A supplicacyo[n] to the quenes maiestie

A supplicacyon

IN Moste humble wise Complaynyth vnto your highnes / that wher as this noble realm off England / hath of long tyme out of mynd bene the most fre contre in all Christendome / Now is lyke to be brought in to bondag and slauery of such a nacyon as ◇ the world both hatyth and abhoryth . The only accasion ther off is our vnthankfulnes / as our preachers and true prophetes declarid vnto vs in the tyme off your brother / that most vertues prynce king Edward the vj . King Eduord . That yff we wold not be thankful for that great benyfyte off godes holy worde / then truly preachyd among vs. God wold take away our sayd vertues king / and set vp a strang king to raygne ouer vs / for our vnrepentant hartes / who shuld bring it , A strange King agayn / popery / ydolatry / and all abhomynacyons / as it is com to passe this day . For when that blessyd word off god was truly preachyd among vs / we folowyd it not in lyvyng / but dyd as the Iwes whych folowyd christ / becawse thy eat off hys bread and were fyllyd . Ioan . 6. Euen so dyd the most part off euery state and degre in the comon Weal / hear the gospel preachyd not because they sought the glory off god only / and so to haue framyd them selues to lyue ther after / as they owgh to do . But lyuyd as in the tyme off ther former darknes / in euell lust / vsyng extorcyon couetusnes / and brybery ? Nether sowgh● they the true lyberty off the gospel / to set ther consciences fre from syum and supersticion . Which now ( alas ) apperyth by ther so redy mutabylyte / prouoking godds heuy Ire and wrath wyth ther seinyng to alowe Idolatry : which Passyth all the former euel . So that it is to be drad / godes Iustes doth ponysfhe one synn by another / which off al is most perelouse / and dangeruse / as appe ryth by them which be geuen vp off god / becawse they seke not to gloryfye god / accordyng to the knowledg he hath offryd vnto thē but Wanndryng in the vanyties off ther own reasons / and ymagynacyon off ther own hartes : Roma . 1 become at last to be confyrmid in errour wyth strong illusyons / becawse they haue had no more ernest desyre to the truth / as the holy appostle doth most playnly declare . 2 thessa . 2. 1. Corr . 4. Hebre . 3.4 1. Cor . 4. Ezechi . 8. Num . 14. Daci . 9. Luce . 19. Iudg . 2.3.6.9.10.19 . Iere . 6.7.25.38.39 . Detro . 28. 4. Reg . 17. 2. Cro . 36 On the other syde / some were wylful / stubburn and herd hartyd / and wold not receyne the gospel off the glory off god / but wyth desyre to ther old ydolatry / hastenyd the vegeance off god . And therfore are thes plages Iustly com vpon vs becawse off our vnthankfulnes / and not knowyng the tyme off our ●… ysytacyon . For godes holy boke doth shew thes / ●… o be the very and in fallyble causes off the ouerthrowe of kingdomes and comon weales / specyally wher god off his mercy / hath offryd the knowledg off ●… ym selff / and cawsyd hys worde to be truly prea●… hyd .

Wherfore your grace may call to remembrance the great and manyfold benyfytes that ye haue ●… eceyuyd at the handes of allmyghty god / who by ●… ys permissyon hath so quyetly sett you in your esta●… e and honour that ye be in at this tyme / and hath also contrary to mens expectacyon geuen you frute in your body / as it is reportyd . And according to serteyne off your preuy cunsell setting forth to the world in print / wyth ther hands at it / and as the acte off perlyament doth pronunce and declare / prouydyng for the same . besydes many other gyfftes he hath indwed you wyth all . Wherfore looke to betymes / least ye be founde vnthankfull for all those benyfytes that god off hys mercy so rychly hath pouryd apon you / now that you see those plages Iustly com apon the realm / that god plagyd other realmes wyth all for ther vnthankfulnes .

We haue a notable example off the Iwes / who were gods elect and chosen people whom god with A myghty hand delyueryd out of the bondage of Egypt brought them thorow the red see / fede th●… wyth heuenlye bread xl yeres in the wyldernes / gaue them in possessyon many kingdomes / and droue out many nacyons before them / so that quyetly they enioyed ther contres and domynyons . A notable example . And for all those benyfytes / god requyryd no more of thē but to loue hym wyth all ther hartes / and to kepe hys commandments / and in no wyse to serue any strang godes made off syluer or gold wood o●… stone et c . lyke as the nacyons had done / whom god cast out before them for the same offencys . This notwythstondyng / they forgate god that had done so many benyfytes for thē / and worshypyd strang gods / lyke as the hethen dyd . then god sent vnto thē hys holy prophetes to warn thē to forsake ther abhominable ydolatrie / but they wold not obay goddes holy prophetes but murtheryd them as playnly apperyth ( lyke as our bysshopes will murther gods true preachers and prophets now adays which haue preachid the lyke message of god ) but what folowid for ther vnthankfulnes / dyd not god plage them by sending strangers among thē / whych dystroyed many hundryd thousands in ther former tymes off ther captyuytes and changes off ther comon weale / and at the last vtter dyssolucyon : Note . namely at the destruccyon off Ierusalem / by Titus and Vespacianus the emprours / and also dystroyed ther gooly cytes / caryed them out off ther own contres / wher they be now scateryd abrode / made flaues / dyspysyd / and abhorryd off all nacyons as it is manifest and playne at this day . Titus and Vespacianus Example . This is a goodly example for your grace and for all chysten prynces to marke and to haue all wayse before your eyes / least ye and they be found vnthankful : And know ye this suerly / that yff god sparyd not the Iwes / which were hys elect and chosen people / mych lesse wyll he spare you / yff ye anger hym with strange worshyppyng and seruyng of strange gods / and settyng vp habomynacyons / lyke as they dyd . I haue hard many tymes that ye do it off a zeal that ye haue to Relygyon / yea but your zeal is not accordyng to knowledg of gods holy worde / for god did forbid his people / the chyldern of Israel to do that they thought good in ther own eyes : but wyl●… yd them to do that only which he comandyd them . Nadab and abiuu Leuyti . 10. Aadab and Abyw the sonnes off Aaroy / offryd strang fyre before the lord that he comandyd them not / and therfor were consumyd wyth the same fyre . Likwise king Saul contrary to gods comandment / off a good intent reseruyd sartein off the best off the oxen and shepe / ( as he sayd ) to do sacryfyce to the lord / what folowyd off it ? King saul 1. Samu . 15 was he not therfore deposid from his Kingdom . This is also a goodly example for your grace to marke / and to beware how ye enterpryse to do things off a good intent / hauing no warrentyse of gods reuelyd will in hys worde / but his word manifestly agaynst you . Your grace therfore before ye ha done any thyng in the chaung off relygyon / owght fyrst to haue known yff gods worde wold haue permittyd you / as in the first conuocacion / ye began well to haue had the matter openly dysputyd : Conuocacion . but the more pyte / the thing was not indyfferently handlyd / for the cheff off the lernid men being maryed according to the lawes both of god and also off the realm / cold not be suffryd the same time to dispute / and yet those few lernid men which were ther vnmaried / were nor indifferentlie herd / but things procedid clene contrary to that / those fewe prouid by good lerning / as all men that were ther present can testefye . A lamentable case / that gods worde / hys trwe relygyon / and hys mynysters / must be so condempnyd / not being indyfferently herd ? Note but no great meruayle / for christ hym selff / and all his appostells and prophetes / were so herd / and so condempnyd : and the lyke hath comonly bene vsyd sens the world began .

For euer more the wyckyd persecutyd the good and godly : as kayn persecutyd hys brother Abell euen to the death / and Esawe persecutyd hys brother Iacob / and euer the false Prophetts / and Prestes / haue persecutyd the trwe Prophetts and Preachers off god to death . Genes . 4. Kayn . Abell . Esau and Iacob . Gen. 27. A notable example . And here off we haue a notable example in the scrypture / the which I wold desyre your grace to read / and to marke the same well . In the / 22. chapter off the thyrd book off Kings / when king Achab was going to warr agaynst the Syryans / he callyd for all hys prophets / to know of them whether he should go to warr or not / and hys false prophets conselyd hym to go / sayeng that he should prosper agaynst them . And when only gods true prophet in deed / was callyd / the prophet Micheas / he sayeng the truth / contrary to the great nomber off the false prophets which were in nomber / 400 / was smytten therfore / which was his reward . Then he sayd here the worde off the lord / I saw the lord sitt on his seat / and all the host of heauen stood about hym / on his right hand and on hys left . And he sayd who schall perswade King Achab that he may go to warr / and fall before hys henemyse / and ther came forth a serteine spiryt and stode before the lord / and sayd I wyll perswade hym : Micheas the prophet and the lord sayd to him wher with / and he sayd I wyll go out and be a false spirite in the mouth of his prophets / and he said thou shalt perswade hym / go forth thē and do euen so : And the prophet Micheas sayd behold the lord hath put a lyeng spryte in the mouth off all thes thy prophets &c. And for hys sayeng the truth he was smytten and cast in pryson / and king Achab folouing the coumsel of hys great nomber off false prophets / went to the warres and was slayne . And here may your grace see also / that the truth standyth not in the multytude and nomber . ☞ This example I wold desyre your grace to marke well / and geue not so mych credence / to your false bysshoppys and clergye / which wyth ther lyes deceyuyrh you ( as that multytude off false prophets deceiuyd King Achab 10 hys dyscructyon ) and caw sith the trwe preachers and prophets / which haue preachyd gots worde truly to be put in preson / and yff your grace help them not / they wyll murther and distroy thē / lyke as ther predysessors haue alwais done . And here I may specyaly make mencion to your grace of that ●crtwes and lernid man Thomas Cramner Archbisshop of Canterbury / who hath sauid your graces liff / and put him self in Ieoperdi for your graces cawse / as it is wel known Bisome off hys enemise / that were off Kinge Edwards connsell and I doubt not but that your grace knowith of it / and therfore I trust your grace will requite him with merci / and not suffer that wickid bisshope off winchester / to haue his wicked will and purpose off him .

