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Actes and Monumentes of the Church.

ecclesiasticorum ex Philippi Melancthonis e-
ditione.
Phillippi Melancthonis Annotationes in Io-
hannem.
Annotationes Philippi Melancthonis in E-
uangelium Mathei.
 
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Here the list includes three Martin Bucer treatises and then ones by Johannes Brenz. The first is his Enarrationes perpetuae in sacra quatuor Evangelia (1530) which was a later edition of the treatise Enarrationum in evangelii Matthaei, Marci & Lucae, libra duo (published in Strasbourg in 1527). The second is Bucer's Epistola D. Pauli Epistolam ad Ephesios (1527). Now, according to the study of Peter Stephens, this refers to the much neglected publication of Bucer's Strasbourg lectures of the 1520s (see Peter Stephens, 'The church in Bucer's commentaries on the Epistle to the Ephesians', in D F Wright (ed.), Martin Bucer, Reforming church and community (Cambridge, 1994), pp.45-60). The third work is Bucer's In Theophaniam quem Sophoniam vulgo vocant, Epitomographus ad Hebraicam veritatem versus (n.d.). Then it mentions Johannes Brenz (var: Brentz or Brentius), Job cum piis et eruditis Joannis Brentii commentariis (1528), Ecclesiastes Salomonis cum Commentariis Johannis Brentii (1525) and In Divi Joannis Evangelium Johannis Brentii exegeses (n.d.).

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Enarrationes perpetue in sacra quatuor Euā
gelia per M. Bucerum.
Sancti Paul Epistola ad Epheseos per Marti
num Bucerum.
Thepliansam quem Sophoniam vulgo vocāt
Epitomographus, ad ebraicam veritatem versus
per Martinum Bucerum.
Iob cū commentariis Iohannis Brentii.
Tcclesiastes Salomonis cum commentariis Io-
annis Brentii.
In Diui Ioannis Euangeliō Io. Brentiii exagesis.
 
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The list continues with seven works by François Lambert of Avignon. These treatises are In divi Luce Evangelium Commentarii (1524) of which there is a 1525 edition from Strasbourg, Commentarii de Prophetia, Eruditione et Linguis, deque Litera et Spiritu (1526), Commentarii in Regulam Minoritarum, et contra universas perditionis Sectas (1525), Eiusdem libellus de differentia Stimuli carnis Satanae nuncii et ustionis (1526), Commentarii in Cantica Canticorum Salomonis, libellum quidem sensibus altissimis, in quo sublimia sacri conjugii mysteria, quae in Christo, et Ecclesia sunt, pertractantur (1524), Commentarii in Amos, Abdiam, Et Ionam Prophetas (1525), and Commentarii in IV ultimos Prophetas, nempe Sophoniam, Aggeum, Zachariam et Malachiam (1526).

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Francisci Lamberti Duenionensis in dini lu-
ce Euangelium commentarii.
Francisci Lamberti commentarii de Prophe.
tia, eruditione & linguis deque litera & spiritu.
In Regulam minoritarum & contra vniuer-
sas perditionis sectas Francisci Lāberti cōmen-
tarii.
Eiusdem libellus de differentia stimuli carnis
Sathane nuncii & vscionis.
In Cantica Canticorum Salomonis libellum
quidem sensibus altissimis in quo sublimia sa-
cri coniugii ministeria que in Christo & eccle-
sia sunt pertractantur Francisci Lamberti com-
mentarii.
In Amos Abdiam et Ionam Prophetas com-
mentarii Francisci Lamberti.
Francisci Lamberti commentari in iiii. vlti-
mos Prophetas nempe Sophoniam Aggeū za-
chariam & Malachiam.
 
