come home agayne and confesse your faulte with vs, that you haue bene in errour. &c. wyl you doe so? And I sayde no, I haue been in no errour. for the spiritual lawes were neuer trulier set foorth then in my maister kynge Edwardes tyme, and I trust vnto God I shal neuer forsake them whyles I lyue.

Then came a Gentilman to me and sayde: are ye wyser then all men? and haue ye more knowledge then all men? wyll you cast away your soule wyllingly? my Lorde and other mē also, would fayne you would saue your selfe: therfore chose some man where you wyll, eyther spirituall or temporall, and take a daye. my Lorde wyll geue it you. Then sayd I: if I saue my lyfe I shall loose it, and if I lose my lyfe for Christes sake, I shall fynde it in lyfe euerlastyng. And if I take a daye, when the day cometh, I must saye then euen as I dooe now, except I will lye, and therfore that nedeth not. well, then haue hym awaye, sayth the byshop.

This aboue named Thomas Spurdaunce, was one of Quene Maries seruauntes, & was taken by twoo of his fellowes, the sayd quenes seruauntes, named Iohn Haman, otherwyse called Barker, and George Looson,  

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His name is given as George Lawson in 1563, pp. 1677-78. ElizabethLawson, wife of William Lawson, also of Coddenham, was sentenced along with Spurdance (BL, Harley MS 421, fos. 177r-178v). On Elizabeth Lawson see 1563, p. 1677; 1570, pp. 2274-75; 1576, pp. 1953-54 and 1583, pp. 2270-71.

EYrst Doctor Parker asked me, howe I beleued in the catholyque faythe. And I asked hym whiche faithe he ment, whether the fayth that Steuē had, or the faythe of them that put Steuen to death. Doctor Parker beinge moued, spake: what a naughtie fellowe is this? you shall see anone he wyll denye the blessed sacrament of the altar. Then sayde maister Foster: I know you well enough. you are a busy merchaunt. howe sayest thou by the blessed masse? And I stode styll and made no aunswere. Then sayde maister Foster: why speakest thou not, & make the Gentilman an aunswere? And I sayde: silence is a good aunswere to a foolish question. Then sayde the Doctor: I am sure he wyll deny the blessed sacramēt of the altar also. And I sayde: I knowe none suche, but only the sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christe. Then sayde he: you denye the order of the seuen sacramentes. And why doest not thou beleue in the sacrament of the altar? And I sayde: because it is not written in gods booke. Then sayde he: you wyl not beleue vnwrytten verities. And I sayde: I will beleue that those vnwritten verities that agree with the writtē verities be true. but these vnwrittē

verities that be of your own makyng, and inuented of your owne brayne, I doe not beleue. Well saide maister Foster: you shalbe whipped and burned for this geare I trowe. Then sayd I: if you knewe howe these wordes do reioyce my hart, you wold not haue spoken thē. Why thou foole, sayde maister Foster: doest thou reioyce in whypping? Yea sayde I. for it is written in the scriptures, that thou shalt bee whipped for my names sake, sayeth Christ.

And synce the tyme that the sworde of tyranny came into your handes, I hard of none that was whypped. happie were I, if I had the maydenhead of this persecution. Awaye with him then, sayde he. for he is ten tymes worse then Samuel: and so was he caried to prison again.

WHen I came before the Bishop, he asked me if I did not beleue in the catholique churche. And I sayde: I beleue that churche whereof Christe is the head. Then sayde the Byshop: doest thou not beleue that the Pope is supreame head of the churche? And I sayde: no, Christ is the head of the true churche. So doe I beleue, sayde he also: but the Pope is Gods Vicar vpon earth, & the head of the churche. And I beleue that he hath power to forgeue synnes also. Then said I: the Pope is but a man, and the Prophet Dauid sayth that no man can deliuer his brother, nor make agrement for him vnto God. for it cost more to redeme their soules, so that he must let that alone for euer. And the byshop sayde againe a great circumstaunce: like as the bell wether wereth the bel, and is the head of the flocke of shepe, so is the Pope our head.

And as the hiues of bees haue a maister bee, that bryngeth the bees to the hiue againe, soo doth our head brynge vs home agayne to oure churche. And I asked him whether the Pope wer a spiritual mā, & he said yea. And I said again: they ar spiritual mē. for in xvi. days ther wer thre Popes, that one poisoned another for that presumptuous seate of Antichriste.

It is maliciously spoken (sayde he). for thou must obey the power and not the man. And thus he denieth the Pope to be supreme head. Well, sayde the Byshoppe: what sayest thou to the ceremonies of the churche?

And I aunswered: all thynges that are not planted by my heauenly father, shalbe plucked vp by the rootes, sayeth Christe. for they were not from the beginning, neither shall they continue to the ende: They are good and godly, sayde the Byshop, and necessary to be vsed. Then sayde I : saint Paule called them weake and beggarly. No sayd he: that is a lye.