We read also in the 18. chapter off the third booke off the kings / affter that allmighty god at the praier off the prophet Elias / had shut the heuens that it rainid not in thre yeres and six monithes / and king Achab meting with the prophet Elias / he sayd to him ? ● . Reg . 18. Elias thou art he that troblest all Israel ( like as steuen gardener bisshop off winchester and his feloues / saith to the pour preachers and professors of Christes gospell now a days ) but Elias words shall answere hym / wherwith he answerid king Achab . It is he and hys complices / that haue forsaken the liuing god / and do go a whoring after strang gods / as the matter shall plainly appere when god will / like as it did appere by Elias / with the 400. Quene Iesabell . false prophets / which false prophetts had seducid the quene Iesabell / and had cawsid her to sley and distroy all gods holy prophetts ( like as our false and cruell bisshopps intendith to do ) so that the prophet Elias was fain to fly in to the wil dernes / to saue his liff / wher god appointid A Rauen to feed hym ? but what was the ende both of the quene and of all those false prophetts / Read the text / and you shal plainly perceiue that the quene was cast down out of a window wher she brake her neke and was eaten vp of dogs / as the prophet of god had before said / and all here false prophetts and preastes were vtterly distroied .

Lett this greuous example moue your grace do beware be tymes of your false bysshopps and clergye / specyally of steuen gardener bysshop of wynchester / who now this thyrd tyme hath recantyd as your grace knowyth : Steuen gardener . first he sware to the pope but by all lyklyhode he played the fox / and faynyd hym selff to be a flepe / or dremyd when he so dyd / after that ●●ē sware to your noble father K. ● . 8. and more playnly declaryd the same by hys bocke / devera obedientia . Vera obediencia . Which was made of hym wyth great aduysement and delyberacyon / as apperyth here after by bisshope bonner / in hys prolog to the same booke . Here I wold make a supplycacyon to your grace / besechyng you for our saueyour Iesus Christes sake / that you wyll wyth good delyberacyon / cawse to be read before you / the sayd booke which he namyd the trwe obedyence / yf it please your grace at my humble request / so to do / as your dwtye is before god : Request . you shall playnly perceyne wyth what scrypture and reasons / he throughly confutyth the vsurpyd pour and auctoryte of the bysshopp of Rome / and in hys booke that he made agaynst the hūryng of the fox lykewyse . And in the same booke devera obedientia ( for to flatter your noble father ) he doth therin proue the maryage betwene hym . And your mother quene kateryne / not to be good nor lawfull / to your great rep●och and slander / as mych als in hym laye / fforthes be hys wordes .

To make mencyon of certeine of the morall preceptes / ( for I mind not to reherse all ) which be in the old law a conserning mariages which befor bidden / and mariages which be incestius / those preceptes which be comandid / and pertein to chastite and purite of mariages / wherin is conteinid the hole course of mans liff / and the beginning of the bringing forth of Issue consistith : Note . Incestius . that is such mariages as be-made vith any of Kidred against lauv , and all gods forbyde . those laws / though Leuiticall / haue euer bene countid as those / which indeed were first geuen vnto the Iwes / becawse they were expoundid to the setting forth of the lawe of nature / but perteinid therfore to all man kind for euer / In which without doubt both the voice of nature / and gods comandment agreing in one / haue forbidden that which should be differing for ether of them . but among thes perceptes / seing that comandment is conteinid / which is that the brother shold not mary the brothers wiff : The brother may not mary hys brothers wif What other thing owght or cold the kings most excelent Maiestie do / then that he hath done / with the full consent of the people / and with the Iudgement of his church / that benig deuorsid from vnlawfull bonds ( or conuenants ) to enioie laufull and permirrid copulacion / and obeieng to the precepres ( as it was mete ) to leue herre which nether law nor right did permitt to kepe / and to geue him selff to chast and lawfull matrymonye . Vnlaufull bonds . Nether laue nor right permyte . In the which thing / wher as the sentence of gods / word had bene sufficient ( vnto the which all ought to obey / wythout stop or steye ) yett was hys most sacrid roiall Maiestie contentid to Ioyn ther vnto / the voices of most graue men / and the determinate Iudgmentes of the most famous vniuersites in the world / namelie that he might be Iudgid to haue done those things moste rightfullie / by the alowance ( or sentensis ) of the best lernid and most godly men / which otherwyse he both might and owght to do / and that it might appere / he did therin shew obedience as the truth of gods worde doth require of euery godly and good man / so that it may be sayed of him worthelie / that he hath obeied god / and obeyed in dead / of whom seing I haue begone to speake / I cold not wyth scilence passe ouer that which offryd it selff / fitlye and mete for this place / &c. Iudgment of the vniuersytes . Obedience of eueri good and godly man is to obci gots word said he then but now to Antychryst deeres . gardeners constancie then agaynst the . b . of Rome .

Wherly your grace and all other / may lern to know hym and hys like / by hys saiengs then and his doings now . More ouer in his said booke devera obediencia / he pretendith such constancy against the vsurpid auctorite of the bisshop of Rome / that therin he saith / that yf euer he chaunge or vary / from hys saiengs in the said booke against the see of Rome / that then he willith all men to call hym what they liste / . so that yf any man call hym false periurid heretike / blond soper / dissembler traito : to god and to the hole Realm of England / he owght not to be angry with them / because he hath geuen hys awn Iudgment apon hym selff / and willid all men so to do / as apperith by hys own wordes in hys own booke / And now again sens that time / is fallen from god / and worshippith the beast of Rome . Traitore to the Realm of England . Owght ther any credence to be geuen to such a periurid person ? for gods sake beware of hym betimes / least ye be pertaker of hys wikidnes / and so both you and the hole Realme repent it / and com to vtter distruction . For hys doings declare that he is at a point with hym selff and hath made conuenannte with death and hell / Esa . 28. and beleuith that ther is no resurrection of the flesche nor liff after this : and therfore what carith he yf he help to being this noble realm in to bondage and slauery / seing he thinkith ther is no nother waye / to maintain hys pomp / pride / and vainglory with all / And therfore the greater shal be hys Sampnacion / besids gods great plages which shall comapon hym sodenlie / when he thinkith all is well / and in quiet / them shall sodenly com hys confucion and vtter distruction / becawse all his doings be so directly against god / and all right / as his own consciens knowith the same / to his dampnacion / yf he haue any conscience or feling of god / and therfore beware that ye be not partaker with hym . The crye of vuydous and fatherlese childern .

Doth not your grace thinke / or at the least I do beleue it / that the complaint and crie of widows and fatherlesse childern / is assendid in to the cares of all mighty god / and that only by his meanes so many honest men haue bene deuorsid from ther lawfull wiffs who hath bene lawfully maried both by gods law / and the laws of this Realm / who is able to dissalow it / non but Martin doctor of lies ( I wold haue said of laws ) with his ignorant foly / who gredely seking to com to promocion / hath made a slaunderus booke ( with the help of his maister gardener ) against such maried pristes / and contrary to all honesty / hath shamfully lied apon the old doctors / which he aledgith to maintein his folishe enterprise . D. Martin lauyere . Oh haw many basterds and herlotts / wold he cawse to be made / which were both begotten and born in lawfull matrimony ? Your grace may perceine by his said booke / de vera obediencia / that he did his diligence / to haue done the like with you / with the help of boner bisshop of London / doth not your grace thinke that god wil be aduengid of this great Iniury / ( allthough ye do it not ) ye I beleue that the crie of thes / besids the blasphemy that he hath done to god / and Iniury to your hole Realm / will bring him to Ashamsul end / . onles he dispaire / and so murther him self / as hys predeffessor thomas wolse late cardinal dyd / so and cast both body and soule in to hell . wilseam langshap Bishope of Elye . yf che cry of one pour widow dyd bring the skin̄ of the wickid Iudge ouer hys eares / how mich more / schall the crye of thes pour men women and childern / which crye daily to god for Iustice / whose vengeance against hym / shall cō apō hym .

