shuld regester it. And all thys dissimulacion was but to colour their mischeues before the ignoraunte multytude. Consydre herin (gentyll reader) what this wicked generacion is, and how farre wyde from the iust feare of God; for, as they were than, so are they yet to this daye. After that, came forth before them Sir Robert Morley, knight, and lefetenaunt of the Towre, and he brought with him the good Lord Cobham, there leauing him among them, as a lambe among wolues, to his examination and answere. The latter examinacion* of the Lord Cobham. THAN sayd the archbysshoppe vnto hym: Lord Cobham, ye be advesed (I am sure) of the wordes and processe which we had vnto you, vpon Saturday last past, in the Chapterhouse of Paules; which proces were now to long to be rehersed agayne. I sayd vnto you than, that ye were accursed † for your contumacy and disobedience to holy church, thinking that ye shulde, with mekenes, haue desired your absolucion. Than spake the Lord Cobham, with a moost cherefull contenaunce, and sayd: God sayth, by his holy prophet ‡, Maledicam benedictionibus vestris' (which is as moch to say, as,) I shall curse, wheras you blesse. The archbisshop made than, as though he had continued forthe hys tale, and not heard hym, saying: Sir, at that tyme I gentilly proferd to haue assoyled you, it ye wold haue asked it; and yet I do the same, if ye wyll humbly desyre it in due forme and maner, as holy church hath ordeined. Than sayd the Lord Cobham: Naye, forsoth, wyll I not; for I neuer yet trespased against you, and therfore I wyll not do it: And, with that, he kneeled down on the pauement, holding vp hys handes towardes heauen, and sayd: I shryue me here vnto the, my Eternall, Lyuynge God, that, in my frayle youth, I offended the (Lord) most greuously in pryde, wrath, and glottony, in couetousnes and lechery. Many men haue I hurt in mine angre, and done manye other horryble synnes; good Lord, I aske the mercy. And therwith, wepingly, he stode vp againe, and sayd, with a mighty voyce: Lo, good people, lo; for the breaking of Gods lawe, and his great commaundementes, they § neuer yet cursed me; but, for theyr owne lawes and tradicions, most cruelly do they handle both me and other men; and therfore both they and theyr lawes, by the promes of God **, shall vtterly be destroied. At this, the archbisshop and hys companye were not a lytle blemyshed. Notwithstanding, he toke stomake vnto hym agayn, after certein wordes had in excuse of theyr tyrannye, and examined the Lord Cobham of his Christen beleue. Wherunto the Lord Cobham made thys godly answere: I beleuc (sayth he) fullye and faythfullye the vnyuersall lawes of God. I beleue, that all is true which is conteyned in the holy sacred scryptures of the Byble. Finally, I beleue all, that my Lord God wolde I shulde beleue. + Malac. ii. "The Popish ecclesiasticks Excommunicated. Hiere. li. Apoc. xviii. • Ex vetusto Exemplari Londinensium. Pardoned, or absolved. Than demaunded the archbisshop an answere of the byll, which he and the clergy had sent him into the Tower the daye afore, in maner of a determinacyon of the church concerning the iiij. articles wherof he was accused, specially for the sacrament of the aulter, how he beleued therin? Wherevnto the Lord Cobham sayd, that with that byll he had nothing to do. But this was his beleue (he sayd) concerning the sacrament: That his Lord and Sauer Iesus Chryst, sitting at his last supper, with his moost dere disciples, the night before he shuld suffer, toke bread in his hand, and, geving thankes to his eternall Father, blessed it, brake it, and so gaue it vnto them, saying: Take it vnto ye, and eate thereof all; this is my body which shall be betraied for you; do this hereafter in my remembraunce. This do I thoroughly beleue (saith he) for this faith am I taught of the gospell in Mathew, in Marke, and in Luke, and also in the First Epistle of St. Paull to the Corinthianes *. Than asked the archbisshoppe, If he beleued that it were bread after the consecracion or sacramental wordes spoken ouer it. The Lord Cobham sayd: I beleue that in the sacrament of the aulter is Chrystes very body, in fourme of breade, the same that was born of the Virgyn Mary, done on the crosse, dead and buried, and that the thyrd day arose from death to lyfe, whych nowe is glorified in heauen. Than sayd one of the doctors of the lawe, After the sacramental wordes be vttered, there remaineth no breade, but the onely body of Chryst. The Lord Cobham sayd than to one Master Johan Whighthead, You sayd ones vnto me in the castell of Coulynge †, that the sacred host was not Chrystes body; but I held than against you, and proved that therin was his body, though the seculars and fryers || could not therin agree, but helde yche one against other in that opinyon. These were my wordes than, yf ye remembre it. Than shouted a sort of them together and cryed with a great noyse: We say all it is Gods body. And dyuerse of them asked hym in great angre, Whether it were materiall bread after