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by, I dave boldly say, two parties, then there be at this

houre ; I wil not say Christien men, but that professe the
VOL. I. PART II. N

178 APPENDIX OF

name of Christ ? Is it not now the same word as it was

then? Is not the same scholemaster, that taught them to

understande it then, which, as Saint Peter saith, ys the

Sprete of God, alyve, as wel as he was then ? Doth he not

favour us now, as wel as he did then? Have we hym not

now, as wel as we had then ? If we have not the Sprete of

Christ, S. Paul sayeth, so be we no Christen men. And yf

we be no Christen men, so be you deceavers and false pro-

phets ; preaching unto your self your authoritie and your

constitutions without the word of God; which is only the

1 20 rule of faith, according to the saying of Saint Paul : where

he sayeth, thai Juith ys of hearing. And that not of al

maner hearing, but of hearing of the word of God. Which

faith also is the fyrst frute of the Sprite of God. Wliich

Sprite yf we have not, so testifie you against us, that we be

no Christen men, and against your self, that you be no myn-

isters, or shepards of Christ, nor of his word, but the myn-

isters of Antichrist, and shepards of your own bellies. Whicli

Sperit yf we have, so beareth us witnes S. Paul, that we be

Christen men, and S. Peter, that we may understand the

Scripture. Which only is that the lay people desyre : ut-

terly contemnynge al mens draughtes, and al mens writings,

how wel lerned soever they be ; only contented with their

old and new scholemaster, the Holy Spirit of God, and the

Mynister there to of hym elect, and by him sent.
But you wil say, ye condempne not the Scripture, but

Tyndals translation. Therein ye show your self contrary

unto your words. For ye have condemned it in al other

commen tongues, where in they be approved in other coun-

tries. So that it is playne, that is the Scripture, and not the

translation, that ye bark against, calling it new lerning.

This moch for the fyrst. And as for the two other be

sone confuted. That it ys not the trouth^ nor of God, but

lyes, and of the Devel. O ! Jesu, mercy, that ever soch

blasphemie against the Holy Ghost shuld procede out a

Christen mans mouth. Is it not al one to saye, that the

doctrine of Christ is lies, and cometh of the Devel, and that

Christ ys a lyar, and the Devel ? What difference, I pray

RECORDS AND ORIGINALS. 179

you, ys here, betwixt this blasphemy and that which tlie

Phariseys imputed unto Christ, when they saied, IVe hioza

that thou art a Samaritane, and hast the Devel within thee ?

Wlien that Clirist sayed, that the blasphemie against the

Holy Ghost shuld never be forgeven. Iff ye have sayed

this of ignorance, I pray God bring you to knowlege and

repentance. Yf ye spake it against your conscience, of ma-

lice against the trouth, (as he knowcth, qui scrutator cor-

dium est^) I fear nie, lest tymc of repentance, which God

forbid, shal ever be geven you in this lyfe. O ! Lord God,

what a wresting of the Scripture was it to enterpretate and

- - - those Avords of S. Paul, before the coming of Anti-

christ, there shal he a departing fj-om the Pope, when as the

text sayeth playnely. Antichrist was comen already, and

that he then worked secretly, and that there shuld be a de-

parting from the faith, and that he shuld be opened unto

al men afore the commyng of Christ. For shame, na for

conscience, other allege the Scriptures aright, without any

soch wresting, or els absteyne out of the pulpet.
But now to come to your conjectures, by which ye per-

suaded your assertions; that is, that the Scripture was

new lerning, Christ a lyar and the Devle. Which are, that

the fautors and professors thereof lyve noughtly, and that

\\\ey pcrsectde prestes. Fyrst, besydes that it ys manyfest,

that your conjectures both be fals : for the purenes of lyfe

of the favourers of it, I speyke of them that are of my only

knowledge, their vertuous lyvinge ys so knowen, that it ys

but folly for me to labor to confute it. And that they per-

secute prestes, I wold gladly here of one prest so moch as

ones prisoned, I mean not for whoredom, theft and murders,

with soch their commen practises, but for hvs faithes sake :

except it were soch as you your self persecuted, as ye do,

for knowleging the trouth. Nede ye that I bring forth ex- 121

amples ? Remember yc not the honest preste, that the last

yere was martyred by you in Kent ? Do ye not hold Nicol-

son, Smyth, Patmore, and Philips, with many other, in

prison, yet at this howre ?