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The list continues with some of the works of Johan Wessel (more accurately Wessel Harmensz Gansfort), a nominalist theologian of the fifteenth-century (1419-89), born in Groningen and often called 'lux mundi' or 'light of the world' by later protestant commentators due to his so-called pseudo- or proto-humanism and interest in the three biblical languages. Foxe had already mentioned him earlier in the martyrology approvingly. In 1521 Martin Luther paid tribute to Wessel with the publication of a collection of his works - Praefatio in Iohannis Wesseli et aliorum ad ipsum epistolas. The tracts mentioned here are: De Sacramento Eucharistiae et audienda missa, De certissima et benignissima Dei providential, De dignitate et potestate Ecclesiastica, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, & quae sint claves Ecclesiæ, de potestate ligandi De Purgatorio, Epistola adversus M. Engelbertum Leidensem, in qua tractatur quid sit tenendum de spirituum et mortuorum apparitionibus, ac de suffragiis et celebration bus, De oratione et modo orandi, De Christi Incarnatione, de magnitudine, et amaritudine dominicae passionis, libri duo, and De Causis Incarnationis or (from Luther's edition) De causis, mysteriis et effectibus Dominicæ incarnationis et passionis.

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Vvessellus de sacramento Eucharistie & de au
dienda missa. Farrago Vvesselli Oromgen. lux
mundi olim vulgo dicta in quo tractat de pro-
uidentia dei, de dignitate et pietate ecclesiastica,
de sacramento penitentiæ, et que sunt claues ec-
cesie & de purgatorio.
Vvetselli Epistola aduersus M. Engelbertum
Lerdens, in quo tractatur quid sit tenendum de
spirituū & mortuorum apparacionibus ac de
suffragiis & celebracionibus.
Tractatus VVesselli de oratione & modo orādi
De christi incarnatione, de magnitudine, et a
maritudine dominice passionis libri duo Vves-
selli Groningen.
 
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The list then includes some of the works of John Pupper of Goch, a monk of Mechlin, works which were never published in his lifetime but which were later prohibited by the Council of Trent. According to a biography by David C Steinmetz, little is known of Pupper besides his founding of an Augustianian convent at Thabor. He was the author in the late fifteenth-century of four theological treatise against scholastic theology and traditional monastic theory (the value of vows). His works were edited into a publishable edition in 1521, which led Luther and others to consider him a forerunner of the reformation due to his stance in support of sola scriptura (see David C Steinmetz, '"Libertas Christiana": Studies in the Theology of John Pupper of Goch (d. 1475)', The Harvard Theological Review 65 [1972], pp. 191-230) The tracts mentioned here are In Dei gratiae et Christianae Fidel commendationem, contra falsam et Pharisaicam multorum, de justitiis et meritis operum doctrinam et gloriationem, fragmenta aliquot D. Joannis Gocchii, nunquam ante hac excusa and Dialogus de quatuor erroribus circa Evangelicam legem exortis.

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In dei gratiam et christiane fidei commen-
dationem contra falsam & Pharasaicam multo
rum de iusticiis & meritis operis doctrinam &
gloriationem fragmenta aliquot D. Ioannis goc
chii nunquam antehac excusa.
Dialogus D. Ioannis Gocchii Mechillensis
de quatuor erroribus circa Euangelicam legem
exortis.
 
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The final treatises mentioned on the list are Johannes Oecolampadius, Quod non sit onerosa Christianis confessio paradoxon (1521), written in support of the psychological benefits of confession to a priest or monk. This work was briefly discussed by Amy Nelson Burnett in her article 'Church Discipline and Moral Reformation in the Thought of Martin Bucer' Sixteenth Century Journal 22 (1991), pp. 438-456. Then comes Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Super coelibatu monachatu et viduitate axiomatic (1521). The final book on the list is François Lambert of Avignon, Commentarii de causis excaecationis multorum seculorum, ac veritate denuo et novissime Dei misericordia revelata, etc. (1525). [This work is briefly mentioned in Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation (Oxford, 1989), p.116.

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Quod non sit onerosa confessio paradox. Io-
annis Oecolampadii de celibatu monachatu &
viduitate domino Andrea Carolostadio autore.
Francisci Lamberti Commētarii de causis ex-
cecacionis multorum seculorum ac veritate de
nuo & nouissime de miserecordia reuelata &c.

