his teaching and preaching, as was obiected agaynst hym by one Richard Nele, Priest: who among other witnesses, deposed agaynst hym for preachyng in the towne of Wylsedone,  

these wordes folowyng:

MarginaliaEx Registro Lond. fol. 82.Put away your golden Gods, your siluer Gods, your stony Gods, and leaue your offerings, and lift vp your hartes to the Sacrament of the aultar. Also the sayd M. Bilney sayd in his Sermon: MarginaliaBilney agaynst offeringes to Images.I know certaine thinges haue bene offered in such places, which haue bene afterward giuen to whores of the stewes: and I call theē whores of the stewes, that be naught of their liuyng. &c. Ex Regist.  

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Item, by an other witnes named W. Cade, it was deposed agaynst hym,  

thus to preache: That Iewes and Saracenes would haue become Christen men long ago, had not Idolatrie of Christen men bene, by offeryng of Candels, waxe, or money to the stockes, and the stones of Images set and standyng in the Churches. &c.

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Item, by the sayd deponent agaynst Bilney: That the Priestes take away the offerynges, and hange them about their whores neckes: and after that, they take them agayne from the whores, if they please them not, and hange them vpon the Images: and is not that a great relicke, when it is hanged there agayne?

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Itē, by þ^e said deponēt it was testified against Bilney: MarginaliaBilney against pilgrimage.That goyng on pilgremage is naught,  

and that no mā should vse it: For it were better not, and rather to tarye at home, and giue somwhat in almose, and offer your hartes, willes, & mindes to the Sacramēt, MarginaliaNote here how grosse Bilney was yet in the Sacrament.and leaue your Idolatry to Saintes.

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Item, by W. Nelmys of Wylsedone,  

that Bilney should preache: They gilde their Gods, and beare them about, and men say, they do speake: and if they do speake, it is the deuill that speaketh in them, and not God. &c.

Item, by Tho. Daly of Wilsedone, that Bilney thus preached: You come hyther on pilgrimage to stockes and stones. You do naught: kepe you at home, and worship the Sacrament at home. &c.

Item, by Frier Iohn Hogekyn, that Bilney thus preached at Ipsewych: The cōmyng of our Sauiour Christ was long desired, and by diuers & many Prophets prophecied, that he should come. But Iohn the Baptiste, more then a Prophet, did not onely prophecie, but with his finger shewed: Beholde the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world.  

Then, if this were the very Lambe, which Iohn did demonstrate, and shewed, which taketh away the sinnes of the world, MarginaliaBilney agaynst false merites.what iniurie is this Bull of the Bishop of Rome to our Sauiour Iesu Christ, that to be buryed in the cowle of S. Frances,   shoulde or may remitte iiij. partes of penance? What is left to our Sauiour Christ, which taketh away the sinnes of the world? This I will iustifie to be a great blasphemie agaynst the bloud of Christ. &c.

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Itē, by an other Frier Iulles, that Bilney thus preached, I trust there shall and will come other beside me, the whiche shall shew and preache to you the same fayth, and maner of liuing that I do: MarginaliaVid. supr. pag. 1138.whiche is the very true Gospell of our Sauiour, whereby you shall bee brought from your errours, wherein you haue bene long seduced: for before this, there hath bene many, that hath sclaundered you, and the Gospell of our Sauiour Christ. Of whō speaketh our Sauiour Christ Mat. 18. Qui scandalizauerit vnum de pusillis istis qui crediderunt. &c.

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Adde moreouer to these, the testimonie of Richard Seman: that Bilney in Ipswitch should preache these wordes: MarginaliaBilney agaynst moe Mediatours then one.Our Sauiour Christ is our Mediatour betwene vs & the father: what then should nede vs to seke to any Saint for remedy, inferiour to Christ? Wherfore to make such petitiō to any, but to our Sauiour Christ, trusting therby to haue remedye, doth greate iniurye to the bloud of Christ, and deformeth our Sauiour Christ: like as, if a man should take, and strike of the head, and set it vnder the foote, and to set the foote aboue.

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Thus much beyng partly touched before, I thought here to insinuate agayn out of the Registers, touching the opinions of Thomas Bilney.  