[The rest is Tvanting.]

N 2

180 APPENDIX OF
Number XLIV.

An old Popish Smig made of Latimer.

1.
OH ! tliou ravishing wolf in a lambs skin,

What mischief encreaseth daily thee by ?

For many saulys to the Devil thou dost win,

Beseching of thy abhominable heresie.

Yet feythful men thy words may defy.
The wliich is more to thy rebuke and shame,
So to impair the pore Christen name.
2.

The blessed pure virgin, and mother to Christ,

Thou seydest in preaching a sinner was she.

And therin like a false heretick thou lyest.

For she is a holy virgin, and ever shal bee.

Pulchra es^ arnica mea, et macula nan est in te.

This text Christ seid by her, as in Scripture is told.
Wherfore it is pity thou shouldest dy for cold.
3.

The holy and blessed salutation angelical,

Sent down from the high throne of the Trinitie,

Thou wouldest not have called a prayer at all.

Yet a prayer it is, and ever wil bee.

In the despite both of the Devil and thee.

For to babble soch things thou wast too bold.
Wherfore it were pity thou shouldest dy for cold.
4.

The saulys that in the paines of purgatory be,

To release them furth thus didst thou sey.

For them we shold not do such charitie,

Ne ask no boon at al, for them to prey.

Which opynions wer good for thee to renay,

Lest Almighty God sey, as he shold.
Let not this heretick soch errors hold.
5.
Also devout pilgrimage, which good men have sought.

For stocks and stones thou reputest them to be.

RECORDS AND ORIGINALS. 181

Yet God for them many rayracles hath wrought,
As by exemple dayUe we see.
I know they be images, as wel as ye.

Pictures made devotion to uphold,

Thcrfore it wer pity that down they shold.
6
Doctor Folelatus ordeyned prcedicatortwi.
A meter name for thee ther cannot be.
In as moch as thou ixvijons hcBrcticorum.
But the clout must hange with thee in show perdie.
Or els your scapuler wold hang beneth your knee.

So it is a seying of young and old.

That pity it were thou sholdest be so uphold.
7.

I mervayl of you, that be Minysters in towne,

What honour thereby you intend to wyn,

The wrong to uphold, and the right to ley down.

It were meter for some of you to turn a shepes skin,

To se that ther wer no maggots therin ;

Then in soch matiers to be so bold.
Take hede at last you be not al controld.
8.

It is no mervayl though some be so madd.

To take the wronge, and ryght regardeth lest,

Wher ther be so many soch fantasie have had.

For quod natura dedit nemo tollere potest.

Yet forsake thy warkes, and lyve not leke a beast.

For yf Pater sequltur suas partes in mold,

Then were it not pity thou sholdest be uphold "i

9.
What feyth is grounded in any of them al.

That so lyghtly wyl be turned out of the ryght way.

Forsaking swete hony, and tasting byttre gall :

As ther grete sire and heretick hath lerned them, I say .?

Who by hys acts and theires, apperyth every day.

For Gods love, them nother mayntayn, ne uphold.

Lest at length ye dy, afore that you be old.

n3

182 APPENDIX OF
10.
Go, litle treatise, voyd of all eloquence,
I prey to God, that thou mey comme to lyght ;
Though thou be endyted for lack of intelligence.
Yet is thy intent to uphold the ryght,
And al liereticks to confound, yf thou myght.

Whom I prey Jesu Christ them to amende,

Or els short lyfe and evel dethe them sende.

122 11.
L for Lollard standes in thys place.