a notaple exampel for steuen gardener A notable example he hath ( yf any grace were in hym ) of willin Langshape / who was bisshop of Elye / and lord chaunseler of England / and hauing the hole rule and gouernannce of the Realm in his own hand / ( like as steuen gardener now hath ) who in those dais with his felous the bisshoppes and clargie according to ther comon practisis / sent the king ouer the see A pilgremage / whose name was king Richard cure-de lion / to fight against the great turke for Ierusalem / in the meane season this bisshop wounderfully oppressid the comons / abusing the Kings auctorite / and aduaunsid his own pompe and vain glori / ( life as steuen gardener doth ) And Rood with a thousand horsys contmuclli / so that the noblemens sonnes were gladd to become his slaues / And with the best barons and carles &c. maried he ▪ his cussins / neces / and Kinswomen / ( I will not say hys dowghters ) and for all that hys graund father was but a pour plow man / and hys father a cowherd ? Plouman Couhert . And hauing so tirannuslie abusyd hys office / fearing least he should haue bene caulid to hys examinacion / fled with a few of hys trusty seruants to douer castell / mynding to haue stollen ouer the sec / and coming in the night in a womans apparell / with a pece of cloth vnder his arme / and a meteyard in his hand apon / suspicion ( as god wold haue it ) being known what he was / his kercher was pullid of his head / his balams marke / or shauen croune apperid on his head : Balams marke And then was he draune / a long by the see on the sands / with a great woundering of all the people / some ratid hym / some reuilid hym / some by spatelid hym / some drawing hym by the armes / some by the legs from place to place / hys own seruants not being able to help hym / at last they brought hym to a darke seller / wher they couerid hym with shame ynowgh / till the counsell of the Realme sent for hym and after was brought to the towre of London / emprisonid examinid / depriuid / and banisshed the Realme and so endid his lyff .

Here before I haue mencionid of the prologe that Edmond bonner now bisshop of London made / being thē but archdeacon of leiceter / for to com to promotion / wherby he obtainid his bisshoprik / made this prolog before the said steuen gardeners bockde vera obedientia / And for bycawse the ☜ same prologis / but short and pithye / I will recite it here again translated in to Englische word for worde / as be causyd it to be printid in lattin at Hamburg 1536.

Edmond Bonner archdeacon of leiceter / the king of England his most excelent Mai . embassadour in Denmark / to the sincere gentill hertid and godly reder .

Bysshope bonners preface . worde for worde . For Asmuche as ther be some ( doubtles ) euen at this present as it hath all waise bene the wonte of mens Iudgments to be uariable and diuers / which thinke the contrauersie that is betwene the King of England and of france / his most Riall maiestie / and the bisshop of Rome / consistith in this point / becawse the fings said Maiestie / hath taken the most excellent / and most noble Lady An̄e to his wief . Wheras in uery dede notwithstonding / the matter is feer other wise / and nothing so . Quene Anne . Wherfore to thentent all that hartely fauere the gospel of christ / ( which that most godli and most vertues prince doth with all diligence endeuour / and in eueri place aduaunce to the honoure of allmighty god / and that hate not but loue the truthe / ( which euery where Justly claimith the vpperhand / and to hate all things / though thei strugle with here neuer so mich in the beginning / yet obeie and geue place at lengtht as mete it is thei should ) mai the more fulli vnderstand the cheff point of the controersie / and becawse thei schall not be ygnorant / what the hole voice and resolute determinacion / of the best and greartist lernid bisshoppes / with all the nobles and comons of England is not onli in that cawse of matrimoni / but also in the defending the gospells doctrine . All thigs geue place in tyme to truth The resolute . Determy nacyon of the best & greatyst lernid bisshoppes . The doe tryne of the cospel This oracion of the bisshop of windchester ( a man excelentli lernid in all kind of lerning ) entitled DE VE RA OBEDIENTIA , that is conserning trwe obedience / which he made lateli in Englang / shal be published but as towching this bisshops worthi prayses / ther shal be nothing spoken of me at this time / not only becawse they are infinyte / but becawse they ar ferr better known do all Christendome / thē becomith me here to make rehersal . And as for the oracion it selff which as it is most lernid / so it is most elegant / to what purpose shold I make any words of it seing it praisiyh it selff ynowgh and seing good wyne nedith no tauern bushe to vtter it . But yett in this oration who so euer thou art most gentill reader : thou shalt beside other matters / se it notably and lernidly handlib / of what importance and how inuincible the powrand excelencie of gods truth is : The condicion and state of gods inuinsible truth . which as it mai now and thē be pressid of henemyes / so it cannot possible be oppressid after such sort / but it comith againe at length after banishment / more glorius and more welcome . Thoushalt se also touching obedience / that it is subiecte to truth / and what is to be Iudgid true obedience . Besids this of mens traditions / which for the most parte be most repungnant agaynst the truth of gods law . Mens trady cyons . And ther by the waye / he speakith of the kings sayde highnes maryage / which by the right Iudgment auctorite and pyruiledg / of the most and principall / vniuersites of the world / and then with the consent of the hole church of England / he contractid with the most clere / and most noble lady . QVENE ANNE . The Kings mary age wyth quene Anne .

After that towching the Kings Maiesties title as perteining to the supreme head of the church of England . Supreme head .

Rastlie of all / of the false pretensid supremacie of the the bisshop of Rome / in the realm of England / most Iustly abrogatid : The . B. of Romes pretensid supremaci and how all other bisshoppes being felow like to hym in ther function ye and in some pointes aboue hym within ther own prouinces / were before time bound to hym by ther othe . ☞ But be thou most suerly perswadid of this good reader / that the bisshope of Rome / though ther were no cawse els / but this maryage / will easilie content hym selff / specally when ther is one morsel or other laid to hym to chawe . His Iudgment of the . B. of Rome . But when he seith so mighty a King / being a right vertues / and a great lernid prince / so syncerly and so hertelie fauour the gospell of christ / and perceiuith the yerely rauenous praye ) ye so large a pray / that it comith to asmich almost as all the kings reuencus̄ ) snappid out of hys hands / and that he could no lenger excersise hys tiranie in the kings mai . Here be good fathers of the comon veal that will help out with such a reuen v , villingly and vittingly from the realm . realm ( alas it hath bene to cruel / and bitter all this while ) nor mak laws as he hath done many / to the contumelie / and reproch of the maiestic of god / which is euident that he hath done in time past / vnder the title of the catholike church and the autorite of peter and Paule / ( when notwithstonding he was a uery rauening woldff dressid in shepes clothing calling ☞ him self seruant of seruants ) to the great domage of the christen comon welth : Thear off arose the complaintes : Bonners Iudgment . Iupiter olimpius Then came thes discords / thes deadly malices / and so great trublous bustling . Foryf it were not thus / no man could belene / but that this Iupiter of Olimpius ( which hath falsely taken apō hym poure / with out comtrollment / and to be aboue all laws ) wold haue done hys best that this good and godly / and right gospelike prince / shold be falsely betraied to all the rest of monerches and princes . Nether lett it moue the / gentil reader / that the bisshope of winchester / did not before now apply to this ☜ opinion / for he hym selff in this oracion shewith the cawse / why he did it nott . And if he had said neuer a worde / yet thou knowest well what awitty part it is for a man to suspend his Iudgment / and not to be to rashe in geuing of iugement . It is ā old said sawe : Mary Magdalene profitted vs lesse in here quike beleue that Christ was risē / than Thomas that was longer in doubt . A man may rightly call hym fabius that with his aduisid taking of leisour / restorid the matter : Although I speake not this as though wynchester had not boultid out this case secretlye with hym selff before hand ( for he boultid it out long agō euen to the bran̄ out of doubt ) but that runnyng faier and softly / he wold first with his painfull studie / pluke the matter out of the darke / although of it self it was sounde ynowgh / but by Reason of sondry opinions / it was lappid vp and made darke / and thē did he debate it wittely to and fro / and so at last after long and great deliberacion had in the matter becawse ther is no better counseler thē leisore and time / he wold resolutlie with his lernid and consumate Iudgement confirm it . Note with what deliberacion and aduicement , winchester wrot his boke devera obedren cia aga inst the B. of Rome .

