them whom God cowpled in lawfull mariage. Made by James Sawtry.

WHen the peple of God called Israel Exo. i. & iij. / had ben aftir the dethe of Ioseph . c. xl . yeres in that yerney fornace and harde bondage of Egypte / our almighty merciful father / considering their heuey labours in clay and bryke / & hearing their depe syghes and greuouse groninges crying dayly vnder their intollerable burdens : & agene remembring his promyse made with their fathers / Abraham Isaac and Iacob : sent them Moses and Aaron with his worde & miracles to delyuer them oute of that miserable seruitute from vnder that heuey yok of hardnecked Pharao figureth the pope as did Ioseph figure Criste . Pharao / the figure of the pope / which knew not Ioseph the fygure of Crist. Many Moses and Aarons / as faithful and fre prechers hathe our almighty God dayly and oft sent with his euerlasting worde of saluacion and delyuerance / vnto the hardnecked popes & to their indurated bisshops thorow oute all cristendome to delyuer his sely carefull floke oute of the miserable anticristen bondage of their dampnable doctrines / erroneous & false religion / supersticious rytes / deuillisshe tradicions / & synfull ceremonies / euen the intollerable burdens of men layd vpon pore mens ●at . xx●ij . backes which theirselues they wil not once to wche to ease men . And yet then / as Pharao with his charmers and enchaunters resisted God / his messagers / his worde & miracles ( not with standing hymself with his Egypcions were so gre uously plaged ) euen so this daye yet ar Cristes messagers / his gospell and miracles to / not onely spightfully and cruelly resisted / but destroyed / brente & banisshed . Wherein yet Pharao / indurated haithen idollater / as he was / shewed hymself more ientle and mercisull to Israel / then do the pope and our bisshops declare themselues to their pore flockes . For Pharao at last seing his first begoten sonne and all the first begoten childern and bestis in Egypte dede leet Israel departe . But the pope & our bisshops wil first see not onely their first begoten sonnes / daughters / with their mothers and all their misbegoten childern their bisshoprykes & themselues to clene gone / but also the first begoten faith that onely iustifieth with all the cristen religion taken from them & geuen to the Tnrkes and Iewes better worthey to haue it then they / ere they wil suffer the almighty message of goddis holy worde to take place and to con sent ther vnto for the delyuerance of Cri stes chirche oute of their dampnable doctrines popisshe errours and false religion / frely to folowe the trwe prechers of the worde of their saluacion in Cristes bloude .

What an intolerable burden is it to yonge persons perpetually burning in concupiscence and desyer of the to ther ●en . ●● . Heb. xii● sexe / Whom God created to be thorow wedlok the lawfull remedye and helpe one for the to ther by his almighty worde naturally ioyning & enclyning the man to loue the woman and the woman the man / as the grasse or tre in hyr tyme to growe & to bringeforth frute / and yet / for this dampnable prohibicion of the pope / they may not enioye goddis honourable ordinance and lawfull remedye of wedlok instituted of God ? When God Gen. iij. sawe man alone / he sayd / It is not good for man sole to lyue . But our anticristen papistes / the very sead of the serpent / wyser then God / for that yet at the temptacion of the serpent their father / they daylye eate of the tree of the knowledge of good & euill / seing man alone / affirme and decree agenst God / That it is better for man to lyue alone yea to haue an C. whores ( as once sayd bisshop Stokesley of London in open iugement to a maryed preiste ) then to be maryed to his owne wyfe . yea they had leuer ( as experience techeth ) kepe other mennis wyues abuse their daughters / violate their maydens and haunte euery daye a newe where prodigiously polluted in al maner fylthines not to be spoken / then to haue their owne lawfull wyues in chaste matrimonye according to Goddis holy institucion and ordinance . Besydes all this / yet miche more intollerable is it for the pore maryed men with their lawfull wyues and naturall dere childern / by their vngodly actes / so cru elly and so violently ( as ye se it of late ) to be thus drawne in sondre / as it were with wilde horses / one member from a nother so paynfully plucked / that the howsband may not come into / nor look towerde the same towne / where he left his owne wyfe & his childern payne of dethe / when the almighty worde of God ●en ●● ▪ ●at . x●● so int●erly cowpleth and ioyneth man & wyfe togither into one flesshe perpetually to lyue as all one / that greuouse threates there ar threatened to them / what so euer the● be / which ar so blasphemous ly bolde as to separate and slaye them whom god ioyneth . Euerlasting ij . thes. ij dampnacion abydeth them that so arrogantly exalte themselues agenst the most hyghe god / that thei wil perniciously peruerte and dampnab●y destroye that naturall order & inclynacion of generacion & loue / which God hymself by his first ferme creacion with his euerlasting almigh ty worde hath engrauen and ingra●●ed into the nature of man & woman . For when they had thus separated the wyfe from hir owne howsbonde / then were there no small maryed men of birthe ( whom I coulde name ) that fell to woyng of some preistis wyues and wolde haue made them their whores if the pore women had not resisted their deuellisshe entysements . Thus ye se vnder what holy pretense the noble maryed men separated preistis from their trwe wyues to make them their whores / which is but a lawghig game & gaudye vnpunisshed vnto these grete men the bisshops trewe captiued gostly childerne . But vnder what holy ypocritissh pretence ( I praye you ) hath this spirituall serpentyne sead / transfiguring themselues into ij . cor. xi . aungels of light / thus peruerted and destroied this first gods holy ordinance of wedlok ? verely euen vnder the fayned wyuelesse chastite the oc casion of al whore dome . glitering colour of wyuelesse chastite / the fowntayne of all whoredome / forbidding to marey which is as the holy gost constantly affirmeth / the playne doctryne i. Timo. iiij . of the deuill : Of the which deuillisshe doctryne almost now pressed by Goddis worde / bolde arrogant Steuen Gardener / bisshop of Wynchester with his Steuen Gardener bisshop of wynchester . dronken blak monke Repse abbot quondam of . s. Benits & nowe bissh . of Norwiche with their pharisaicall faccion / ar the inbringers / authours a newe / and Repse of norwich mayntayners / liuely described & in their own colours painted of the holygost Isaie . lix . sitting in their prophane con●uracion howse / their handes polluted The bisshops conuocacion howse . with blode & fingers embrewed with syn / their lippes speking lyes / and their tongues paynting mischeif . For non of theis blodye byghtsheeps calleth in rightwysenes for their aduocate in the lawe non iugeth faithfully & trwly / but they leane all vnto vanite & lyes / they studye fantasyes / they conceyue laboriouse busynes / and at last brought they for the mischeif . They did sit hatching the cokatrices egges weauing the spyders webbes : and he that eateth of their egges shal dye / but and if he tredeth them vnder his fote / the serpent shal yet brekeforthe &c. as nowe in the yere of our Lorde . M. D. xxxix . there brokeforthe these venomouse virulent vepers / Wynchester with his aduouterous generacion ●●●● . xxiij . ●lc . xxii● i. tim. iiij Ioan . viij / encrusted walles / & paynted sepulcres to colour this their doctrine of the deuil their father / with their viciouse vowes of men & wemen dedicated to God / as though their were no state put a parte to God but onely their prodigiou se shamelesse shoorn aduouterers . But Rom. vi . Gala. iij. Ephe. v. thou shalt knowe ( cristen reder ) That whosoeuer be baptyzed into the dethe of Crist Iesus / perpetually to mortifye their flesh / to be reuyued in spirit / as our baptisme with water techeth and monissheth all cristeans / the same a● by that comon baptisme & cristen profession ( & not by the popes prophane inordinate orders and false religion ) dedicated / that is to saye / seperated from these papistik pharisais & heithen idollaters / to Ioan . iiij . Iere. ij . serue God in spirit & trowth . And our preistis of Baal / euen the popis shauelingis not being content with the first and onely holy sacrament of the comon cristen profession / but haue by a newe & false sacrament instituted of the pope entred into another false religion & therby dedicated themselues vnto the deuill Deut. xviij . Moloch Leu● . xx . iiij . reg . xxiij . / childern offred vp vnto Moloch / perpetually to burne in all maner beastly filthenes and whoredome / as their owne lyues declare them . And the wemen ar dedicated vnto that abhominable ●●riapus . Iere. lix . Chamos ●enus . ●●riapus the god of the garden . idoll Priapus altogither dedicated to chamos & venus . For what Sodomites what Gomorreans / what monstrouse aduouterers they be / they that haue herde their filthy daily ere confessions of theis preistes / & the visitours late of the suppressed religiouse places of men & wemen / cane tell it . Whose prodigiouse filthenes lest it shuld poyson the papir / & the breathe of the reder shulde corrupt the ayer and infecte honest eares / I suppresse it . And yet dothe passhur Of passhur turned into pauor the prowd vpclymer int ▪ ● a freful fall . Wynchester calle them holy spirituall vowers or votories dedicated to God / as hymself is dedicated to the deuill . Wo therfore be to you that make vngodly lawes and actes to harde to kepe to oppresse the afflict in iugement &c. Iere. ●● . Isa. x. Figh vpon these vnnaturall chil dern out of kynde which dare make actes agenst my counsel and weaue a web agenst my mynde to heape syn vpon syn / saith the Lorde Isaie . xxx .