A for error of grete iniquitie.
T for a traytour to God, lackyng grace.
I for ignorauncc of the true Trinitie.
M for maynte}Tier of those that nought be.
E for ere tick, as lerned men seyth.
R for rebeller agaynst Christs feyth.
Aji Answer to this Sonnet.

HE was a lamb, and thou a wolf shalt prove.

The blessed Virgin he did not abuse :

But stocks and stones he preached to remove,

And pilgrimages, which dyd men abuse.

Idolatry he wold al shold refuse,

And cleave unto Gods word, it to uphold.

Which thou woldest hyde with face of brass ful bold.

Number XLV.

A Popish discourse of Antichrist.

YEE, that are willing to know of Antichrist, shal know

first. Why he is so called : therfore, that is to say, because

in al things he is contrary to Christ, and shal do things con-

trary to Christ. Christ cometh humble, he cometh proud.

Christ cometh to raise up the humble, and to justify sin-

ners: he contrarily shal cast down the humble, magnify

sinners, exalt the wicked, and shal alwayes teach vices,

which are contrary to vertues : and the evangelic law shal

RECORDS AND ORIGINALS. 183

he bring to nought, and shal renew and bring again into

the world the doctrin of the Devil, seking vain glory, and

shal name himself the Omnipotent God.
This Antichrist therfore hatli many ministers of his ma-

lignity. Of whom many have gone before in the world, as

Antiochus, Nero, and Domitian were. We also have known

many Antichrists to be in our time. For whosoever he be,

whethere he be a layman, or a canonist, or a monk, that

liveth against justice, or impugneth the glory of his order,

and blasphemeth that which is good, he is an Antichrist, a

minister of Sathan.

But now let us se of the beginning of Antichrist. That

truly which I say, I faigne it not, neyther do I invent

it of mine proper sense, but by chligent reading of the

books I find al these things written. For as our authors

say. Antichrist shalbe born of the Jewes ; of the tribe of

Dan ; according to the prophet, saying, Dan shal he a ser- Gen. xiix.

pent in the way^ an adder in the path. For like as a ser-

pent shal he sit in the way, and be in the path, that he may

stryke them that walk in the path of justice, and slay them

with the poison of his malice. He shal be born by the co-

pulation of a father and mother, as other men : not, as

some say, of alone virgin. But notwithstanding he shal be

conceyved wholly in synne, engendred in sinne, and boi'n in

sinne. In the very beginning of his conception, the Devil

also shal enter into the womb of his mother, and shal be

norished and defended in his mothers belly by the power of

the Devil, and the power of the Devil shal be alwayes with

him. And like as the Holy Ghost came into the mother of

our Lord, and shadowed her with his vertue, and filled her

with godlincs, that she might receave of the Holy Ghost,

that it which should be born should be divine and holy:

so also the Devil shal come into the mother of Antichrist,

and shal fill her wholly, compass her round about, hold her

wholly, and altogether, both inwarcUy and outwardly, shal 123

possess her; that she may conceyve by a man, (the Devil

working,) and that it which shal be born may be altogether

wicked and perditions. Wherupon he is called both (he

M 4

184 APPENDIX OF
son of sinne and the son of perdition, because, as much as

he may, he shal destroy al humane kind, and he himself at

the last shal be destroyed.
Behold ! ye have heard how he must be born : hear also

the place where he must be born. For like as our Lord

and Redeemer did foresee for himself Bethlehem, that there

for us he might take humanitie, and vouchsafe to be born ;

so the Devil knoweth a fit place for that man of perdition,

which is called Antichrist, from whom the root of al mis-

chief shal spring, tliat is to say, the city of Babylon. For

in this city, which sometime was the most renowned and

glorious city of the Gentiles, and chief of the kingdom of

the Persians, shal Antichrist be born: and in the cities

Bethsaida and Corozaim must he be brought up and be

conversaunt. Which cities the Lord in the Evangelist

curseth, saying, Wo unto thee, Bethsaida! zvo unto you,

Chorozaim !