Thou shouldest gentell reader esteme his censure and auctorite to be of more weightye credence / in asmich as the matter was not rashlie / and at all aduentures / but with Iudgement ( as thou seist ) and wyth wisdome examinid and discussid : No neu matter , to wryte against the B of Rom And thys is no new example to be against the bisshop of Rome . seing that not only this man / but many men many times yea and rigkt great lernid men / afore now haue done the same / euen in writing / wherin they both paintyd him out in hys colors and made his sleites / falshed / frawdes / and disseytfull wiles / openly known to the world . Therfore yf thou at any time here to fore / haue doutyd ether of trwe obedience / or of the Kings maiesties mariage / or title / ether elles of the bisshop of Romes false prerensid supremacie / as if thon haddest a good smelling nose and a sound Iudgment / I think thou didest not / yet hauing read ouer thys oracion / ( which yf thou fauoure the truth / and hate the tiranie of the B. of Rome / and hys deuelishe fraudulent falshed / shall dowbtles wunderfully contente the ( throw down thine erroure / and acknowledge the truth / now frely offrid thee at length / considring with thy selff / that it is better late to do so / then neuer to repente . Note fare thou hartely well most gentle reader / and not only loue this most valyant king of England and of fraunce / who vndowbtidly was by the prouidence of god / borne to defend the gospell / but also honoure hym and serue hym most obedienthe : As for this winchester / who was long agoe with out doubt reputyde among the greatist lernide men / geue hym thy good worde with Highest comendacions .

The ende of bisshop bonners prologe .

HEre before I haue discribid to your grace / two of your false and dissembling bisshops / to say steuen gardener bisshop of winchester / and Edmond Bon̄er bisshop of London . Note thre dissembling bisshops , to say winchester london and durram . the third is dreming Tunstall bisshop of Durram / as plainlie aperith by his booke of the sermon that he made before your noble father K . H.8 . on palm sonday . 1539. Wherin he also clerli confutith / the vsurpid pouer of the bisshops of Romes auctoryte / and here I wil make rehersal of perte of hys sermon worde for worde as he caw sid it to be printid / which be these .

What shall we saie of those whom god hath creatid to be subiectes / comannding them by hys worde / to obey princes and gouerners ? Read in the leaues B. and E. of the booke of his sermon . who not only do refuse to obey gods commandment / but contrary to hys worde / wil be aboue ther gouernours / in refusing to obey thē / and further more will haue ther princes prostrat apon the grund / to whom they owe subiection / to Adore them by godly honoure vpon the earth / and to kisse ther fete / as yf they were god / wher they be but wrechyd men / and yet they looke that ther princes should do it to them / and also al other Christen men / owing them no subiection / shold of dutie do the same . Do not thes as ye thinke folowe the pride of lucifir ther father ? Note that the bisshops of Rome be comparyd to lucyfire . who make them selues fellous to god contrary to hys worde . but who I pray you be thes / that men may know them ? surely the bisshops of Rome be those / whom I do meane . Who do exalt ther seat aboue the sterres of god / and do assende aboue the cludes and wilbe like to all mighty god .

Read more in hys sermon in the lef . E. Arrant traytor . And the bisshopp of Rome now of late / to sett forth his pestilent malis the more hath alurid to his purpose a subiecte of this Realm Rainold pole / co men of a noble bloude / and therby the more arrant traitoure / to go about from prince to prince / and from contry to contry to styre thē to warr against this Realme / and to distroy the same / being his natiue countre . Whose pestilent purpose / albe it the princes that he brake it vnto / haue in mich abhominacion / both for that the bisshope of Rome ( who being a bisshop should procure peace ) is a stirere of warr and becawse this most arrant and vnkind traytour re / is his minister / to so deuelishe a purpose / to distroy the countre / that he was borne in : Tunstals iudgment of Cardinal Pole . which any heathen man wold abhore to do / but for all that with out shame he still goith one / exorting ther vnto all princes that will here him . Who do abhorr to see such vnnaturalnes in any man / as he shamlesse doth sett forwardes / whose pernicious treasons / late secretly wrought against this realm ☞ haue bene by the worke of allmighthye God / so meruclusly detectid / and by his owne brother with out loking therfore / so disclosid / and condingne ponischment enswid / that hereafter god willing / they shall not take any more such Rote / to the noyance of this Realme . Note that Cardinal Pole is wors then a pagant . And wher ac all nacions of gentils / by reason and by law of nature / do preferre ther countre / before ther parents / so that for ther countre / they will die against ther parents beinge traitors / this pestilent man worse then a pagant / is not asshamid to distroie yf he could his natine confitre . And wheras Curtius a hethen man / was content / fo : sauing of the cite of Rome / wher he was Borne / to leape in to a gaping earth / which by the yllusions of the deuell / it was answerid should not be shute / but that it must first haue one . Note that Cardinall pole , is more wyld and cruell , then anitygure . This pernicius man is contente to rune hedling in to hell / so that therby he may distroie his natyue contre of England / being in that behalff incomparison worse then any pagant . And besids his pestilent treason / his vnkindnes against the kings Maiestie / wo brought him vp of a child and promotid both him / and restorid his bloude being attaintid / to be of the peres of this realme / and gaue him mony yerly out of his coffers / to find hym honorably at studie / makith his treason mich more detestable to all the world / and hym to be reputid more wild and cruell then any Tigure . Also note that the Realm of England is geuen to the generation of englishe men , and not to spanierds . But for all this thou englishe man / take good corage vnto the / thou hast god on thy side / who hath geuen this realme to the generacion of Englishmen / to euery man in his degre / after the lawes of the same / thou hast A noble victorius and vertues king / hardy as alyon / who will not suffer the to be so deuourid / by such wild beastes : only take En anglishe hart vnto the / and mistrust not god but trust firmlie in him . What make ye of the quem thē that receuith the pope aga in contrary to here fathers doings in his time . And suerly the ruine entendid against the / shall fall in ther own neckes that intend it . and feare not though the deuell and his dysciples be against the . for god thy protectore / is stronger then he and they / and shal by his grace geue hym and them a fall .

All this with mich more / be the very wordes of the said B. of Durrams sermon / preachyd before king . h . 8 . as in the sayd booke / of hys sermon apperith more at large / the which I wold desire your grace also to Read : And I wold hope in god ( after that ) your grace wold well know how to beware of thes thre false dissembling bisshoppes / which haue not only preachid against the B. of Romes vsurpid auctorite / but also cawsyd the same to be printid for a perpetuall memory wher as now thei rune with the world to the contrarie . And as for doctor westone that baudie ruffian of his shamelesse and abhominable liuing / it is not vnknown . And whether he were wont to go in mumeries and maskes / among the merchants of London / he hym selff cannot deny it / or at the least his companions that were in his company at those tymes can testefie . Is he mete to be A comyssioner in matters of weight / or to be the prolocutore in the conuocacion howse ? who would thinke that our bisshopps / wold suffer so vile a man / in such a Rome / yff they had any honestie in them . ffor gods safe beware of thes false / crastie and dissembling bisshopps / least the hole realme come do distruction . The bysshoppes in King henries 8 tyme . Is not this Alamentable case / to marke how thes false dissemblynge bisshopes in the tyme of your noble father / how ernestlie / they both preachid and wrote agaist the vsurpid pour of the bisshops of Rome . And also against Cardinal Pole / calling hym errant traitore and worse then a pagant / as before is rehersid / for his vnnaturallnes against his own countre / which god hath geuen to the generacion of Englishmen &c. And yet marke here thes false traitors and dissemblers / ther vn / naturallnes towerd this noble Realme And nowe . euen as euell and worse thē they countid / Cardinall Pole / for they go about with out dowbt / to bringe this hole Realme of England into the hands of strangers .

WHerfore yf your grace wold call to remembrance what a great charge it is / to be the ruler of a Realme / ye wold neuer haue folowyd so mich your wickid bisshopps / who seke not your welth / nor the welth and quietnes of the realm but to exalt ther god the pope / which is for ther priuate proffit . Wherfore the prophet Dauid saith in the 2. psalme . be ye wise therfore . Psalm . 2. Rulers . oh ye Kings / and lernid ye that be Iudges of the earth / least the lord being angrie with you / ye perish from the ryght waie / for be ye assurid that right sharpe Iudgment and sore torment shal be done to them that are in auctorite as the wiseman saith . Sapient 2. Remember how your pour comons assistid and helpid you / when ye were in your greatist / necessite and daunger / with out whose help ye had neuer come to the dignite / that ye now he in : The comons . oh Remember them / and geue them not ouer / in to the hands of your bisshops and clergie / ther henemies to be deuourid and murtherid . for ther kingdom can neuer be stablisshed with out sheding of blude . I wold your grace wold be as good to them / whose blude your bisshops seke ( as ye haue bene to strangers ) and to banishe thē your Realm / and suffer thē in a serteine space to de parte wyth bag and bagage / as ye dyd the strangers / in the fyrst yere of your Reigne . Alamentable case and yff they haue ther wickid purpose / what shall folowe / euen ther own distruction / and the distruction of the hole Realme .