But these venomouse cokatrices egges / & poysoned spiders webbes / wher Is● . lix . of ( as Isaie saith ) no clothe may be made to kouer their owne naked mischeife & robberye &c. ( God assisting me with his holy worde ) I shal nowe stampe them downe vnder my feet / & altobreke them that all men maye se their open present poysone & beware of it : creepe therforth neuer so virulent venomouse & subtyle a serpent as bolde as arrogant and as craftye as is pestiferouse passhur Wynchester hymself to defende their manifest impiete .

If their articles and actes / concerne Cristis religion / shewe vs some one worde of Crist to confirme them / or if they be of Cristes religion / so must thei be made in Cristis & his apostels tyme / which taught and wrote vs an absolute / complete & perfit religion / nothing omitted necessarye for the cristen chirche and for their saluation : but of these their cokatrices egges & spyders webbes to pertayne to the cristen religion there is not one worde nether in gospell nor pistle nor in no parte of the byble / but the playne contrary : wherfore they ar very venome / & the poysoned doctrine of the deuil concerning anticristis religion . If these their cokatrices egges so lately layed & latelyer hatched in their spyders webbes / must pertayne to Cristes religion / howe happeneth it that nether Crist nor his apostles in their dayes / nor yet the holygost all these . xv . c. yeres espyed not them ? but nowe at last in this new blak parlement vnto Wynchester and to his dronken prowde crownes of Ephraim Isa● . xxviij . the bisshops they be reueled ? It is not fully . CCCCC . yeres ago sence this religion creptyn . It is all to late now in the later ende of the worlde to receyue any new articles of owr faith . Nether is there any man of the power as to make vs any one article of owr faithe / owr faith and religion is to olde / & to firme by God / to be nowe new turned changed & altered by man . Crist at his departing promised his apostles that the Ios̄ . xvi . holygost shuld teche them al trwthe con cerning the cristen religion / and yet he neuer taught them these abhominable blasphemies & lyes . Belyk Cristes chirche of Englond hathe gretely erred vnto this last blak parlement . Crist commanded Mat. xxviij . his apostles & their successours to teche nothing but that at he had taught and commanded them to kepe . The ho Deu. iiij 2. xij . Prou. ii● Eccle. iij i. pet. iiij ly gost straightly commandeth in many places / that man adde not vnto his reli gion & worde / his owne ded dreames & deuillissh deuyces . In thinges concerning our faith & religion / there ought noman to presume to decre / teche or enacte any thing without the expresse worde of God / except he wil be exalted aboue God / fownde a lyer / a man making gods lawe incomplet and imperfit / and siche a presumptuouse papist that vsurpeth to illustre the bright sonne of verite with his owne blynde balde lying reasone . Repent repent Wyn. with thy dampna Isa. xvij ble faccion lest the hastye whirle wynd of goddis present heuy indignation carye you shortely awaye .