Antichrist shal have wise men, witches, sootlisayers, in-

chanters, who (the Devil inspiring them) shal nourish and

teach him in al tiniquitie, falsehood, and wicked art. And

maligne spirits shal be his captaynes and fellows always, and

unseparated companions. Afterwards coming to Jerusalem,

al such Christians as wil not convert unto him shal he sley

by divers torments, and place his seat in the holy temple.

He shal restore also the holy temple, which Salomon builded

unto God, in his state, and shal falsely say himself to be

the son of God. But first he shal convert kings and princes

unto him ; and afterward, through them, the rest of the

people. First, he shal destroy the places by the which our

Lord Christ walked : and afterward he shal send his mes-

sengers and preachers throughout al the world. His preach-

ing truly and power shal reach from sea to sea, from the

east even unto the west, from the north even unto the

south : and shal do also many signes, great, mervaylous,

and not heard of: that is to say, trees sodenly to florish and

wither, the sea to be troubled, and sodenly to be caulmed,

natures to be chaunged into divers formes, the ayr to be

moved with winds, and many other kind of motions, and

RECORDS AND ORIGINALS. 185

other innumerable and mervaylous, the dead to be raysed

in the sight of men : so that yf it may be, the very elect

shal be brought into error. For when they shal se such

great and like signes, they also, which are the most heavenly

and perfect of God, shal doubt whether he be Christ, that

shal come in the end of the world, according to the Scrip-

tures, or no. Al these miracles truly by al means shal be

false, through devilish enchantments. But unto sinners and

unbelieving they shal seem to be true.
He shal stir up persecution under al the heaven, upon

Christians and al elect. He shal set himself agaynst the

faithful three wayes : that is, by terror, gifts, and miracles.

He shal give unto you, beleving in him, aboundance of gold

and silver. Those truly whom he cannot deceyve by gifts,

he shal overcome by terror : and whom he cannot overcome

by terror, he shal assay to seduce by signes and miracles.

But those whom by signes he cannot allure, in the sight of

al men shal he slay with most miserable death. Then shal

there be such tribulation, as was not since the time, that

nations began, even unto that time. Then they which are 124

in the field shal flee into the hills, and whoso is upon the

bed shal not descend into the house, that they may take any

thing out of it. Then every Christian, which shal be found,

eyther he shal deny God, or els by the sweard, or by the

fire of the fornace, or els by serpents, or els by beasts, or els

by some such like kind of torment, shal he commaund to be

slayne, yf they continue in their fayth.

This tribulation, so terrible and to be feared, shal continue

altogether three yeare and an half. Then shal the dayes be

shortned for the elect sake. For except he had shortned

those dayes, no flesh should be saved.

The time truly, when Antichrist shal come, or when the

day of judgment shal appear, Paul the Apostle, in his

epistle to the Thessalonians, saying. We hesekcyou, brethren, 2 Thes.

by the earning of our Lord Jesu Christ, in the same place

shewcth it manifest, where he sayth. For exeept the depart-

ing come first, and the man of sin be reveled, the son of

perdition, &c. For we know, because that after the king-

186 APPENDIX OF

dom of the Grekes, or also after the kingdom of the Per-

sians, out of which eyther of them hath for their time shined

with great glory, and florished in most great power ; at the

last also, after other kingdoms, the kingdom of the Romans

began : which was strongest of al the former kingdomes ;

and had al the kingdomes of the earth under its dominion,

and al nations of the people were subject to the Romans,

and served them under tribute. Afterward therfore, sayth

the Apostle Paul, that Antichrist shal not come into the

worlds cxcejJt the dq}ai-ting come first : that is to say, except

al kingdomes, which were first subdued, shall depart from

the Roman empire. But this time cometh not yet : because

we must se the Roman empire for the most part destroyed.

Yet notwithstanding so long as the kings of French men

shal endure, who shal hold the Roman empire, the Roman

empire shal not utterly perish ; because it shal stand in their

kings. For certain of our Doctours say, that one of the

kings of the French men shal wholly hold the Roman em-

pire. Which king shal be in the last time : and he shal be

the greatest and last of al kings. Who after he hath luckily

governed his kingdom, at the last shal come to Jerusalem,

and by down his scepter and crown in the mount Olyvet.

