Twyford a furious Papiste, & who had the same tyme the settyng vp of the stakes in Smithfield, whereat the good Saintes of God were burned.

MarginaliaTwyforde the common tormentor of the Martyrs that suffered in Smithfield.This Twyford which then kept a tauerne & had an olde grudge against þ^e said Meriall for striking his boy, hearyng these woordes, allured home to his house certeine lewed persons, to the number of x. whose names were these: Blackewell, Laurence Wilson, Thomas Clerke, Iohn Duffild, W. Keningham, Tho. Hosier, Worme a Cutler, Alen Ryse, with an other whiche was the tēth. Beside these he procured also secretly M. Chambers Clerke, whose name was Bryght. Thus when he had craftely ouercome them with wyne, and made thē to reporte, what wordes he lysted, and which they knew not them selues, the Clerke by and by receaued the same in writyng. MarginaliaFalse accusation.Whereupon this Article was gathered agaynst Meriall, that he should hold and affirme, that the Passion of Christ doth not helpe them whiche came after him, but onely them whiche were in Limbo before: and also that hee should say, that hys wife was as good, as our Lady. Vpon this writyng of the Notarye, hee was immediatly brought to Bishop Stokesley, MarginaliaMeriall wrongfully accused, and put to penaunce.and there by the deposition of these x. false witnesses, wronfully accused, & also for the same should haue bene condemned, had not Doctour Barret the same tyme, bydde him speake one woorde (whiche hee knew not) as the sentence was in readyng, wherby the condemnation was stayd, & he put to do open penaūce and to beare a Fagot. Notwithstandyng the sayd Meriall sware before the Byshop that he neuer spake nor ment any such worde as there was layd vnto him: but onely recited the wordes of the Byshops Sermon, reportyng the same in the person of the Byshop, and not his owne. Whiche also was testified to be true, by the othes of three other, to wytte, W. Tomson, Gregory Newman, and W. Wytte,MarginaliaEx testimonio testium adhuc epiuentium. who beyng in the foresayd watche the same tyme, did take vpon their othe before the Byshop, that his woordes were no other, but as is aboue declared. Which iij. witnesses yet also be liuing, w^t the wife of the foresayd Meriall, who wil yet also bee sworne that the same is true. Where as contrary the other x. false periured witnesses be all gone, and none of them all remainyng. MarginaliaGods seuere punishment vpon false persecuters.Of whom moreouer the most of all the sayd x. came to a miserable end: where as the other iij. whiche testified the truth with Meriall, be yet all liuyng, and haue sene the end of all the other. MarginaliaGods iust punishment vpō a cruell persecuter.And as for Twyford, whiche was the executioner to Fryth, Bayfild, Baynham, Tewkysbery, Lambert, and other good men, he dyed rottyng aboue the ground, that none could abyde hym, and so came to a wretched ende. Ex testimonio vxoris Meriall, W. Tomson, Greg. Newman, W. Witte. &c.

Of this malicious and peruerse dealyng of these mē, contrary to all truth and honestie, in diffamyng them for heretickes, whiche in deede are none, and with opprobrious raylyng to sclaunder their cause, which is nothing els but the simple truth of Christes Gospel, who so lysteth to search further (if these examples hetherto recited do not suffice) let hym read the story of Merindoll, and Angrongne pag. 1075. 1087. Let him consider the furious Bull of Pope Martine pag. 768. MarginaliaPope Leo. x.
The Edict of Cæsar,
Surius Carthus.
Hosius,
Lindus,
Genebrardus,
Cochlæus,
Brunus,agaynst the Lutherans.The like sclaunderous Bull also of Pope Leo x. with the Edict of Charles the Emperour agaynst Luther. Also let hym suruey the railyng storyes of Surius the Monke of Colen, the bookes of Hosius, of Lindus, the Chronologie of Genebrardus, the storye of Cochlæus against the Hussites and the Lutherans, with the Preface of Conradus Brunus þ^e lawyer prefixed before the same, MarginaliaEx Epist. Conrad. Bruni, qua præfatur in hist. Cochlei.wherein hee most falsely and vntruly raylyng agaynst these Protestantes, whom he calleth heretickes, chargeth them to be blasphemers of God and his Saintes, contēners of God and men, Churche robbers, cruell, false lyers, crafty deceauers, vnfaythfull promise breakers, disturbers of publicke peace and tranquillitie, corrupters and subuerters of common weales, and all els that naught is.