When I had red in Deutero. xxviij . with what plages and curses / as with madnes / furye / & blyndenes / God smyteth Rom. ● . his reprobated vessels of wrathe casten vp thorow their owne herts lusts vnto almaner filthenes : I coude not so gretely meruell at Wynchesters / & his faccions indurated blyndenes / where as for the defense of their abhominable whoredome / & destruction of chaste matrimony ordined of God / he so wykedly / so blasphemously / agenst the lawe of nature / all godly order / all reason / and wy●chesters vowes . agenst all scripture / diffineth . That vowe to be lawfull and aduysedly made / which is made aftir . xxi . yer olde . And miche lesse wo●der it is / to se siche blynde bisshops forsaken of God / to seperate & slaye the pore innocents whom God cowpleth . For as it is the doctryne of the deuill which thei enacte and defende / so must the childern accomplesshe their fathers work is which was bothe lyer & Io. xiij . māsseyer from the beginning . If Wynch . and his bisshops had not ben thus stryken with blyndenes of god ( I speke not in this boke agenst the seculare sorte / in this parle ▪ because that I se in this their spirituall cause / as the bisshops ar the autours therof / so seduce thei dayly the ignorant simplicite of the layte as they lyste by their false serpentyne perswasions ) they might haue se●e their owne diffinicion of vowes to condempne them selues . For Wyn. hymself / aftir . xxi . yeres olde created the popes creature / doctour of the popis lawe / aftir warde popisshly preisted / & at last Romisshly bisshopped made at euery his creacion a solempne vowe to be obedient to the pope now dedicated to his chirche and holynes / which vowes ether he hath broken & so is worthey hanging ( as it was first enacted ) orels he kepeth stil his vowes / which is most to be beleued . He and his / made vowes to lyue without their owne wyues / but whether they kepe other mennis & whores / let the comon voyce and their open actes be iuges .

But let vs expende and waye this Unad●y sed●y per tayneth to discrection and no● to ve res of xx . worde vnaduisedly / and see whether it pertaineth to the age and yeres of . xxi . or to discrecion / iugement & knowledge : He is sayd to do a thing aduisedly that dothe it with good consyderacion / iuge ment / discrecion & knowledge of all the circumstances that may pertayne to the facte / of what age so euer he be . For as it is not the. xxi . yeres of age that mesureth wysedom discrecion & knowledge / so is not iugement discrecion & knowledge nor wisedome tyed to any age prescript of Wynchester . Many men be more blynde & folisshe aftir they ar promoued to be bisshops and haue once dronken of apo. xvij the gloriouse whores golden cuppe of Ba bylon / then when they were but pore cy sars & scolers in Oxforth & cambringe . And some / the elder they wexe / the more foles thei ar. I knew myself / yonge men of . xviij . and. xx . yeres / better lerned / of better iugement knowledge / wysedome and discretion then the olde hore headed doctour / and many ar called of God vnto the knowledge of his trwthe not afore xxx . or . xl . &c. Crist calleth not euery idle man into his vyneyarde / all at one hower / as ye may see Mat. xx . nor geueth men his giftis of the spirit at Wyn thesters apoynted yere / nor is not restrayned by Wynchesters diffynicion / from the encrease of his giftis . He could sanctify Ion. bapt. & Iere. in their mothers wombes & call his disciples to hym aftir or before . xxi . yere / & conuert Paule when he lysted / but passhur Wyn. wyll apoynt the holygost to age & hower / & therfore hathe he vnaduisedly diffyned his vnaduysed vowes . Tel me Win. by thy faith / wast thou not once aduisedly maryed to the hore of Babylon aftir . xxi . as thou saist in thy boke of thy trwe disobedience & false faithe ? and madest not thou then thy vowe ? If thou beist now diuorsed why kepest thou stil thy whores lawes ? why defendest thou so stefly hir wyked tradicions ? why so cruelly fightest thou for hir ceremonies / rytes / & this hir deuillissh doctryne of forbidding preistes to marye ? If althingis that men do aftir . xxi . yere of age be aduisedly done / why do ye vndo in the later counsel the same which was decreed in the former / and vnacte this yere that at ye enacted the formere yere ? ye were no babes when ye made your first decrees / cownsels / actes and lawes . Aduysedly & vnaduysedly therfore must be referred to wit wysedome / knowledge / experience / discrecion and iugement ( oh passhur Win ) & not tyed to your age of . xxi . Wherfore ye playd but a folissh parte / so vnaduisedly to diffyne your vnaduysed vowes / And more vnaduysedly enacted you siche vnaduysed vowers to be seperated & hanged . And if ye repent ye not of your vnaduysed actes / seperat●g them whom god cowpled / you & your felowes must aduysedly by goddis decreed worde Iere. xx . be shortely turned into pauor : that is / your soden vpclyming shall haue a soden fereful fall . An vnad uy●ed vowe .

That vowe therfore is made vnad uysedly ( of what age so euer the persone be ) which is made without good aduysement knowledge or consyderacion of his owne power and strengthe to performe it : and so for his owne weaknes is compelled to breke it / of whiche kynde of vowes ar al the wyuelesse and howsbondlesse vowes of al preistes and nonnes / and of all siche as haue not the gift to lyue sole . Item all those vowes ar vnaduysedly made / when the persone considereth not before whether they be lawful and consonant with Godis worde or no. And if they be agenst Gods worde ( as ar all the vowes of them which to ● . ●or . vi● auoyd fornicacion ar commanded to marye ) so ar they not onely vnaduysedly made / but also vngodly . Also what vowe so euer is by compulsion extorted / not fre / please not God / hathe nether Goddis worde for it / nor no example in holy scripture / that same is bothe vnaduised and vngodly / as ar the vowes of preistes and nonnes / as ye shal see here aftir : wherefore they ought aduysedly to be broken .