Whereby may ap-peare the whole summe of his preachyng and doctrine to procede chiefly agaynst Idolatrie, inuocation of Saintes, vayne worship of Images, false trust to mēs merites, and such other grosse pointes of religion, as semed preiudiciall and derogatorie to the bloud of our Sauiour Christ Iesus. As touchyng the Masse, & Sacrament of the aultar, as he neuer varied from hym selfe, so he neuer differed therin from the most grossest Catholiques. And as concernyng his opinion of the church of Rome, how blinde it was at þ^t tyme, may sufficiently appeare by his own aunsweres in tyme of hys abiuratiō, written with his own hand in Latin,   which I haue to shew, as foloweth: MarginaliaEx Regist. Lond. fol. 37.Credo  

Commentary     Close

This can be found earlier, on page 1137 [Foxe, 1570 edition] and is Bilney's answer to the third objection against him.

plærasq̀ leges pontificias vtiles esse, necessarias, & ad pietatem quoq; plurimum promouentes, nec sacris Scripturis repugnantes, imo ab omnibus plurimum obseruandas. &c. De omnibus non possum pronunciare, vtpote quas non legi, & quas legi, nunq̃ in hoc legi, vt reprehenderem, sed vt discerem intelligere, ac pro virili facere, & docere. De multiplicitate legum, questu, est suo tempore S. Augustinus, & item Gersonus, qui mitatur quomodo nos post lapsum, inter tot laqueos Cōstitutionum, tuti esse possimus, quum primi parentes adhuc puri, & ante lapsum, vnicum præceptum non obseruarint. &c.

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Moreouer, concernyng the authoritie of the keys, thus he writeth, aunsweryng to his. 12. Article: Soli sacerdotes ordinati ritè per pontifices, habent claues, quarum virtute ligant & soluunt Marginalia* At hæc clæuis errat perperno.(* claue non errante) quod & facere eos non dubito, quamlibet sint peccatores. Nam Sacramētorum efficaciam non minuit, nedum tollit ministrorum indignitas, q̃diu ab ecclesia tolerantur. &c.  

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By these woordes of Bilney written by hym in Latine, although it may bee thought how ignoraunt and grosse he was after the rudenes of those dayes: yet by the same notwithstandyng it may appeare, how falsely he is noted and sclaūdered by M. More, and Cope my frende, to haue recanted the Articles, which he did neuer holde or mainteine otherwise in all his lyfe.  

And therfore (as I said) though it be graunted to M. More, or in his absence, to my frende Cope, that Bilney was assoyled, was confessed, and housseled, before his burnyng, yet all this argueth not that he recanted.

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MarginaliaContrary reasons to proue that Bilney did not againe recant.Now that I haue sufficiently (I trust) put of the reasons of M. More and of others, whereby they pretend falsely to face vs out, that Bilney the seconde tyme again recāted at his death:  

it remaineth on þ^e other part, that I likewise do inferre my probations, whereby I haue to argue and conuince, that Bilney did not the second tyme recante, as he is vntruly sclaundered. And first I will begyn euen with the woordes and testimonie of M. Mores owne mouth, who beyng Lord Chaūcellour when message was sent to him, for a writte of discharge to burne Bilney, speakyng in this wise to the messēgers, that came: MarginaliaMores owne wordes against him selfe.Goe your wayes (said he) and burne hym fyrst, and then afterward come to me for a bill of my hand. Which wordes may giue vs euidēce enough, that Bilney was not thought then to haue recanted, for then the Lord Chauncellour would not haue ben so greedy and hastie (no doubt) to haue him dispatched. And how standeth this with M. Mores woordes now, whiche beareth vs in hand, that hee recanted many dayes before his burnyng?

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MarginaliaProued by byshop Nixes wordes, that Bilney dyd not recant at hys burning.The like euidence we may also take by the verdite of þ^e Bishop him selfe, that burned hym: whose wordes were these. After he had burned him, and then heard tell of D. Shaxton: Christes mother, sayd he (that was his oth) I feare I haue burnt Abell, & let Cain go. &c.  

As who would say: I had thought before, that I had punished Cain, & let Abell go: but now I feare I haue burnt Abell, and let Cain escape. Whereby it is playne to vnderstande, what was the Byshops iudgement of Bilney, before his burning: that is, that he was a Cain and the other an Abell. But after the burnyng of Bilney, the Bishop hearyng nowe of Shaxton, turneth his iudgement, and correcteth him self, swearyng now the contrary: that is, lest hee had burned Abell, and let

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