We haue examples manifestlie ynowgh / what folowid in the tyme of your predecessors / fing henry the .4 . and 5. in whose time fyrst those cruell actes were inuentid by the clergie / ( which now be renewid ) only to the distruction of noble men / and of a great sorte of godly and lernid men / which in those dais suffrid most cruel death / as the lord cobham / and many other knightes and gentillmen / the thing is so plaine that it cannot be demed / but what plages folowid therof ? King Henry the .4.5 . Lord Cobham . was ther not many felds fowght within this realm / wher were slaine allmost all the noble and gentill men / besides many thousands of the comons / as our own cronicles plainli declarith ? was not the clergie al the hole occasion of this / first by puttig downe that good king Richard the second and setting vp . R. H. the .4 . vnder whom / they made that most vngodly acte / ex officio / and thē be cawse the kings and noble men / should not serch for the knowledg of gods verite / set them in hand to clayme titles / in Frannce and other places and then likewise other noble men at home / euer to sett them so a worke / about warres and worldly matters / ( like as they shortly will practise the same ) except god shorten ther time ) and in the meane season that they might as they dyd then and now in tend to do the same / burn and Practises of prelats distroye all those that professe Crist and hys verite / But it helpid them as litle as it helpid the scribes and parises in the time of Christ / when they had put Christ to death / they thought then that all had bene well / and that he with hys doctrine / had bene suppressid but what folowid / the third day he rose agayne from death as a valiant conqueroure / and sent hys holy sprite among hys power appostels / who declarid hys wyll and gospell through out al the world / as it is manifest at thys daye / and after that sent Tytus and Vespacianus them prours / who vtterlye distroted hys henemies / and scaterid them thorow the hole world wher they be both harid and abhorrid of all nacions as it is affore said . the Iudgment of god and his maner of working .

Thys were a notable example and / lesson for your clergie / to make them beware how they / persecute Christ in hys power members / but I fear me god hath hardenid ther hartes / as he dyd the vnhappy pashure and hys felous / and as he dyd the hert of king Pharoe who for all the miracles and wounders / that god wrought before him by the hands of moses and Aaron / wold not suffer the children of Israell gods electe people / to go out of hys countre / but plagid them the more / but what was hys rewarde / was not he with all hys hoste drownyd in the rede see ? An example for the clergye yf they had any grace or feare of god Iere . 38. exody . 7.8.9.10 . Euen so what folowid all the persecucions and wickid laws that they made / to kepe gods verite vnder foote / what helpid it them / did it not still the more florishe and Increase ? And did not your noble father / in the perliament holden in the 25 yere of hys reigne / at the supplicacion of the comons / in the said perliament / for thes cawses folowing / breake the said most wickid lawe ex officio / which the wickid clergie had obtainid in the said . The cause why K.H. 8 brase the act ex officio 2. yere of K.H. the. the 4. That is to say ? becawse the ordinarie by vertue off that wickide lawe / might as they dyd opon ther suggestion / arest or Impryson any persone or persons / whom they thought defamid or suspecte of heresie / and them to kepe in ther prisons / tyll they were purgid therof / or abiurid / or comittid to the lay poure to be burnid / and yet in no parte of the same wickide laws be declarid any serteigne cases of heresie / so that the most experte and best lernid men of the realme / diligently lieng in waite / vpon hym selff / can not auoyde or esthwe / the penaltie of the sayd act / yf he should be examinid epon such captius interogations / as it hath bē accustomid to be ministrid bithe ordinaris of this Realme / in cases wher they will suspecte any poison of heresye : And ouer this forasmich as it stondith not wyth the right order of Iustice nor good equite that any person shold be conuicte or put to losse of hys lyff / good name or goods / onlesse he were by dwe occasion and witnes or by persentment / verdite / confession / or processe of outlarye &c. The very words of the statude anno 25. H . 8 . Wherfore it is not reasonable that any ordinarie / by any suspection conceiuid of hys own fantasie / whith out dwe accusacion or presentment / shold put any subiecte of thys Realme in any infamy or slander of heresy / to the perell of lyff / lose of name or goods &c. Slander of heresy . Thys with mich more is declarid in the said statude of 25. H . 8 . Which was the occasion that the said most wickid lawe of ex officio / was broken .

More ouer your said noble father perceiuid how many honest men in his tyme / were distroied and murtherid by his said clergie / as Iohan hune / and many other honest men / which liuid both quietlye and honestlie among ther neibours / this is so plaine that they are not able to deny it . Iohanhume wherfore I most humbly besech your grace to consider thes things / for it is not ynough for your grace to geue ouer your pour and auctorite / to your wickid bisshoppes and clergie / and so thinke to charge them and to discharge your selff / nay not so ? for euery one shall beare hys own burthen as the holy appostle pronouncith / and as gardener saith in hys booke de vera obediencia likewise / god hath sett you in auctorite / and it is you your selff that shall geue an accompt to a Iudge that is aboue you / whose seat is the heauen / and the earth is hys foot stole / the which by his holy worde made all things / and by the same worde shall distroye all Antichristes / which sekith the distruction of hys kingdom / who dwellith in the light that no man can attaine / whom no man hath seen nor can see to him only be geuen all honoure and glory for euer more .

FUrthermore may it please you to knowe that themprour and diuers other princes and magistrates / haue for the paiment of a litle monie / suffrid and doth suffer the wickid Iwes and also the cursid turkes / to dwell sauely in ther contres and Cities / The Iues and turks to kepe and hold ther faith and ceremonies as they liste / with out any troble or vexacion for the same / and yett the same turkes and Iwes / do dispise and abhore vs Christians / a lake for pyte / that ther shal be more mercie and pyte shewid to / Iwes and turkes / thē to vs pour Christians / which do beleue to be sauid only / by the death / and passion of our saueyour Iesus Christ both god and man : Is not this also a lamentable case / that pour English men cannot be suffrid to liue quietlye and in sauetye with out danger of ther lyues in ther own contres / but must be forcide to trauell / and seke from contre to contre / wher they may serue god quietly with a good conscience ? Against all christian chartite , and Reason . oh that your grace wold permite the first booke of comon prayer made in Englishe in the time of your vertues brother K.E. vj . to be vsid to as many as wold : vnto the which booke / all the hole clergie of the Realme did subscribe / and affirmid it to be good and catholike doctrine / yea they that now do perswade your grace to the contraric : And as for the Englishe procession / what good and godly prayers be therin / and how it was vsid to the great compfort and edifieng / of as many as came to the church / to here it / all men can reporte / but that cannot your bisshoppes and clergie now abyde / becawse it shamith and condempnith all ther latyn seruice / which is expressly against gods worde / for s . Paule in the 14. chapter of the first epistle to the Corrinthiance / wold haue all thinges done to edifienge / and wold haue .v. wordes spoken in the congregacion / in a language why the bisshoppes and clergie , can not abide the seruice booke in englishe . that they vnderstand / rather thē .x. M. words that they vnderstode note : S. Paulus doctrine . for saith he / how shall the vn lernid say Amen / to thy blessing or thanks geuing / when he motith not what thou sayest / he cannot tell whether thou doest blesse or course / and comaundith plainly saieng : they that speak in a languag vnknown / lett thē hold ther peace in the congregacion : read the said chapter / and you shall perceyne the matter more plainly / wherby you or any Chrystiā harte may be kindlid with godly zeal against such Antichristians / which do so directlie / against the holy appostles plaine commandment . 1. Cor . 14.

Now to make an ende of this my supplicacion / I haue read a godly example of the conuercion of s . Paule / who being brought vp ffrom his youth at the feete of Gamaliell / being a pharise / of a zeale that he hade to mainteine the pharcisey call doctrine of the pharises became also apersecutor with the pharisies for a space / which pharises / had wholie coruptid the law of god geuen by Moses . Antichristians . Actes . 9. And as they had aduaunsid ther own tradicions / deuisid by therrabbins / which both Christ and hys appostles / comonly rebukid tawght and preachid ther against / and therfore they slawndrid hym and hys apostles and neuer left persecuting of thē / till they had murtherid them : Euen so our trwe preachers in thes days / which haue preachid against the abuse both of prayeng / fasting / and also of allmose dedes ( like as Christ hym selff dyd ) our bisshopes persecute to the death / falsly belieng them / saieng / that they preachid against prayer / fasting / and allmose deades &c. when they dyd preach / but only against the supersticious abuse / as ther maister Christ did / which preachid against the abuse ther off / but the seruant is not aboue hys maister and lorde / for yf they haue callid the lord of the howse / helsebub / how mich more shall they call hys howsold seruants . Also like as the scrybes and pharises / falsely belyed and slaunderid our saue your Christ / euen so do our bisshoppes and clergie / belye and slaunder our trwe preachers and prophetes of gods holy worde / when they preach not against the sacraments and ceremonis / but against ydolatrie countid a sacrament and the abuse of the ceremonies : ffor to wryte of the abuse of the sacraments and cemonies a greate booke wold scarsely suffice / and therfo : I will turne againe to my matter of the conuercion of s . Paule / who ( as I haue said / of a zeale that he had to the doctrine of the pharises / persecutid Christes poure members / and cawsid many to be bound and cast in to pryson . Phillip . 3. Act. 9. Galla . 1. 1. Timo 1. 1. Cor . 15. But becawse he did it ygnorantly / he obtainid mercy as he hymselff confessed / not being worthy to be callid an apostell becawse he persecutid the congregacion of Iesus Christ &c. Euen so I think that your grace doth this ygnorantlie / that ye haue done / and being therto perswadid by your false dissembling bisshopes and clergie : the quene . Whom now that your grace hath warning / what they are : beware from hence forth that ye folowe ther counsel no more in persecuting Christes poure membres / which haue bene the trwe prearchers of his holy and blessid worde / but do ye as s. Paul dyd when he was callid / And submitt your selff / vnder the mighty hand of god / and turne to the lord our god who is able and wyll receyue you to grace and mercye as he dyd . S. Paul / of ye repent and do as he dyd / wherby you shall saue your selff and the whole Ralme from Ruyne and vtter distruccion . warned . But yf you wyll not submitt your selff vnder the mighty hand of god / and turn to the lord our god vnfainidlie / and folowe no more / the wyckid cousell of your bloudy bisshoppes and clergie / in persecuting Christes pour members / and wyll not receyue and knowledge the time of your visytacion . Then be ye assuryd / that lyki as it happenyd to the Iwes / for persecuting christe and hys pour members / so shall it happen to you and to the whole Realme / as in the beginnyng of this supplicacion is declaryd at lavge . The which I pray god defend yff it be hys holy wyll and plasure / whom I besech to open the eyes of your hart / that ye may receiue hys worde / and vnfallyble veryte / which may saue your soule in the great day of the lord / whom I besech to graunt you grace thus to do / for his deare sone Iesus Christes sake amen .