Answere me / passhur Wynch . Whether ●erodis vo●● . 〈◊〉 . xiiij was Herodis vowe made to his daughter for hir dawnsinge before hym and his gestis to geue hir what so euer she shuld aske / lawful and aduysed ? It was made aftir . xx . yere of his age : ergo it was lawfull . And so by Wynch . it was lawfull for hym to smyte of Iohn bapt. his head . Also the. xl . men in the Actes act. xxiij of th apostles : whiche vowed neuer to eat brede tyl thei had slayne Paule / aftir Wyn. ar lawful . And all the vowes of our olde bissh . and abbotes made to be obedient to the pope and his lawes must nedis be lawful aftir Wyn. & ther fore he and thei kepe them stil / as euery man may se it . I● a vowe of wyuelesse or howsbondlesse chastite made immedi ately aftir . xxi . or . xxiii● . yeres of age be lawful and aduysed : why then did Pau le so diligently commande the bisshop Timothe to reiecte all yonge vowesses / & non to be admitted before . lx. yeres of age / but siche yonge persons to be maryed / gouerne their howses & to begette i. Tim. v. childerne ? adding the consyderacion / that sich yonge persons whether they be men or wemen / when thei shal begyn to wexe wanton agenst Crist / they will marye / hauing a sclawnderouse infamy ( for somich signifyeth the Grek worde translated / in condempnationem ) because they haue casted awaye their first vowe or promyse . I wyll therfore ( saith Paul . ) yonge persons to marye / to beget childern / geuing non occasion to our aduer saryes to speke euyll of them . And because many men diuersely take this worde prima fides / Thou shalt know ( good ●irst faith or cheif promyse what it is . reder ) that siche vowers made two vowes one subordined to the tother / The first & principall vowe was / nomore to marye / the seconde was to perseuer in obsecrationibus et prec●bus noctu dieque as it standeth in the text / that is to continewe in feruent prayers / & not in wanton nyse lyuig / as ye rede of Anna Pha Luk. ij . nuels daughter / which departed not oute of the temple seruinge God with wache / sorowful mynde or heuey expectacion / abydinge for the redempcion of Israel &c. this is the playn simple sense as to wching their first faithe nomore to marye as the circumstance of the texte and conference of the places declare . But here ye se playnely that Paule forbiddeth yonge persons to vowe before lx. yeres : and yet Wyn. will haue their vowes lawfull at . xxi . and. xx●iij .

Gregory the. vij . pope / otherwyse cal Gregory the vij . led hiltebrande / or rather the hell fyerbrande the most vngodlyest wretche that euer was / fylling al Germanye & France and Rome to / yea all cristendome ful of batail & stryfe stering vp siche tragedyes & tumulte betwixt the Emprowr & his dukes as had not ben sene before / hymself at last deposed and another pope setvp / one of them bitterly cursing & poysoning another / decreed at last and compelled preistis to forsake their lawfull wyues / which lyued . cccc . xx . yeres agoo . Sence this wyked anticristes days / ye se al the vowes of preistes to be violently extorted / & open whoredome licēcio●sly vsed & laughed at . And nowe at last when God of his graciouse mercye had sent his prechers with his worde to delyuere his chosen out of this damp nable & fylthy lyuing / yet lyke an hardnecked pharao / dothe this Greasie gar . of win . Gregory the vij . his owne sone ( saue that Gregory was neuer so prowd a lucifere ) resist God & his worde & wilnot suffer cristes peple to be deliuered out of the popis dampnable decrees and miserable bondage . Were not the holy maryed preistes & bisshops of the olde testa ment as Melchizedek / Ietro / Moses / Aaron / Samuel / Helye / zacharye / and the prophetes / and the maryed preistes of the new testament as the Apostles & so forthe the bisshops a thousande yeres aftir / tyl Gregoryes dayes as good men as these wyuelesse aduouterers these last . cccc . xx . yeres ? Preisthod was neuer clogged nor restrayned vnto siche wyked vowes vntyll this Gregoryes dayes / wherfore Gregoryes preisthod cannot be the iuste preisthod which Crist instituted to preche his gospel but a pro digiouse Sodomitical secte of vnshame faced shauelingis .