MarginaliaExamples of false accusation.In much lyke sorte was Socrates accused of his coūtreymen for a corrupter of the youth, whom Plato notwithstandyng defendeth. Aristides the iust lacked not his vniust accusers. Was it not obiected vnto S. PaulMarginaliaAct. 21.
Rom. 3.that he was a subuerter of the law of Moses, and that we might do euill þ^t good may come thereof? How was it layd to þ^e Christian Martyrs in the primitiue Church for worshippyng an Asses head, and for sacrificyng of Infantes MarginaliaRead afore pag. 81.pag. 81? And to come more neare to these our latter dayes, you heard likewyse how falsely the Christian congregation of Frenchmen gathered together in the night at Paris to celebrate the holy communion, were accused of filthie commixtion of men & wemen together, and the kyng the same tyme Henry 2. was made to beleue that beds with pillowes & mattes were foūd there in the floore where they lay together: whereupon the same tyme diuers were condemned to the fire and burned MarginaliaRead afore pag. 1049.pag. 1049. MarginaliaNo truth safe from false detraction.Finally what innocencie is so pure, or truth so perfect, whiche can be voyde of these sclaunders or criminations, when also our Sauiour Christ him selfe was noted for a wyne drinker, and a common haunter of the Publicanes? &c.

Euen so likewise it pleaseth our Lord and Sauiour Christ, to keepe vnder and to exercise his Churche vnder the like kynd of aduersaries now reignyng in the Churche, who vnder the name of the Churche will needes mainteyne a portly state and kyngdome in this world, and because they can not vphold their cause by playne Scripture, and the worde of God, they beare it out with facyng, raylyng, and sclaunderyng, makyng Princes and the simple people beleue, that all bee heretickes, schismatickes, blasphemers, rebels, and subuerters of all authoritie and common weales, who soeuer dare reply with any Scripture agaynst their doynges.

MarginaliaSuetonius in Nerone.It is written of Nero, that when hee hym selfe had burnt the Citie of Rome, vj. dayes and vij. nyghtes, hee made open proclamations that the innocent Christians had set the Citie on fire, to styrre þ^e people agaynst them, wherby he might burne and destroy them, as rebels and traytors.

Not much vnlike semeth the dealyng of these religious Catholickes, who whē they be the true heretickes them selues, and haue burnt & destroyed the Churche of Christ, make out their exclamations, Buls, briefes, articles, bookes, censures, letters, and Edictes agaynst the poore Lutherans, to make the people beleue, that they be the heretickes, schismatickes, disturbers of the whole worlde. Who if they coulde proue them as they reproue them to be heretickes, they were worthy to be heard. MarginaliaPapistes accuse the Protestantes of heresie, & they be the heretickes thē selues.But now they cry out vpon thē heretickes, and can proue no heresie: they accuse them of errour, and can proue no errour: they call them schismatickes, and what Churche since the world stode, hath bene the mother of so many schismes, as the mother Churche of Rome? They charge them with dissension and rebellion. And what dissension can be greater, then to dissent from the Scripture, and worde of God? or what rebellion is like, as to rebell agaynst the sonne of God, and agaynst the will of his eternall Testament? They are disturbers (they say) of peace, and publicke authoritie: Whiche is as true, as that the Christians set the Citie of Rome on fire. What doctrine did euer attribute so much to publicke authoritie of Magistrates, as do the Protestantes, or who euer attributed lesse to Magistrates, or deposed moe Dukes, Kynges, and Emperours, then the Papistes? They that say, that the Byshop of Rome is no more but the Byshop of Rome, and ought to weare no crowne, is not by and by a rebell agaynst his king, & Magistrates, but rather a mainteiner of their authoritie, whiche in deede the Byshop of Rome can not abyde. MarginaliaA measure betwen the Protestantes and the Papistes, to try whether of thē ij. bee the greater heretickes.Briefly, wilt thou see whether be the greater heretickes, the Protestantes, or the Papistes? Let vs try it by a measure, and let this measure be the glory onely of the sonne of God, whiche can not