|Fryth.| ¶ Deare bretherne consyder these wordes & prepare you fo the crosse that Christe shall laye vpon you, as ye haue ofte bene counselled. For even as whan the wolue |1. Pet. 2.| howleth the shepe hadde neade to gather |Luc. 22.| them selues to their shepharde, to be delyuered from the assaulte of the blodye beaste, lykewyse hadde you neade to flye vnto the shepharde of your soules Christe Iesus, and to sell your cootes and bye hys spirituall sworde |Ephe. 6.| (whiche is the worde of God) to defende and delyuer you in thys present necessyte. For now is the tyme that Christ tolde vs of, |Mat. 10.| Math. 10. that he was come (by hys worde) to sette varyaunce betwene the sonne and hys father, betwene the doughter and her mother, betwene the doughter in lawe & her mother in lawe, |Mich. 3.| and that a mans owne housholde shalbe hys enemyes. But be not dysmayed nor thynke it no wonder, for Christ chose .12. and one of them betrayed hys master. |Ioan. 6.| And we that are hys dyscyples may loke for no better than he hadde hym selfe: |Mat. 10.| For the scoler is not a boue hys master.
Saynt Paul protesteth that he was in |2. Cor. 11.| parell amonge the false bretherne, and surely I suppose that we are in no lesse Ieopardye. For yf it be so that hys mastershype receyved one copye and hadde acople of copyes mo offered in the meanewhyle, then may ye be sure that there are many false bretherne which pretende to haue knowlege, and in dede be but pyke thākes, prouydynge for their belye. Prepare ye therfore clokes, for the wether wexeth clowdye, and rayne is lyke to folowe. I meane not false excuses and forswerynge of your selfes: but that ye loke substancyally vpon Goddes worde, that you may be able to answere their sotle obectyons. And rather chose māfully to dye for Christe and hys worde, than cowardly to denye hym, for this vayne and transytory lyfe, consyderyng that they haue no further power but ouer this corruptible bodye, which yf they put it not to deathe, muste yet at the length peryshe of yt selfe. |2. Cor. 10.| But I truste the Lorde shall not suffer you to be tēpted a boue that you may beare, but accordynge to the spirite that he shall poure vpon you, shall he also sende you the scourge, ād make hym that hath receyued more of the spyryte, to suffer more, ād hym that receyueth lesse therof, to suffer accordynge to hys talent. I thought it necessarye fyrst to admonyshe you of thys matter, and now I wyll recyte more of master Mores boke.
|More.| ❧ Whereby men may see how greadely these newe named bretherne wryte it out, and secretely spreade it a brode.
|Fryth.| ¶ The name is of great antiquite, althoughe you lyste to iest. For they were called bretherne before our Byshoppes were called Lordes, ād had the name gyuē thē by Christe sayenge, Mat. xxiij. All ye are bretherne. And Luc. xxij. Cōfyrme thy bretherne. And the name was cōtynued by the Apostles, & is a name that norysheth loue ād amyte. And very gladde I am to heare of their greadye affectyon in wrytynge out the worde of God, for by that I do perceyue the prophesye of Amos |Amos. | to haue place, which sayth in the person of God. I wyll sende hōger ād thurste in to the earth, not honger for meate nor thurste for drynke. But for to heare the worde of God. Now begynneth the kyngdome of heuē to suffer vyolēce: |Mat. 11.| Now rōne the poore Publicanes whiche knowelege them selfes synners, to the worde of God, puttynge both goodes and bodye in |Luc. 18.| Ieoperdye for the soule health. And though our Byshopes do calle it heresye, and all them heretyques that honger after yt, yet do we knowe that it is the Gospell of the leuynge God, for the health and saluacyon of all that beleue. |Rom. 1.| And as for the name doth nothynge offende vs, though they call it heresy a thousande tymes.|Act. 24.| For saynte Paule testyfyeth that the Pharysees and Prestes whyche were counted the very churche in hys tyme, ded so call it, and therfore it forseth not though they, rulyng in their rowmes, vse the same names.
|More.| ❧ Which yonge man I here say hathe latelye made dyuers other thynges that yet ronne in hoker moker so close amonge the bretherne that there cometh no copyes abrode.
|Fryth.| ¶ I answere, that surely I can not spynne, and I thynke no man more hateth to be ydle than I do. Wherfor in suche thynges as I am able to do, I shalbe dylygent as longe as God lendeth me my lyfe. And if ye thynke I be to busye, you may rydde me the sooner, for euen as the shepe is in the bochers hādes ready bounde & loketh but euen for the grace of the bocher when he shall shedde hys blode: Euen so am I bounde at the Byshoppes pleasures, euer lokynge for the day of my deathe. In so moche that playne worde was sent me, that the chaunceloure of London sayde, it shulde coste me the best bloode in my body, which I wolde gladly were shedde tomorowe, yf so be it myght open the Kynges graces eyes.
And verely I maruell that any thynge can ronne in hoker moker or be hydde frō you. For seynge you myght haue suche store of copyes, concernynge the thynge which I moste desyred to haue bene kepte secrete, how shuld you than lacke a copye of those thynges wich I moste wolde haue publyshed? And hereof ye maye be sure, I care not though you and all the Byshoppes within England loke vpon all that euer I wrote, but rather wolde be gladde that ye so ded. For yf there be any sparcle of grace in your breastes, I trust it shulde be an occasyon somwhat to kyndle it, that you may consyder and know your selfes, which is the first poynte of wysdome.
❧ And wolde God for hys mercye |More.| (sayeth M. More) that syth there can nothynge refrayne their studye, from devyse and compassynge of euill ād vngracyous wrytynge, that they wolde ād coulde keape it so secretely that neuer man shulde see it. But suche as are so farre corrupted, as neuer wolde be cured of their canker.
|Fryth.| ¶ It is not possyble for hym that hath hys eyes and seeth hys brother which lacketh syght in Ieoperdye of peryshynge at a perellous pytte, but that he muste come to hym ād guyde hym, tyll he be past that Ieoperdye, and at the least wyse, yf he can not come to hym, yet wyll he call and crye vnto hym to cause hym chose the better waye, excepte hys harte be cankered with the contagyon of suche hatred that he can reioyse in hys neyghbours dystructyon. And euē so is it not possyble for vs which haue receyued the knowelege of Goddes worde, but that we muste crye and call to other, that they leaue the perellous patthes of their owne folyshe fantasyes. |Deut. 12.| And do that onely to the Lorde, that he commaundeth them, neyther addynge any thynge nor dymynyshynge. And therfor vntyll we see some meanes founde, by the which a reasonable reformacyon may be had on the one partye, and suffycyent instructyon for the poore cōmons, I insure you, I neyther wyll nor can cease to speake. For the worde of God boyleth in my bodye, lyke a fervente fyre, & wyll neades haue an yssue and breake out, whā occasyon is geuē.
But this hath bene offered you, is offered, and shall be offered. Graunte that the worde of God, I meane the texte of scrypture, maye go abrode in oure Englyshe tonge, as other nacyons haue it in their tōges, and my brother Wyllyā Tyndall ād I haue done, & wyll promyse you to wryte no more. Yf you wyll not graunte this condycyō, then wyll we be doynge whyle we haue breathe, and shewe in fewe wordes that the scripture doth in many: and so at the least saue some.