Euen the very autor of this prohibicion / preistes ● . ●im . iiij to not marye / declareth the preisthod & the doctrine of their vowes : Paule affirming it to be the doctrine of the deuyle / the autor of the mordinate orders . Whoso lyst to rede the histories & holye scriptures shall se that certayn of the apostles as Peter / Paule & Philip th euangelist or precher had wyues & the holy bisshops . M. yeres folowing For this writeth the holy martyr Ignatuis Ignatius that lyued in saynt Paulus tyme in a pistle vnto Philadelph / with thought that wedloke shuld minissh the holynes of the maryed persons / saying / Iethro and Moses were the preistes of God / & also there were of the cheif of the preistis of Criste / & yet had they wyues & childern . Was not Aaron and his sonnes the ministers of holy thingis ? did they not offerevp and pray for the people ? & yet were they maryed . And had not also th apostles of our Lorde Iesu Criste wyues ? I esteme them not / nor yet the other blessed men neuer the worse because they were cowpled in wedloke : but I praye god ( saith he ) I may be worthey to sit at their feet in the kyngdome of God / withe these other maryed persons as Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph Isaye and as ar these holy maryed men Peter and Paule and other of th apostles which were maryed not for no lust but to encrease their posterite . yea it is wryten Mat. viij . That Iesus entring the howse of Peter / sawe his wyues mother syk & healed hir . And Luke in the Actes saithe . And we went into the howse of Philip which was one of the. vij . that preched the gospel : he had . iiij . daughters which did hear the scriptures taught them . But and if our synful sodomyts saye that aftir Criste had called them to preche / to baptyze & to breke the brede to admit prechers / for this was all their administracion commanded of Criste / they forsoke their wyues / My short solucion i. cor. vij . is : That they lye . proue it by scriptures if they can / for Paule thus wryteth / Them that ar once maryed / not I / but the Lorde commandeth them that the wyfe be not separated from hir howsbonde / which if she be separated / she must abyde vnmaryed orels be reconcyled to him / nor the man may not forsake his wy fe . And therfore Paule answering siche i. cor. ix . false prophetis that rekened him & other the lesse holy for carying aboute their wyues sayd : haue we not powr & libertye to eat & drink & to carye with vs our wyues as do the other apostles Peter and the brethern of the lorde ? Also who god hath ioyned / se that noman seperate them saith Crist Mat. xix . Saynt Clemens li. iij. ca. xxx . of the story Ecclesiastic . as ye rede of Eusebye / writing agenst them that despysed wedlok / saith these wordis . wil ye reproue the apostles ? For bothe Peter & Philip had wyues & maryed their daughters to their howsbondes / yea and euen Paule hymself steketh Phi. iiij not in his pistle to make mencion of his wyfe greting hir calling hir his very trwe faithful yokefelowe / whom he lefte at Philippia for a ceason that he might the spedelier passe thorow the countreys preching the gospell . In the east chirches many holy bisshops had their lawfull sonnes by their wyues in tyme of their offyce / as ye may rede of Socrate li. ix . ca. xxxviij . Tripart hysto . Constantinopolytano in Epiphanio . Also Iustinianus Themprowr wri tinge Epiphanius bis . maryed . Gregory Nazianzene bis . mar . vnto Epiphanian the bisshop of Constantinople / commendeth hym the more that he was a preistis sonne . Also Gregory Nazianzene was a bisshop & a preistis sonne : For in the primatyue chirche all the tyme before Gregorye the wyked / preistis had wyues / and in reding holy scriptures they succeded their fathers in the same offyce / as ye Policar pus bi● maryed . may reade of Policarpe pastore of Ephe sine whiche writinge in a pistle to saynt Uictore confesseth hymself to be the aight bissh . lynially descending from his grete grandfathers into the same office . And rede Euseby cesariense in his v. boke . ca. xxii . what is more manifest then that at Paule writeth . 1. Timo. iii. & Tit. i. That siche flokfeders must be chaste maryed men content with one wyfe / men that can well gouerne their owne howses in bringig vp their childern / supposing that siche men hauing these / with other there pre scribed qualites shuld be apte and able to teche well an hole parisshe . Who seeth not nowe therfore Wynchester for his owne prowde arrogante mynde & wykednes worthely smyten with blyndenes and obstinate induracion / with Pha rao to persecute / to diuorse & slaye the pore maryed preistes ? whom the spirit of God commandeth for the auoyding of fornicacion euery one of them non except to haue his owne wyfe : and euery woman / non excepte / for the same cause i. cor. v●● . to haue hir owne howsbonde . And if thou canst not lyue chaste / Paule comman deth the to marye . For beter it is ( saith he ) to marye then to suffer burniges in they flesshe . But vnto wyked Wynchester whiche once semed to fauour Gods worde before he was promoted to the cardinall Thomas Wolsayes seruyce / there is no place of repentance nor no wynchester synneth agenst the holygost grace lefte to beleue Gods worde / becau se / not of ignorance / but wetingly & wil lingly of a set maliciouse purpose herdneckedly he synneth agenste the trwthe which is the syn agenst the holy ghost / which Wyn. when he sawe so manifest scriptures agenst hym / then he turned his ordinance agenst preistes vowes making them lawfull and aduysed because they be made at . xxi . yeres olde / when their owne master of the sentences call the vowes of the seclare preistes vota tacita / dome or not expressed vowes . There is noman that euer gaue preiste orders that can come forthe / ether to testifye that euer he herde the preist whom he made by expresse wordes to vowe in clere wordes simply virginal chastite / or to bringforth wryting of the preiste his owne hande that euer he vowed simpli citer siche chastite as Wynche . byndeth them to . But vpon this condictō / quantum permiserit humana fragilitas / that is to saye / I vowe chastite as farre as mans fraylte will suffer me / and no farther do I vowe . If Steuen gardener esteme the stil domme vowes / & the con dicionall promyses of preistes somiche / that thei must dye for breking them / why loketh he & his bisshops no beter to the solem●ne open vowes of euery laye man maryed vowing solem●ly to kepe hymself to his owne wyfe ? why suffereth he & his faccion somiche open & abhominable aduoutry in their diocesses ? bothe grete men / meane & lowe of euery sort many kepe whores besides there owne wyues contrarye to their owne open vowes and promyses / and yet for good dinners / festes / giftes and fauour / and for fere / they ar suffred vnpunisshed / Is it syn for a pore preiste to kepe hym only to his owne lawfull wyfe / and no syn at all to the laye maryed man besydes his wyfe to kepe whores O Wynchester with your fellows ? but wo / wo / be vnto you that laye these heuy burdens vpon pore mens bakks whiche ye wilnot to wche to ease them with your leest fin gere / wo be to you that saye good to be Isa. v. euill / bitter to be sweet / derkenes to be the light and econtra . Wo be to you that kil the pure innocents / and mayntayne the abhominable aduouterers .

But Wynchesters vnaduysed vowes wherfore the popissh preistes wil not marye . ar not the mater why he so fyer●ely fyghteth and incenseth the kynge and his nobles agenst maryed preistis / but he and his pharisaicall faccion knoweth well . What a plesure it is to kepe other mens wyues / their childern to sitteby other mens fyers / and as themselues lyue by other mens labours so make they other men to kouer their whores and whelpes vnder the onely names of howsbonde and father . Wyn. and his shauen fele what pleasure it is to haue so miche change of whores / that when they be weary of one / thei may turne hir vp & take another . They haue othermens wyues better thepe / then their owne / It is an heuye yoke to be cowpled with one ( parchaunce a shrewe ) as longe as thei lyue / be she syke or hole pore or ryche &c. and then to sorowe for their children to be brought vp / and for their howsholde . For well knewe these idle softe shauen sectes / what kares / burdens charges & incom modites there folowe and chaunse to trewe chaste and honourable wedloke . But & if they were once iustlely yoked vnto one wyfe to sustayne the moleste kares of matrimonye / ful sone shuld their prwde combes and crownes be cutte & their ioylye p●kocks tayles be plukt / their ryches minisshe / and their vayne glyterig glorye glyde awaye into dust . And yet is there another cause why the se prowd prelats wyll not haue theirowne wyues . For as they wyl be diuyded in habit / aparell / shauing / buzzing & singing / eating and drinking / & in their strange holy prophane iestures / pope ho ly sole state from the comon cristen religion / so wolde they by siche ipocryse seme to the simple peple / yea and loke for it to / the hyghlyer to be exalted / more reuerenced / estemed and endewed with the rycher and pleasaunter possessions . For at siche strange toyes and diuersite of disgoysinges in longe gownes sirplices crownes copes hodes &c. the fonde peple stonde and wounder at them / as at an owyl oute of Athens or at an ape full of pratye pastymes out of Portingale . And to be short / therfore haue these longe typeted and longer tayled trey tours chosen them this strange singler separated secte that they might shewe themselfes the playner pharisays bothe in name and very dede . For a pharisay Pharisaye . in englishe is one separated and diuyded from the comon sorte / bothe in habit / dyet / goyng / wordes / dedis / rytes / iestures / ceremonies / but yet I thinke the pharisayes in Cristis tyme were neuer so shoorne nor smered / nor so ryche and prowde / nor so ignorant beastis / nor siche abhominable whoremongers as ar owers for they had their owne lawfull wyues . But in longe prayinge in sight mat . xxiij of almen / in deuoweringe the pore / in teching and not doynge / in dilating their wyde and syde gownes / loking for cappe / kne / mastership / lordeship / grace fatherhod / lokinge for the ouermost place in feastes / to be saluted in the market place and to be called rabi / my lorde bisshop M. doctour / M. person &c. our later present phariseis agree well with the first pharisais & former ipocrytes . Also thei agree in the shuttingvp of the king dome of heuen from them that wolde enteryn / theirselues standing without neuer into enter . Thei agree also in importune labours to procure mo ypocrytes dayly to be shauen into their synfull secte / mo pharisayes / lyke preistes / prechers / & lyke bisshops / stronger to make their anticristen kyngdome agenst the lorde and his anoynted / They agre in ●sal . ij . ●at . xv . lyke blyndenes / themselues blynde leders of their blynde captiues / thei agre ye they excede in couetuousnes ambicion and pryde / and to be shorte / they excede the olde pharisayes in ipocrysye & in the bloudshedinge of the innocents / which old pha . persecuted Criste & his apostles vnto dethe .

