1563 Edition | Book 5 | Page 996 
MarginaliaHyghe reasons of Bōner why the order of priestes is to be honored aboue Angels and kinges. WHerefore it is to be knowen, that priestes and Elders be worthy of all men to be worshipped for the dignitie sake which they haue of God as in Mat. 16 For whatsoeuer ye shal loose vpō the earth &c. And whatsoeuer you shall bynde &c. for a priest by some meanes is like Mary the Virgin, and is shewed by three pointes. As the blessed virgyn by fiue wordes did conceiue Christ as it is said: Luk. 1. (Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum) that is to saie, be it vnto me according to thy word. So the Priestes by fiue wordes, doth make the very body of Christ. Euen as immediatly, after the consent of Mary, Christe was all whole in her wombe, so immediatly after the speaking of these wordes of consecration, the bread is transubstantiated into the very body of Christ. Secondly, as the virgin caried Christ in her armes and laid him in an oxe stall after his byrth, Euē so the priest after the consecration, doth lifte vp the body of Christ and placeth it and carieth it, and handleth it with his handes. Thyrdly, as the blessed Virgin was sanctified before she cōceiued. So the Priest being ordeined and annointed before he doth cōsecrate: because without orders he could cōsecrate nothing, therfore the layeman being neuer so holye, can not doo the thyng, although he be neuer so holy, and do speake the selfe same wordes of consecration. Therfore here is to be knowen, that the dignitie of Priestes by some meanes passeth the dignitie of Aungelles, because there is no power to any of the Aungelles to make the bodye of Christ. Whereby the least priest may do in earth that the greatest and hyghest Aungel in heauen can not do, as sainte Bernarde sayeth: O worshipfull dignitie of priestes, in whose handes the sonne of God is, as in the wombe of the virgin he was incarnate. Saynt Austen saith that Angels in the cōsecratiō of þe sacred hoost doth serue him, & the Lorde of heauen descendeth to hym: whereupō saint Ambrose vpon lyke saith: doubte thou not the Aungel to be where Christ is present vpon the altar. wherfore priestes are to be honored before all kynges of the earth, prynces and nobles. for a priest is hygher then a Kyng, happier then an Aungell, maker of his creator. Wherfore. &c.
[Back to Top]IT was declared a litle before how D. Ridley was had from Fremingham to the Tower, where being in duraunce, and inuited to the Lieutenantes table, he had certaine talke or conference with Secretary Bourn, maister Fecknam, and other, concerning the controuersies in religion, the summe whereof, as it was penned with his owne hande, hereafter ensueth.
CloseThe dialogue between Ridley and Sir John Bourne continues the pattern of argument about the eucharist alternating with political narrative which runs throughout Book 10. The dialogue first appeared in print in the 1563 edition (1563, p. 929-32; 1570, p. 1589-91; 1576, p. 1356-58; 1583, p. 1426-28); there is no earlier surviving print or manuscript version. Foxe states that the dialogue was penned with Ridley's own hand; apparently Foxe obtained a unique copy. As will be seen in Book 11, George Shipside, Ridley's brother-in-law, was one of Foxe's sources; it is quite possible that he obtained the dialogue for Foxe.
[Back to Top]MAister Thomas Bridges sayd at his Brother Maister Lieuetenauntes bord I pray you Maister Doctors, for my learning tel me, what an heriticke is. Maister
Secretary Bourn sayd, I will tell you who is an heriticke:
CloseA large number of glosses ('Vnitie, Antiquitie, Vniuersalitie' and ten following) appear in all editions, and concern Ridley's successful answer to Fecknam, taking his own categories of unity, antiquity and universality and refashioning them in a suitably protestant way, together with an exposition of 'hoc est' (see also 'The place of Saint Cyprian expounded' for another example of Ridley expounding). For an example of Ridley's view being given authoritative status by a marginal gloss, see 'The doctrine of the Sacrament not new'. A 1563 gloss which seems to be mocking the poor logic of the catholics was later dropped, possibly because it was rather obscurely phrased ('Ergo ther is no substance of bread in the sacrament'). The veil drawn over the connection between the catechism and Cranmer after 1563 ('Bishop of Caunterburys boke' (1563); 'The booke of Catechisme' (later editions)) is perhaps significant in the light of concerns about the Prayer Book.
[Back to Top]Here while I strayned curtesy, and pretended as nothing to talke, sayd one of the commissioners, peraduenture maister Ridley doth agree with maister Fecknam, and then there needes not much debating of the matter: syr sayd I, in some thinges I do & shall agree with hym, and in some thinges which he hath spoken, to be plain, I do not agree with him at al. maisters, sayd I, ye be as I vnderstand the Quenes commissioners here, and if ye haue commission to examine me in those matters, I shall declare vnto you plainely my fayth: yf ye haue not, then I shall praye you eyther geue me leaue to speake my mynde frely, or els to hold my peace.
[Back to Top]There is none here, sayd maister secretary that doth not fauour you, and then euery man shewed what fauour they beare towardes me and how glad they would be of an agrement; but as I strayned to haue licence of them, in playne wordes to speake my mynde, so me thought they graunted me it but vix or agre. well at the last I was contente to take it for lycenced, and so began to talke.
[Back to Top]To maister Fecknams argumentes of the manifold affirmation, where no deniall was,