the consecracion, or not? Than loked the Lord Cobham ærnestly vpon the archbisshop, and sayde: I beleue surely that it is Chrystes body in fourme of breade. Sir, beleve not you thus? And the archbisshoppe sayd: Yes mary do I. Than asked him the doctours: Whether it were onely Chrystes body after the consecracion of a pryest, and no bread or not? And he sayd vnto them. It is both Chrystes body and bread. I shall prove it as thus; for lyke as Chryst, dwelling here vpon the earth, had in him both Godhead and Manhead; and had the inuisible Godhead couered vnder that Manhead, which was only uisible and seane in him: So, in the sacrament of the aulter, is Christes very body and very bread also, as I beleue the breade is the thyng, that we see with our eyes; the body of Christ (which is his flesh and his bloud) is there vnder hydde and not seane but in faith. + Al. Towlynge. • Math. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. 1 Cor. xi. + Secular, or the parish priests. Regulars, or priests that live in monasteries, following the orders or rules of Dominick, Benedict, &c. Than smyled they yche one vpon other, that the people shulde iudge hym taken in a greate heresye. And wyth a great bragge diuerse of them sayde: It is a foule heresy. Than asked the Archbisshop, What breade it was? And the doctours also inquired of him, Whether it were materiall or not? The Lord Cobham sayd unto them: The scryptures maketh no mencion of this worde materiall, and therefore my fayth hath nothing to do therwith; but thys I say and beleue it, that it is Chrystes bodye and bread; for Chryst sayde in the syxt of Johans Gospell: Ego sum panis viuus, qui de celo descendi, i. e. I, whiche came down from heauen, am the liuing and not the dead bread. Therfore, I say now agayn, like as I said afore, As our Lord Iesns Chryst is very God and very man, so, in the most blessed sacrament of the aulter, is Chrystes very body and breade. Than seyd they all with one voyce: It is an heresye. One of the Bisshoppes stode vp by and by, and sayd: What, it is an heresye manyfest, to say that it is breade after the sacramentall worde be ones spoken, but Chrystes body onely. The Lord Cobham sayd: St. Paule, the apostle, was (I am sure) as wyse as you be nowe, and more godlye lerned; and he called yt breade, wrytting to the Corinthiancs: The breade that we breake, sayth he, is it not the partaking of the body of Christ? Lo, he calleth it breade and not Chrystes body, but a meane whereby we receyue Chrystes body. Than sayd they agayne: Paule must be otherwise vnderstanded; for it is surely an heresye to say that it is breade after the consecracion, but onely Chrystes body. The Lord Cobham asked, Howe they coulde make good that sentence of theyrs? They answered him thus: For it is against the determinacion of the holy church. Than sayde the Archbisshop vnto hym: Sir Johan, we sent you a wrytting concerning the faith of thys blessed sacrament clerely determined by the church of Rome, our mother, and by the holy doctours. Than sayd he again vnto him: I knowe none holyer than is Chryst and hys apostles; and as for that determinacion, I wote, it is none of theyrs, for it standeth not with the scryptures, but manifestly against them. If it be the churches, as ye say it is, it hath bene hers onely sins she received the greate poyson of worldly possessions, and not afore. Than asked they hym, to stoppe his mouth therwith, If he beleued not in the determinacion of the church? And he said vnto them: No, forsooth, for it is no God. In all our crede is IN but thryse mencioned, concerning Beleue; IN God the Father, IN God the sonne, IN God the Holy Gost. The byrthe, the deathe, the buriall, the resurrection, and ascensyon of Christ hath none IN for beleue, but IN hym. Neyther yet hath the church, the sacramentes, the forgeuenes of synne, the latter resurrection, nor yet the life euerlasting any other IN, than IN the Holy Gost. Than sayd one of the lawiers: Tush, that was but a worde of office, But what is your beleue concerning holy church? * 2 Cor. x. The Lord Cobham answered: My beleue is (as I sayde afore) that all the scryptures of the sacred byble are true. All that is grounded upon them I beleue thoroughly; for, I know, it is Gods pleasure that I shuld so do. But in youre lordly lawes and ydell determinacions haue I no beleue; for ye be no part of Chrystes holy churche, as your open dedes doth shew. But ye are very antichrystes, obstinatly set agaynst his holy lawe and wyll. The lawes, that ye haue made, are nothing to his glorye, but onely for your vayne glory and abhominable couetousnes. This, they said, was an exceading heresy (and that in a great fume) not to belue the determinacion of holy church. Than the Archbisshop asked him: what he thought holy church? He sayd unto hym: My beleue is, that holy church is the nombre of them, whiche shall be saued, of whom Chryst is the head. Of this church one part is in heauen with Chryst, another in pnrgatory (you say) and the third is here in