The dukes grace of Northfolke made the duke of north . reason . this pollitike reason in the parlement howse before the kynge and his nobles ( for scripture knoweth he non ) That preistis shuld not marye . For then / said he / they wil perchaunce mary with our and other ientlemens daughters and so haue their dowryes ioynters and londes with them / and at last ye shal se the bishops haue all our londis to : which rea son / lo / it was well allowed . Bu● I answere the dukes grace / No / not so / Ther is remedye ynoughe for this sore . your grace shall make a prouiso that no preist nor bisshop shall marye with yours nor with no ientlemans daughter without hir parents consent according to Goddis lawes . Orels if this prouiso wilnot serue / Then restore the bisshops & preistes to their firste orders receyued of Criste to be content with onely meat & i. tim. vi . drynke and clothinge necessarye and suf ficient for them . And I dare warant you for your daughters . Orels if this proui se will not holde / let no bisshop nor preist be admitted to cures & flokfedinge but siche as haue all the condicions and qua lites that Paule prescrybeth vnto Timothe i. tim. iij. ●●● . i. & Tito / and I dare be bownde that non of siche preistes wyll marye with your daughters so longe as your daughters be so vnlernedly prowdly so nycely and lascyuiously broughtvp . For s●che preistes ether be they maryed all redye orels seke they siche wyues as Paule there decketh and tyerethe . i. Timo. iij. and apoynteth to them / that is to we●t / L●●i . xxi sober / lerned / modest / shamefaced / simple / sadde / chaast / godly maydens vertuously broughtvp in reding and vnder stonding trwly the holy scriptures / which wilnot disdayne to laye to their handes to wasshe / wrynge / spyne / carde / brewe baake / to swepe the howse / make rede hir howsbondis dyner / wasshe the dysshes and to turne the speete / nourse hirowne childerne with hirowne brestes / vyset the syke sore and pore be they neuer so lothely . Wherefore excepte your daughters wyll gladly do all these thingis / be ye sewer there wyl no siche preistes & bisshops as Paule paynteth marye with your daughters / and if your daughters be siche they will set lytle by your goodis and possessions .

Then belyke but for fere of marying with your daughters / It had ben lawfull preistis to haue had wyues . They Iob. vi . that feare the hore froste ( saith Iob ) the deepe snowe shall fall vpon them . They that feare honest and lawfull mariage to chaunse to their daughters / nothing lykely to be cowpled with these sayd preistes ordered of Paule / let them beware lest the prowd papistik bisshops & preistes consecrated by the pope comitte aduoutrye with their daughters and wyues to : for siche ●haūses haue happened . But yet not withstondinge the dukes pollityk hyghe reason / his grace might haue ben contented at the leestwyse to haue suffred the pore maryed preistes to haue kept still their owne lawful pore wyues which were nether dukes / lordis / nor no ientlemens daughters / and not so cruelly to haue rent them in sondre payn of hanginge / whom God cowpled togither .

At last / forbecause / Wynchester and his bisshops had nothing els to colour their actes of the diuorsement / and wyuelesse chastite of preistes / but vowes / so vnaduisedly / so folisshly / & wikedly diffyned . I shall diffyne & declare more aduy sedly & trwlier tel you what a lawful vowe is . A vowe is a free promyse / of that what is a vowe . thing which is in our power to performe it / & which thing / we ar sewer also that God accepteth it . In this diffinicion / thre thingis in a lawful vowe . ther be . iij. thingis to be obserued / first that it be a fre promyse / as it is writen The first that it be a fre pro myse . Deutero. xxiij . not compelled / nor extorted for fere / nor for that it be so intricately and vngodly wrapped in another thinge and ther to so wykedly annexed that whoso wil receyue the one / he shal be stinged withe the tother agenst his wyll / as if a waspe be put in to the cuppe and geuen a blyndeman to drynke that thirsteth . For nonotherwyse haue they wrapped in the doctryne of the deuyll and cowpled it with their prophane orders / so that if thou wylt be admitted to be preiste to preche the gospel ( for Criste knew nonother cheif office of preisthod ) whiche thou art bownde in conscience to do if thou beist called therto of God / yet wil they bynde the to lyue sole agenst thy will / & bere y● in hande that thou vowest their chastite when thou nether sayist it nor thinkest it / & so clogge the with that tother thinge so couertly inwrapped that it is not in thy lyberte to performe it . And thus ye see all their vnlawfull vowes of their sacrificers and religiouse persons to be not fre / but extorted by compulsion / For when many desyer and vowe to lyue their easy lyfe in all welthey idlenes / they vowe ( sayeth Wyn. ) wyuelesse chastite with thei haue so vngodly annexed vnto their popissh preisthod / that their may noman be siche a preiste but he be compelled also / and be yoked with their vnlawful vowe for that it is not in mans lyberte to performe it . Nowe as is their preisthod vnlawfull / so is their vow● ioyned therto vngodly / for Criste neuer instituted sich anodiouse ordir of shorelingis and smered sodomy●es but onely faithfull prechers / flokfeders / and ministers of his sacraments which shuld also prouyde for the pore : for as for their misse preistes matyns mongers idle euensong vpheapers and salue singers the scripture knoweth non siche . Nowe ye se that as this popissh shauen preisthod with their vngodly wyuelesse vowes thervnto deuillisshly ioyned / ar but newly inuented of the anticristen bisshops of Rome / contrary to Cristis religion / euen so they that receyue siche a preisthod / they receyue they watner what poyson / & vowe that thing ( if they vowe any thinge at all ) which they be not able to performe / snarling themselues and combring their consciences led captyued vnto per petual dampnacion / if they persist in siche a pestelent preisthod . The soule therfore Le●●t . v. ( saith god ) that hath by othe and vowe pronownced with his lyppes to do that thing / which is ether good or euill ( what so euer it be that the persone vnaduysedly swereth ) and so aftirwarde vnder stande and perceyue his owne vnaduysement / he shal be gyltye in one of these thingis . And if any vnlawful● vnclene le● . xxvii beast had ben vowed promys●d or dedicated to God / it must 〈…〉 en redemed / and not offred . Wh. 〈…〉 re miche more ought vngodly and vnlawfull vowes to be corrected and broken . For errours must be mended and hurtes restored . If a man make a folissh othe / as did Herode / he ought the wyselyer to change it . A folisshe and an vnaduysed Eccle. v. vowe / saithe Solo. displeaseth God . Now what is more vngodly then a man to snarle and tangle hymself with their popissh preisthod haltred with siche an vngodly vowe whiche nether scripture knoweth / nor godly ensample therin techeth . In. S. Cyprians dayes : There in his . xi pistle . were diuerse yonge wemen that had vowed howsbondlesse chastite / and aftirwarde could not kepe it / whom he with diuerse other bisshops consydering / caused them to marye / saying that it were beter for them to marye then here to burne in concupiscence and aftir to burne in hell to for their syn / sith . God had prouided a necessary remedye therfore . God is not honoured with mens vowes and promises that procede not of faith / but with dedis of his owne commandements .