Th author io the Noblemen and gentillmen . ANd now wyll I speake to you noble men / gentillmen and comons of England / that haue of the abbey and chauntrey lands in your hands thinke you to enioie them to you and to your heires now that ye haue receiuid the bisshope of Rome againe &c. Ye ar farr deceiuid / do ye not knowe that the deuell is a crafty serpent / and loke wher he gettithin hys head / ther will he shortly haue in also his hole body ? but ye will saie that the bisshop of Rome by his legate cardinall Pole hath dispensid with you for thē / and that it is so concludid by acte of parliament . Well / I say ye deceiue your selues . do you not know / that in the first perliament of the quene / when / xx . of the comon house / were sent to here grace / and dyd declare vnto here / the great enormites / that wold folowe to the Reame / yf that she maried with any stranger / desiring herre therfore to marie within the realme . Request made in the first parliament to the quene . But that wold not our bisshopes suffer / for they knew yf the quene maried wythin the realme / they should not so sone / haue brought in the B. of Rome againe / nor yet haue bene sure of ther wyckid and deuelyshe enterprise . But they knew / yf the quene maried wyth the prince of spaine / that he wolde not troble hym selff any thyng wyth ther affaires / hauing no more wytt then wold serue for hym selff / but they casting how to come to haue the hole antorytorie of the Realm in ther own hands / ( lyke as they now haue ) myght stablishe ther wyckyd kingdom / wythout any lert or interrupcion .

The next perliament / the articles were debatyd apon / and by the helpe of the bisshoppes were concludid / vnder whych articles thes were agreid apon / that is / that the prince of spaine shold not promote admitt nor aduaunce any stranger to any office or benifice / with in this Realm / but only the quenes naturall subiectes . Articles concluded and agreed vpon . And that he should meintein all the old and ancient customs and priuileges of this Realm . And shall not enterprise to do any thyng against them . Also yf the quene died wythout yssue by hym / that he should not chalenge any ryght in to the sayd kingdom / but should permite the sucsession therof / without any empediment / to the next ryghtfull heyres / to whom it shall apperteine / by the right laws of this Realme . As in the said statude plainly apperith . But haue ye not seen that they haue gone about sens that time / to make hym king / not in name only / but in dead . The bysshopes endevovt . Therfore what think you wyll that ther pretensyd conclusion in ther articles helpe / thynk you that our bysshoppes and clergy / wil be content / that he shall haue only the name of the thing and not rather to haue the thyng if selff ? and thinke you that although they cannot bryng it to passe at thys parlyment / that they wyll lett the mater so passe . Nay nay / ye shall perceiue that they wyll neuer rest nor be in quyet / tyll they haue brought it to passe . So ye not know that our bysshopps and clergye must gratefie hym by whom they may as they thinke / sauely enioye again ther god the pope / wyth all ther ●… pitefull ecclesiasticall Iuridiccions . As in helping ●… ym to haue placide / and machyd in offices some ●… f hys spanierds / wyth men of our own Englishe ●… acyon / And that not in the worst romes nether / ●… ut euen no lesse then in the romes of lord chamber ●… aine and wyth thy mayster of the horse / and wyth ●… he knyght marschall / &c. Lord chamberlayne . Mayster of the horse . etc. And this is the begin●… ing to shewe ther good wyll to hym / against our ●… atiue countre . you may therfore easely gesse / what ●… yll folowe hereafter / yf it lye in ther poure . And here is aspedie tryall / of ther wholy and faithfull obseruing of ther promisses in therticles / so lately and solemlye concludid in the other perliament / as is aboue mencionyd . Do not you also know that the bysshoppes went about the other perliament / to sett vp the bysshop of Rome and how that it was denied at that tyme / becawse the state of the Realm fearyd that then / whiche shall come now apon them / that is the losses of ther abbey and chauntry lands / &c. Were they therfore contentid and at rest : Nay they were neuer in quiet / tyll they had by one way or other / deuisyd to bring hym in . Ther practises . And therfore cawsyd such burgesys of the perliament to be chosen / as wold not resyst ther purposse / wherby they brought ther purpose craftely to passe .

And do you think that now they haue all that they wold haue ? Nay / nay . but now that they haue gotten in hys head / ( that is the wyckyd vsurpid tytle of supreme head ) they wyll not sease tyll they haue gotten in hys hole body . Thinke you that he wyll not haue againe hys vsurpid peter pens / pencyons / censes / procuracions / frutes for prouicyons / expedicions of bulles for archbisshopriches and bysshoppriches for delegacions and restriptes in cawses of contencion / wyth many other such lyke things / to robe this noble realme of ther treasure and Ryches . Peter pens , and expedycyons for bulles , delegacions , etc.

And King Henry the .8 . perceiuid the same / and therfore in the 25. yere of hys reigne / by acte of parliament forbade them / becawse they were intollerable / being as bonner bysshop of London saith in hys prolog before winchesters booke DE VERA OBEDIENTIA the rauenus pray / ye so large a pray that it cam to asmych allmost as the kings reuenwes / snappid out of hys hands / &c. Note b . bonners prologe . Also think you / that they will suffer the articles / and prouisions to stond / which now he / and the Cardinall in hys name / hath grauntid to . Not so / but the next perliament some of them shal be broken / according to a constitucion of thers made in the counsell of constance / and practisid / namelye / that no faith nor promisse owght to be kept with heretiks . Constitucyons at the counsel of constance . And therfore wyll he dyssemble and make pretensid promises by lytle / and lytl / tyll he haue establisshede hole Auctorite againe . And then beware ye lords / gentillmen and comons that haue any sprituall or ecclesiasticall possessions / or abbey londs in your hands / yff ye will not willingly restore them againe / he will find the meanes thoro we his clergie / that ye shal be accusid of heresie / and so lose both londs goods and liff to . Abey lands . Can you not take warning therof by a time put out by one of ther sorte / and was in printe but calyd in againe lest you should to plainly see the snare before your neckes were in / one verse in enery staffe of that rime is / caueat emptor / take hede I saye . Ye haue they not allredy gotten that auctorite / by renwing the wilkid acte ex officio / that they may call any man before them / apon suspeccion and kepe him / xl . dais in ther presons / allthough no man haue accusid him / and examine him preuelie / in his or ther howses or places / And so condempne him / to losse both Ex officio goods lands and liff to / excepte he recant / and yett after that / they piking a quarell to him againe / he shall not be able to escape ther hands / but must be burnid yf they will / they tary but apon tyme to put all this geare in vre / and practyse / according to ther accustomid manner . They tārye but a tyme .

Is not thys a lamentable case / that by the space of xx yeres both King Hery the viij . And also King Edward the vj . haue made godly laws and statuds for the suppression of the tyrrannye of the bisshop of Rome / which haue bene obeseruid and kept / and all Iudges and officers / with all bisshops and the hole clegie / haue taken a corporall othe that they with the vttermost of ther cornning / witt and pour / shall help to suppresse the wickid auctorite / and vsurpid pour of the Bisshop of Rome / as in the acte of parliament made in the 28 yere of . K. H. 8. Corporal othe taken Apperyth at large : to be so sodenly and deuelishly ouerthrown ? yf the sayd King Henry the viij had known that hys doble facid and shamles bisshopes and clergy wold haue done as they now haue done in thys casse / thinke you / that he wold not haue made a great mainy of them lept hedles to bede / or els they should haue worne a ripett at tibourne . Bisshops and clergie preache xx yerres . And dyd not all the bisshoppes and clerge / preach aginst the sayd vsurpid pour by the space of xx yeres and more and haue so wyth gods worde and naturall reasons / beaten it in to all mens heads / that it will not be possyble to make thē beleue the contrarie . And must they now imme diatly cawse men ( yf they wyll not chaunge wyth euery wind of false doctrine / and beleue the said vsurpid pour of the . B. of Rome and to be condempnid for heretikes ? Their ●oden mutabilitie , and crueltie now . Is not thy● also a lamentable case . Read the acte made in the .28 . yere of K. H. 8. wher the othe is made / that the bisshopps and clergie made to the king / and hys successors / and tell me yf they be not all periuryd . Parauenture they wyll saye / that vnlawfull othes ar to be broken / then wold I knowe of youe / why the vnlawfull vous / ( which is not so greate charge as a solemne othe ) that the popishe prestes haue made / owght not to be broken ? Their periurie . but pour men / that marye in the feare of god must be sham fuliye ponisshed / for braking of an vnlawfull voue / which gods lawe doth beare them in / and alowith them .