ærth. This latter part standeth in thre degrees, in knighthode, pryesthode, and the comunaltee, as I sayde afore plainly, in the confessyon of my beleue. Than saide the Archbisshop vnto him: can ye tell me, who is of this church? The Lord Cobham answered: yea, truly can I. Than said Doctor Walden, the pryor of the carmelytes: It is a doubte unto you who is therof; for Christ sayth in Math. Nolite iudicare, i. e. Presume to iudge no man. If ye here be forbidden the judgment of your neighbour or brother, moche more the iudgment of your superiour. The Lord Cobham made him thys answere, Chryst sayth also in the selfe same chapter of † Math. that, lyke as the yll tree is knowen by hys yll frute, so is a false prophet, by his workes, appeare they neuer so gloryous; but that left behind ye. ye And in Iohan he hath this text: Operibus credite? i. e. Beleue you the outward doings? And in another place of Iohan: Iustum iudicium iudicate, i. e. Whan we knowe the thing to be true, we may so iudge it, and not offende; for David || sayth also: Recte iudicate filii hominum, i. e. Iudge rightly alwayes ye children of men. And as for your superioritee, were ye of Chryst, ye shuld be meke ministers, and no proude superiours. Than sayd Doctour Walden vnto hym: Ye make here no difference of judgments; ye put no diversitee between the yll iudgements, which Chryst hath forbidden, and the good judgementes, which he hath commaunded vs to haue; rash iudgement and right iudgement, all is one with you; so is iudgement presumed and iudgement of office, so swift iudges alwayes are the lerned scolers of Wicliue. Unto whome the Lord Cobham thus answered: It is wel sophistried of you, forsooth; preposterouse are your judgements euer more; for as the prophet Esay sayth §, Ye iudge yll good, and good yll; and therefore the same prophet ** concludeth, that your wayes are noe Gods wayes, nor Gods ways your wayes. And as for that vertuouse man Wicleue, whose iudgements ye so hyghely disdayne: I shall saye here for my part both before God and man. That, before I knewe that dispised doctrine of his, I neuer absteyned from synne*. But, syns I lerned therin to fear my Lorde God, it hath otherwise, I trust, bene with me; so moch grace could I neuer finde in all your gloriouse instructions. Than sayde Doctor Walden agayn yet unto hym: It were not well wyth me, so many vertuous men lyuing and so many lerned men teaching the scryptures, being also so open, and the examples of fathers so plentuouse, if I than had no Grace to amende my lyfe till I hearde the deuell preache. St. Hierom saith, that he, why che seketh suche suspected masters, shall not fynde the mydday lyght, but the mydday Deuell +. The Lord Cobham said: Your fathers, the olde pharisees, ascribed Chrystes miracles to Belzebub, and his doctrine to the deuell; and you, as their naturall children, have still the selfe same judgement, concernyng his faithfull followers. They, that rebuke your vicious lyuinge, must needs be heretykes; and that must your doctours proue, whan ye haue no scryptures to do it. Than said he to them all: To iudge you as ye be, we nede no further go, than your own propre actes: Where do ye find in all Gods lawes, that ye shuld thus syt in iudgement of any christen men, or yet sentens anye other man vnto death, as ye do here dayly? No ground haue ye in all the scryptures so lordely to take it vpon ye, but in Annas and in Cayphas, which sate thus vpon Chryst, and vpon his apostles after his ascensyon. Of them onely haue ye taken it to iudge Chrystes members, as ye do, and neyther of Peter nor Iohan. Than sayde some of the lawyers: Yes, forsoth, sir, for Chryst iudged Iudas. The Lord Cobham sayd: No, Chryst iudged him not, but he iudged himselfe, and thervpon went forth, and so did hang himselfe. But, indede, Chryst sayd, "Wo unto him," for that couetous act of his, as he doth yet styll vnto many of you; for, sens the venime was shed into the church, ye neuer followed Chryst; neither yet haue ye stand in the perfection of Gods lawell. Than asked him the Archbishoppe, what he ment by that venime? The Lord Cobham sayd: Your possessyons and lordshippes. For than cryed an aungell in the ayre (as your owne chronycles mencioneth §) "Wo, wo, wo, this day is venmie shedde in the church of God." Before that tyme all the Bisshops of Rome were martirs in a maner; and sens that time we rede of very few. But, indede, sens that same time one ** hath put down another, one hath poysoned another, one hath cursed another, and one hath slayne another, and done much more mischiefe besides, as all the chronycles telleth. And let all men consydre well thys, that Christ was meke and mercifull; the Pope is proud and a tiraunt. Christ was pore and forgaue; the Pope is riche and a most cruell manslayer, as his dayly actes doth proue him. Rome is the very nest of antichryst; and out of that nest cometh all his disciples: Of whom prelates, priestes, and monkes are • Walden in Prefacione Doctrina 7. + Ilieron in Breuiari in Minori. |