Secondarily / a vowe must be made ●he seconde ● in our power . of that thing which is in our power to performe it / now is it not in euery mans power to haue the gift to liue chaste with out a wyfe when he willeth . There is S●p . viij no man chaste but it be geuen him of god : Crist confirming it / answering his disci Mat. xix ples / thinkinge the bonde of wedlok to be to harde and therfore not to be expedient to haue wyues but to lyue sole / Crist saying almen may not receyue this thinge / that is to lyue sole / but siche as to whom it is geuen . Now ar not goddis giftis in our powr to haue & to kepe them / when / & as longe as we lyste . The expowning of scriptures is the gifte of God / which is not geuen to euery man that wolde haue it / wherefore he were but a fole that wolde make a vowe to expowne scriptures ere God had geuen hym the gifte and so sent him to preche . Nether ar the giftis of God as faith / hope / loue / to heale the syke or to do miracles comen for euery man no more then is wyuelesse chastite comon for euery preist / as experience techeth vs . yisse ( saye thei ) The obieccion of the papistis is soluted . if ye wolde aske it of God as we do / ye shuld haue it as we it haue / for do not Criste promyse ( say thei ) that whatsoeuer ye aske the father in his name / he wil geue it you ? I answere this aduouterouse generacion / that themselues / as thei neuer beleued this saying of Criste / so did thei neuer aske it in his name / For well I wote / & so do their owne consciences & deades tel them / that skant one emonge an . c. hath his gift of chastite for al their praying / I wold thei which yet kepe whores themselues / & bid vs praye that wolde or haue wyues / wolde once singe this karoll to themselues / Aske & ye shall haue it / and so put awaye their whores . But how can thei aske any thing in Cristis name / when they blaspheme his holy name and dispise his holy ordinances and holesome remedies tempting God so wikedly as thei do ? The peticion to lyue sole / as it may not be asked of euery man and woman / so is it not for the glorye of his name euery shauen that burneth in luste to aske it / when god for his glorye created the remedy & helpe saying vpon siche that it is not good for man alone to lyue / let vs therfore make hym a felowe helper . He therfore tempteth God / which ( the remedye created of god despised ) will praye to lyue alone / so far-of is this man to glorifye him . Also if euery man and woman that asketh it shuld haue it / so were it no speciall gift but as comon as the prayer . But be it in case that euery preist asketh it / yet shall not euery preist haue it / for Crist hymself saithe / Euery of them is not apte nor able Mat. xix to receyue it / but thei vnto whom it is geuen . If their chastite might be obtayned That at is asked ● obtayned by peticion is no vowe / but a gifte . by prayer / so were it no vowe no more then faithe or the gift to vnder stande scriptures . For we praye for that thinge whiche is not in our liberty and power to haue or to do it . And here is it playne / by the papistis owne reasening that thei destroye their owne vowe of chastite / making it no vowe at all but a gift of God / and not in our lybertye nether to vowe it nor to haue it as we wolde . Wherfore as Wynch . hathe vnaduysedly made vowes to let preistis mariage / so hathe he vnaduysedly diffyned them . Those thingis whiche we ar commanded of God to aske of him / ar playnly prescribed vnto vs in his scri ptures / which ar the declaracion of his wyl and of what thinge so euer maketh for his glorye / but it is nowhere redde of any precept or ensample for vs to lyue sole / but that euery man that cannot so liue is commanded to marye to auoyde fornicacion and not to praye so to lyue alone / wherfore the remedye so graciously prouyded of God / and set before our eyes / it is not els but a tempting of God and not a praying to hym for the gift . Nonotherwyse then when God createth meat set before the to eate it & thou forsakest it being hungrye / & prayest God to lyue without meat . Wherefore when our shamelesse chamosts alledge vs theis scriptures to pray for their chastite / they alledge them nonotherwyse to vs then did the deuill vnto Criste brought vpon the pynnacle of the temple / sayinge / If thou be●st the sonne of God fal downe headling / & bid thy fa ther sende the his aungels to saue the harmlesse for they ar so commanded to do : wherfore euen as Criste answerde his aduersary and temptour the deuill with scriptures putting hym to flight / so answere we his ympes with the same sayinge / auoyde ye deuils . It is wryten / Deu. vi . thou shalt not tempte thy lorde God .