And ye bisshoppes and clergie / being periurid and forswore / by gods lawe haue done well ? Is this your vngodly Iudgment ye cursid workers of all iniquite / for the establissing of your wickid kingdom ? Matth . 7. Ther frutes . And as for the othe against the . B. of Rome they them selues countid it good and lawfull / xx . yere and now in lesse then xx monithes thinkeit vnlawfull what must we pronounce / Iudgyng you by your frutes as our saueoyur commadith / sunerlie you papistes / declare what dissembling shiftes / and counterfaitid consciences ye haue / And a great sorte of you papistes do doubt how longe this ☜ your vsurpid aucrorite will contiwe / And therfore care not by what wickid waies ye worke / so you may vphold your kingdome / And be ye assurid as sure as god is god / and a righwise Iudge / that all your abhominations and practises / shall come to nawght . the prophet Dauith in the 14. psalm . doth playnlye dyscryb you and paint you out at large . Gods wrath prouokid . And all men shall manifestly perceiue your lewdnes . And then looke what mesure ye haue mett / the same shal be mesurid to you againe / gods worde cannot faile / heauen and earth shall perishe / but hys worde shall abyde for euer . And therfore repent / repent betymes / and worke not wickidnes euen with gredines / contrary to gods verite and your own conscience . Ye prouoke gods wrath / were he not so mercifull and pacient / that he should consume you / with fyre and brimstone from heauen / as he did Sodoma and Gomora .

How many be ther of you / dissembling Papistes / whiche ( rather then ye wold lose your promocions ) wold / not deny / and say / god were not god ? they will rather deny god hym self then lose ther promocyons I do know some of the bisshops my selff that haue said that yf they were in Turkie among the Turks / wold do as they doe / rather thē to be in troble therfore . herbye ye may perceine what constancie our clergie be of . This heresie doth Origene condempne in the secte of the helchesaites / reade the 6. booke 28. chapter / of Eusebius / and ther shall ye fynd it plainlie . Helchesaites .

More ouer / I cannot hold from you my natiue contre men what I haue herde in other contres / with what policys and feches / the bisshopps and clergie of this realm / vse for the stablishment of ther Kingdom / which yf it come to passe wylbe the vtter decaie / subuercion / and distruction / of this noble Realme of England ? Thanthor vnto all treu harted Englishemen . They intend by one crafte or other / that the prince of Spaine shal be crownid King of England / as is a foresaid / and Note to haue this noble realme of England to hym and to hys heires / and so contrary to the statutis made in the other perlyaments / dysinheryte all the reight full heyres of the Realme . And after he hath gotten that quyetlye / then they will not leaue to prycke hym forward / and to cawse this noble Realm of England / to be brought into bondage and slauerye / lyke as the emproure hath done Naples / Myand / and hys nether contres of Flanders / Holland / Seland / Brabant / Fryseland / and Lyselburg / &c.

Fyrst I wylbegine wyth Naples / in which wythin the space of lesse then xxx . yere / he hath cawsyd to be deposyd / Murtheryd / and banisshed awaie / more then fourstore and twelff of the nobles of that contre / to saye of Dukes / Marqueses / Earles / lords and Barons / wher of the least of them were barons . Naples , howhit hathe bene , and is ordred . Besydes knyghtes and gentyllmen : And hath placyd in ther romes / proude spanyerds / lyke as our bysshoppes wold haue hym do the lyke / in this our ☜ noble Realme and fre countre / besyds that them-proure / hath Raysyd such vnreasonable / excyses and tolles both of corne / wyne / salte / and frutes / &c. so that the nobles and comos of Naples be brought in to very beggery and slauerye . The lyke hath he done wythin the duchye of Myland / wythin thes fewe yeres / besyds that euery man / rych and poure / must pay for euery chymny / that they haue / in ther houses / a french crown of gold . The Duchie of Miland And of the vnreasonable / excyses / or poulyng tols / that is taken in them prours nether countres / as Holand / Braband / Sealand and Flanders / &c. The Nether countries , I nede not to name them / becawse they be so nere our countres / all they that resorte thether can tell / that the pourest handy craftes men / must pay to thē prour for excyse for euery barrell of bere that they drynke / more then the bere cost them at the fyrst penye / besyds the vnreasonable tole / or excyse / that they must paye / both of corne / wyne / fleshe / fyshe / salt / butter / chese / mylke . And of all maner of grayne and vytalls / besyds the toll of all maner of frutes / as Aples peares / Nuts / &c. and yerbes for potage / so that no man can make a messe of potage / but he must fyrst geue / I cannot tell sertenly / how many tolls / wherby the comon people / ar brought to very great myssery and vyle slauerye / so that they daylye make ther complaynt / to such Englyshmen / as trauayle by them / in what beggery and myssery they be in / And wyll vs to beware / that we be not brought in to the lyke myssery / beggery and slauerye / the which I pray god defend ( and that is the very accasyon / why so many of them go out of ther own countre for to dwell in our fre contre of England .

For our wicked bisshoppes haue affirmyd and sayd / that our nobles and comons ar to full of welth / wherfore they must be brought lowe / or els they will neuer be obedient / to them and ther procedings . Devices , of the vicked bisshoppes , for the no bylyte . And as for the nobilite / they intend to dispach them awaye / ether by condempning them for heresye / by piking one quarell or another to them / or to send them in to strang contres to excersys them in feates of warres / and to geue thē possessions and fecs / in some of the prynces contres / as at / Naples / Myland or ther about / and so setle them ther / that they shall neuer come home agayne . And in the meane season / to settle in ther places some proude spanierds / or els some of ther bastard sonnes / or such new vpskypte gentillmen / as Rochester / Martine / or such other / that can flatter thē / whom they may haue allwaise / to be ther ministers / wherly they may worke all ther mischeff . M. Rochester . D. martyn . The cloked crueltie of the popishe clergie . For they be to holye / they will seke no mans death / when in dead it is only ther whole dewyse / by ther shamlesse flatterers . And beware you noble men / that he as yett of the counsell / they do but flatter you / allthough they beare a faier face towerd you / and pretend you great Frendshipe / suerlye it is but for a tyme as here after shall appere / onlesse god of hys mercifull goodnes disperse them shortly / in the ymaginacions of ther own hartes . Noble men warned . The which I besech hym to do / for hys deare sone Iesus Christs sake Amen . Say not now but that ye be warnid .

Reporte of the emproveris answer to settein embassadovres , More ouer I cannot hold from you my natiue contremen what I haue herd of credible persons / of them prours answere that he made to certeyne embassadors / for mony / that was lent hym . Fyrst he declarid / what great charges he had bene at / wyth those his warres / against the french King . And also what great charges / he had bene at / for the bringing of hys sone in to England . And how that he had layd out then for hys sone xij . hundrid thousand french crounes / wher of he had receyuyd but thre hundrid thousand agayn of hym / but he hopid in shorte time to receiue the reste / for said he / it cost no small deale of mony / the gyftes and rewards / that was geuen / to the great men gentillmen and to ther wyffes . No smale deale of monie , giftes and rewardes . I nede not mich to declare the cawse / that mouid hym / namlie / for to haue ther fauoure and good will / that he might the better / obtaine hys purpose . And for that cawse / hath thenglishe merchants / payd alredye for the quene xl . thousand pounds in Flanders . And shortly must pay a hundrid thousand poundes more / which was layd out for the bringing in of our new King / besydes that which as yet remainyth vnpayd / which pour England must be fayne to pay .

To be lamentid that no noble man in England cowld serue the quene . A lamentable case / that neuer a noble man in England wold serue for the quenes Maiestie / but that England must be fayne to bestowe all ther treasure and ryches / to bring in a stranger to raine ouer them / who with the bisshoppes aduise and helpe will bring this noble realme in to beggery and vyle slauerie : And yet for all this / when he hath gotē that he hath sought ( that is ) the realme in to hys hands / then it will appere / that he will sett asmich by here / as men sett by ther old showes : Is not the quene and all Englishmen bound to curse such a wickid gardener / for bringing in to this realm / such weeds / as will not only ouer grow / and distroye / the noble and good corne / of this noble realme / but weede out the welth / ye vtterby rote out the hole state theroff in euery degre . Gardener vhat weeds he plantyth in England we weare warned before . This is a plage aboue all plages / which is com vpon vs / for our vnthankfullnes / according as our trwe prophets and preachers / declarid to vs. Yf we wold not amend our lyues / and knowledge the tyme of our visitacion .