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Against the proceadinges of these bishoppes in forbidding the scripture in English in stead of an aunswer to the same, I haue thoughte mete to adioyne a certaine old treatise founde in a certain auncient English boke, which as it may serue wel for a confutation of the Byshops doinges in this behalfe, so haue I not thought to defraude the Reader of the profitte there of.

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¶ A Compendious olde Treatise, shewing how that we ought to haue the scripture in Englishe.  
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Foxe inserted this passage in the 1563 edition for the reason that he states ('how that we ought to haue the scripture in Englishe'); it was then, however, dropped from later editions. The text was in fact the work of the Wyclif disciple, secretary and editor (or 'glossator') John Purvey (c.1354-c.1428), and can be found as STC3021, published at Marburg by Martin de Keyser and influential on Tyndale (see J Forshall and F. Madden (eds.), The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal Books, in the Earliest English Versions Made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his Followers, 2 vols. [Oxford, 1850]; and W R Cooper, 'A newly identified fragment in the handwriting of William Tyndale', Reformation 3 [1998], pp.323-47). The reference in it to King Antioch IV, 'the Assyrian' or sometimes 'Little horn' (as in the book of Daniel 7,8 & 11.28) is to an archetypal antichrist figure in Scripture, alluded to in I Maccabees 1.10ff and II Maccabees 5.9 from the Apocrypha. The text also includes a reference to the treatise of Boetius, entitled De disciplina Schotium cum notabili commento which was published in 1496 at the Deventer press of Jacobus de Breda. The true authorship of the work is in dispute, however, as another edition is extant, published in 1495 from the Strasbourg press of Georg Husner (see Victor Scholderer, 'Conradus, Boetius and psuedo-Boetius', in Speculum 22 [1947], pp.257-9 and Arpad Steiner, 'The authorship of De disciplina scholarium', in Speculum 12 [1937], pp.31ff).

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FOr to make vpon Antichrist, I take figure of kinge Antioche, of whome Gods law speaketh in the booke of Machabeus, for right as king Antioche came in the end wel nigh of the old law, & brent the bokes of Gods law, and compelled the people to do manmenty. So now Antichrist the king of the cleargye that liuen worse then heathen priestes, brēneth now nigh the end of the new law the Euangely of Christ that is nigh the end of the world, to deceiue wel nigh all the world, and to proue the seruauntes of God. For now God shall knowe who wil stand by his law, for Sathanas as prophets saye is nowe vnbounde and hathe beene CCCC. yeres and more for to inhabit our clergy, as he did the clergy of the old law, but now with much more malice. For as they dampned Christ, so now our bishoppes dampne and bren Goddes law, for because it is drawen into oure mother tongue. But it ought to be (and we saued shoulde be) as we shall proue by open euydence thorowe Gods helpe. First we take wytnesse of Boetius de disciplina scolarium, that sayeth that children should be taught in the bookes of Seneke. And Bede expoūdeth this saying, and sayeth that children in vertues shuld be taught. For the bokes of Seneke ben moralles, and for that they be not taught thus in their youth, thei continue still euill mannered, and be vnable to conceiue the subtill science of trouth, saying that a wise mā is as a cleane mirror new pullished. Wisdome shall not enter into a wicked soule. And muche is hereof the sentence of Bede. And Algasel in his logike sayeth, the soule of man is a cleaue mirror new pullished, in which is sene lightlye the Image of Vertue. And for that the people haue not cunninge in youthe, they haue darke soules and blinde with ignorance, so that they profit not in vertue, but in falsnes and malice and other vices, and much is therof the matter. Sithen heathen Philosophers wolden the people to profit in naturall science, howe much more should Christian clarkes will the people to profit in science of vertues, for so wold God. For when the law was geuen to Moses in the mounte of Sinai, God gaue it to his people in their mother tonge of Ebrue, that all the people should vnderstand it, and commaūded Moses to rede it to them vntill they vnderstode it, and so he did, as it is plaine. Deute. xxxi. And Esdras also red it in their mother tounge, from morowe vntil none as it is plaine in the fyrste

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booke