Thirdly / a vowe must be of that thing / 3. ● vowe must please God . which to vowe / it pleaseth God . Now howe shall we know / thus to vowe at Winchesters fool age of . xxi . that it plea seth god ? It is writen that siche yong vowers i. tim. v. at that age shuld be reiected / And in no place of scripture is there precept or ensample that god accepted sich supersticiouse and folissh coarcted impossible vowes : wherefore it foloweth that Wyn. his vnaduysed vowes please not God / and Ro. xiiij that it is syn so to vowe / for whatsoeuer is not of faith / that same is sin : to vowe Wynchesters wyuelesse chastite hathe no worde of faith for it / ergo it muste ne dis be synne . Paule hymself constantly affirmeth that he hath no commandement of God that any persone shuld lyue sole / Albeit ( saith he ) my sentence and i. cor. vi● mynde is this / that sithe there is nowe somiche persecucion of the cristens / to be sole without wyues & children / is most ease / & lesse care & trowble / the lighter is their crosse in their flight when persecucion cometh vpon . Wherfore my mynde is / saith he / that sole to lyue is most quyet & commodiouse / but & if a sengle or any sole persone maryeth he synneth not / albeit / saith he / I wolde ye were withoute care and sorowe and at most ease and quietenes / this I tell you for your moste ease but not to tangle nor to snarle you with any sole lyuinge : this is Paulis mynde .

Also / it cannot be syn that God forby deth not / but God neuer forbode his mi nisters as his prechers and preistes in generall to haue their owne wyues / ergo / if they marye they synne not / Belyk Wynch . wolde now make better preistis and more chaste shauelingis in this parlement then Criste euer made by his gospell / but as ye see / whylis they go aboute to mende their popissh preisthod and to make it more pure / thei marre al & make it a very sodomiticall sentyne . Repent repent Wynch . in tyme / for the ●at . iij. are is bent at thy tresodenly to be cut-downe and cast into the fyer .

Paule vnto the bissho . Timothe and Titus / prescribed to them in his pistles all thingis necessarye to be taught vnto the chirche / euen the full forme of the Cristen religion as he did vnto other chirches writinge / and yet he neuer mencioned Winchesters vnaduised vowes / but abhorred them . Paule sorowed somiche ● . tim . iii● for the congregacions lest they shuld be seduced by the false doctryne of siche that were gone from the faithe attending to sprytes of errour / doctrines wyn . and his facci on ar bere paynted of Paule . of the deuill / speking lyes thorowe ipocrysye / hauing their consciences marked with an hotyerne / forbidding to marye and commanding to abstayne fro meatis created of God to be eaten with thankis of them that knowe the trwth &c. that he gaue Timothe playnly watnig of siche vnchaast ipocrytes as ar here paynted / and of their pestelent doctryne forbidding to marye commanding him to warne men of them and of their doctryne if he wolde be sene a good minister and trwe bishop / But when herde ye any of our bytshepes warning men of these thingis / or any papiste that euer wolde open this peese of that pistle i. Tim. iii● . to the peple ? belyke this peese pertayneth not to the bishops purpo ses / it serued but only for Timothe and his tyme ▪ yiss saith the holygost / These false techers shall come in posterioribus temporibus / in the later tymes . The worlde was . M. M. yeris vnder the lawe of nature not yet wryten vnto Moses . It was M. M. yeris vnder the lawe wryten tyll Criste came : & sence Criste / it hath bene almost . M. M. yeres vnder the lawe of the gospel / wherefore ye se that this deuillisshe doctryne of forby dinge maryage and meatis / as it agreeth with the persons and autours thereof / so correspondeth it iustely to the tyme : for it is not fully . ccccc . yeres agoo sence these errours and false doctrynes begane to take place . And yet al this whyle haue not our prelates warned men of them / but thei haue geuen grete diligence to se this their damp nable doctrine taught decreed / enacted and kept / payne of dethe . But oh men mortal & vayn shadewes / quousque spreta magnitudine dei diligetis vanitatem et queretis mendacium ? how longe wil Psal. iii● ye despyse the almighty God / loue vanite / and go seke lyes ? Et nunc ergo reges Psal. ij . intelligite et erudimini / And now now ye kynges be wyse and beware of your false and sediciouse trayterouse bis shops / for sewerly if ye folowe their wycked cownsell & false doctryne / ye heape the heuye wrathe & indignacion of god vpon you / with plages present bothe to you and your realmes to be vtterly destroyed . It is but a violent and false religion shortely to fall that muste be thrustin with violence of actes armed with fyer & swerde / no scripture stablisshing them / It cannot stonde longe / that at man by tyrannye compelleth men to kepe / nether is that kyngdome longe durable that is holden by feare / tyrannye / & violence / & not by loue & lawes grownden of Goddis worde . Crist thrusted not in / his gospel by violence ( & yet was it the trwth ) and yet it spred . His apostles compelled no man payne of dethe or fyer to receyue the cri sten religion / although thei were sewer it was the very faithe & worde of saluacion & yet it roted fast . And shall cristen kyngis at the false perswasions of a fewe pharisays and popis porklingis which euer haue ben traytours to their princes staye men or punisshe their trwe obe dient louing subtectes / for not receyuig the bisshop of Romes deuillisshe tradicions / supersticious rytes / false doctrine / & synfull ceremonies / & for cleauinge to Cristes euerlasting worde of their saluacion ? Oh ye princes of the worlde / cleaue to goddis worde of peace & power / & fere ye no insurreccion of your subiectes / preche them the worde of peace / & in peace shall ye raigne ouer them / but presse the worde of peace / persecute & slaye the prechers therof / & what ye fered the same shal comvpon you / make ye neuer so stronge castels and brason walles to defende you . Despyse not goddis monic●on in tyme / thruste not from you his graciouse worde graciously offred . nequando irascatur dominus et pereatis propter studia vestra . Nam breui exardebit ira eius : et tunc / o felices qui sperant in eum / that is to saye / lest the lorde beinge wrathe / ye be destroyed for your owne actes / for shortely shal his wrathe be kindled & seton fyer / but then / oh bles sed ar they that trust into hym . Unto whom be glorye & imperye for euer / Amen .

God preserue & defende his kyngis from the wyked cownsell of bisshops & of their captyued seclare men / Amen .