Gardener L. chavncelore . Is not this also a most miserable and lamentable case that such a wickid bisshoppe as steuen gardener is / must rule all the nobilite / and the hole realme . And who dare speake against hym : hath not that most wickid bisshop being chanselere / corruptid agreat sorte of the nobilitie / and of hys vpskipte gentillmen / whom with hys great and sumptues house kepinge he fedith saylye at hys table / geuing some and promysyng other rewards / to be hys spyes abrode / to here what is sayd and done / that therby he maye vse / and abuse hys antorite as he listith . Corupting nobilite and vp skipte gentilmen How he corruptith Iudgment in matters that com before hym / many that haue felt it / and smartid for it can reporte / by making some begin ther swtes / new againe / wherin they had well gone forward : corupting iudgemente And by sodenly displacing some / which before / were law fully possessid . Doth he not comonly when any matters com before hym in Iudgment His percialitie dispossesse many / that haue bene rightfully possessid / and sett the matter / of a new to begynn againe / both in other mens causes of percyalite / and most notable in that which was hys own case ? In his o●ne case specialye . for he wold haue all men beleue / that he was wrongfully deposid from hys bisshopryche / when in very dead / yff the matter might be egallye and indifferently herde it wold be found that for hys contepmte / and dissobedience he was rightfullie deposid . But indead I confesse / that he had wrong at that tyme / that he had not had a typett of tybourne for hys rewarde / according to hys desertes . Steuen gardener , the cavse of risynge . And then had ther bene many noble men and gentillmen / sauyd a lyue / which for hys cawse rose / perceiuing such things to be at hand / which be now come to passe . Besydes that the realme / had bene at this present in welth and quietnes .

An exortacyon to the lords and comons of the Perliament house .

To the hyer and louer house of the parlyament . THe occasion partly of this my writing / is to Admonishe all those . that here after shal be chosen of the Perlyament house / that they according to ther dwtyes / will haue respect vnto this ther naturall and fre contre of England / which of all other contres in Christendome / hath bene the most freyst : and now without gods great mercye and help / is lyfe to be brought in to the most miserable / vyle seruitude and bondage by a straunge people / whom all Christendom both hatith and abhorryth : Wherfore when ye shall com in to the Perlyament house / and ther shall perceyue any laws of statuds propounid or to be made / geuing any title or auctorite / ether to the prince of Spayne to haue any Iurisdiccion in this realme / more thē he allredy hath . Perliament house Or any more to the bisshops of Romes vsurpid auctorite / wherby the fredom / and libertie / of our noble contre / shal be in any parte / ether hindrid or taken awaye . That ye with the vttermost of your poure / will resist it / being assurid as is aforesaid / that wher as thy can gett in ther head / or any parte therof / ther they will haue in shortly after / ther hole bodie / for all ther working is by crafte and subteltye / As you may perceiue by ther working in geuing to the prince of Spayne ( vnder the name of king ) as mich auctorite / as yf he were king of England in dead . What our clergie Vuorkith Vuith the name of king . As ye may see / both by the quoynid mony going abrode currant / and also by proclamacions lately cō out / not only with hys name Iointly before the quene / but as very souereigne lord / willing charging / and comanding / as the very king / and lord of the Realm in dead . And now you may see more clere then the sone / ther vnspeakable falsh ode / and dissembling crueltye in getting that / they haue had alredye grauntid for the bisshope of Rome . Therfore as I haue said / beware / left now you haue lett hys head in / that ye do not condissend / to lett him thrust in hys hole bodie after / to the dyshonoure and blasphemy of allmyghtye god / the shame / infamye / slauerye and perpetuall bondage / and captyuyte of this noble realme of England our natyue counte fare ye well / 26. Ianuary 1555.

1555 Sens the Vritinge of the former Innocent lambes . Sens the makyng here of / it is com to my knowledge that thou accursyd of god steuen gardener chaunseler / wyth thy dyssembling bucherly bretherne hast condempny and murtheryd / those godly mynysters and preachers . of hys holy worde / who lyke innosent lambes / haue offeyd a pleasant and acceptable sacryfyce / to our heuenly father . And haue rune a ryght course / and haue obtaynyd an incorruptible croune of glorye . But thou most cursyd of god / thynkest thou / that thou shalt escape gods vengeance . Hast thou not read in the scrypture / in the bocke of hester / of thy fellow proude hamon / how he dysdaynyd gods holy people / and sought to haue dystroyed them all / becawse that merdocheus gods seruant / wold not bowe to hym being a proud panym / and gods open henemye / wherfore he cawsyd a hygh payer of gallous to be made / to haue hangyd hym theron . proude hammon But yet god who scateryth the proude in the ymagynacyon of ther hartes / whose doyngs ar in comprehensyble / shewyd hys allmighty poure and brought hys wonderfull workes so to passe / that the same wyckyd and proud hamon / was hangyd on the same gallous / that he had prouydyd to haue hangyd merdocheus on / and all hys x . sonnes / companyons and frends were all dystroyd / and gods people / were delyueryd out of hys tyrannye . Hester . 7. This example myght make the feare and tremble / yf ther were any sparke of grace in the . But for asmych as thou art / past grace / I wyll comytt the to gods Iudgment / who as a mercyfull father / and most ryghteous Iudge . The Rod cast in to the fyre when he hath vsyd the as a rod / to correcte vs / for our vnthankfullnes / wyll cast thee hys scourge and rode / in to euerlastyng fyre / for asmych as I do knowe / that this greuonse persecusyon / that thou now vsyst / agaynst gods saynts and mynysters : thou deist it agaynst thyne own conscyens / as thy former doings declare yf thou euer hadest any maner of conscyence / adtherfore thou synnyst agaynst the holy goste / and for such no man owght to praye .

But I wold know of the / and of thy cursyd bluddy bretherne / by what law haue ye condempnyd those innosent lambes / as M. Hoper Bysshope of Worceter / D. Taylore of hadle / mayster Rogers Mayster sanders / &c. M. Hoper . D. Taylor . M. rogers . M. Sanders . Ye ar not able to proue that euer they preachyd / or teachyd any doctryne sens the quene cam to here auctoryte / wherby they were or augh to be condempnid to death / the most that the lawe gaue you autoryte / was for in pryssonment / and yet the same should be for such / as should speake or do / any thinge after the xx day of december 1553 / and all those men were apprehendid before the same day / and had and did continwe in presone more thē xv monithes / which is longer thē the law permittid to do / and now to burne them without any Iust law or occasion ? How , and bie what authoritie put to deathe . ye will saye that ye haue done it now by / ex officio / but by what lawe kept ye thē so long in presone tyll that tyme ? By the same wickyd pour and deuise / wyth out any lawe / ye myght condempne halff the comoners of the Realme / And then nede ye not to leuy any subsydye / to helpe the King wyth / to paye hys dettes / that he owyth to hys father / nor yet to help to mantayne hys father in hys warres agaynst the french King . But he should haue the most parte of the goods and landes of the hole Realme / which thing ye do intend to bryng to passe so sone as ye can / for feare of vprour now that ye haue gotten your bloudy ex officio . But to make an end / Read how King Achab / wyth hys wyckyd quene Iesabel sought to haue the vyneyard of Naboth / And becawse he wold not condyssend to sell them hys patrymony / they found the meanes / to murther / and dystroyed the sayd Naboth : 3 kings 21. And what folowyd of it / was not the King accordyng to gods word slayne for it / and the doggs lyckyd bye bloude in the same place / wher the sayd Naboth was murtheryd . Naboth . Marke thende of all those / that thyrst to come / to ther purposes by bloude . Doth not blond requyre vengeance / wyth bloude agayne / we had lamentable examples ynough latelye in our tyme wythin England the more pyte . blowde . asketh blowde . And what plages besyde wyll folowe / god only knowyth / whom I besech for hys mercyes sake to spare / and be fauourable to hys pour church of England / And remember not our offencys ( oh lord ) nor the offencys of our forefathers / nether take thou vengeance of our synnys / spare vs good lord / spare thy people / whom thou hast redemyd with thy most precyus bloud / and be not angry wyth vs for euer . The prayer of the author . But I pray the open the quenes hart / that she may perceyue / the wyckyd deuyses and tyranye of here shamlesse and crewell bysshoppes and clergye / and that she may vse so her procedings / that gods most holy name may he praysyd / and hys kyngdom encreasyd / and that pour England may shortly be delyueryd agayne / from the tyrannye of the bysshope of Rome / and all hys detestable enormytes / and that we may wyth one harte and mouth glorysye God the father of our lord Iesus Chryst / to whome be geuen all honoure and glory for euermore amen .