This shal be the end and consummation of the empire of the

Romans and al Christians. And then by and by, according

to the aforesaid sentence of the Apostle Paul, they say. An-

tichrist shal come.

And then truly shal the man of' sin be revealed, that is

to say. Antichrist: who, although he be a man, notwith-

standing shal be the welspring of al sin, and son qf per-

dition. This is the son of the Devil, because in al things he

shal do his wil. Because the plenitude of al devilish power

and al wicked disposition shal corporally dwel in him. In

whom al the treasures of maliciousnes and iniquity shal be

hidden. Who doth repugn, that is to say, is contrary to

Christ, and al his members : and is exalted, that is to say,

set up into pryde, above al thing that is called God ; that is,

above the gods of the Gentiles, Apollo, Jupiter, Mercury,

whom the Pagans estemed to be gods. Antichrist is ex-

RECORDS AND ORIGINALS. 187

tolled above al tliese gods, because he shal make himself

greater and stronger than they al. And not only above

them, but also above al that is worshipped; that is, above 125

the holy Trinity, which now is only to be worshipped and

adored of every creature. He shal so extol himself, that he

may sit in the temple of God, shezaing- himself as he were

God. For as we have afore said, being born in the city of

Babylon, coming to Jerusalem, he shal circumcide himself,

saying, I am Christ, which is promised you ; who come for

your salvation, that you, who are dispersed, I may gather

together, and defend you.
Then shal al the Jews flee unto him, thinking to receyve

God, but they shal receyve the Devil. Antichrist also shal

sit in the temple of God, that is, in the holy temple, desiring

al Christians to be martyrs, he shal be elevated and magni-

fied, because the Devil, the head of al mischief, shall be in

him ; who is king over al the sonns of pride. Antichrist

shal sodenly and unadvisedly come, and deceyve and de-

stroy al mankind through his error.

Afore his beginning, two prophets shal be sent into the

world ; that is, Enoch and Helias : who by the divine

wepons of God shal defend the faythful, and instruct them

against wicked Antichrist, and shal comfort and set forward

the elect unto war, teaching and preaching three years and

an half. So many as can be found at that tyme of the chil-

dren of Israel shal these two great prophets and doctours

convert unto the fayth, and shal restore them from the op-

pression of so great trouble, being separated from the elect.

Then shal it be fulfilled that the Scripture sayth. If the

number of the children of Israel shal be as the sand of the

sea, those that are left shal be saved. But after they shal

have preached three yeares and an half, by and by the per-

secutions of Antichrist shal begin to wax hot. And Anti-

christ shal first take up his wepons agaynst them, and shal

slay them, as it is said in the Apocalyps. And when, sayth

he, he shal end his testament, the beast shal come from the

bottomles pit, and shal make war against them, and shal

shy them.

188 APPENDIX OF

After that therefore these two shal be slayn, then pur-

suing the rest of the faythful, he shal eyther make glorious

martyrs, or els cause many to forsake their Christian religion.

And whosoever shal beleve in him shal receave the sign of

his seal in their foreheads.
But now seing we have told of his beginning, let us shew

what end he shal have. This Antichrist therfore the son of

the Devil, the most vile worker of al evil, when he hath (as

is aforesaid) vexed the whole world three yeares and an half

with great persecution, and shal have vexed al the people

of God with divers punishments, after he shal have slayne

Helias and Enoch, and crowning the rest remayning in the

fayth with martyrdome, at the last shal the wrath of God

come upon him, as blessed Paul hath written, saying, Whom

the Lord slml slay with the breath of his mouth. Finis.

jo^ Number XLVI.

The general sentence, or curse: used to be read to the

people Jour times in the year. Taken out erf the Festival,

printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1532.

The Festi- GOOD men and women, I do you to understande, that

^**' we that have the cure of your souls ben commaunded of our
Ordinaryes, and by the constitucyons and the lawe of holy