my Papists these blockheades, that I wil put thē to their proufes, but onely that they will shew me at least my errour, that is, that they will shewe me if they know what it is that they them selues do pratle of, or haue any feeling of their own doings. For so long as they assigne me no hereticall Article, I am at free libertie to denye what Article so euer they lay vnto me to be hereticall, and say it is Catholicke.

MarginaliaThe brutishe distinction of the Papistes betwene articles hereticall, erroneous, sclaunderous, and offensiue.Agayne, what a rudenes is it in this wicked and doltishe Antichrist worthy to bee laughed at, where as these drummedaries do distincte hereticall Articles from those that be erroneous, and the erroneous from offensiue, and those agayne from sclaunderous? By the which subtile distinction of these grosseheaded doltes, this we do gather, that that Article whiche is erroneous, is not hereticall. And if it be not hereticall, what doth it thē apperteyne to these Ecclesiasticall condemners, whiche ought to condemne those thinges onely, which bee hereticall. For that which is not hereticall, is Catholicke, as Christ hym selfe sayth: He that is not agaynst vs, is vvith vs. MarginaliaLuke. 9.Yea I would wishe that these ioly Sophisters would shewe me in all the Church an Article that is erroneous and not hereticall: MarginaliaHereticall.for if it be erroneous it differreth nothyng from hereticall, but only in stiffenes of defendyng. For all thynges be equally either true or false, although affection in some one thyng, which is true or false, may be greater or lesser. MarginaliaErroneous.Ye see therfore agayne how these mē for all their bragging Buls, are not hable to produce me one Article whiche is erroneous and not hereticall, and yet lyke brainsicke men they will nedes bable they know not them selues what, condemnyng that which they finde erroneous and not hereticall: whiche can not stand either in matter or in wordes: so that such as are the Articles, such is the condemnation.

MarginaliaScandalous.The like wisedome also they shewe in affirmyng that to be scandalous, which is neither hereticall nor erroneous. That Article I would faine see either in my bokes or in þ^e wordes & workes of any writer els frō the beginnyng of þ^e world to þ^e latter end. What made my Papistes then to excogitate these so prodigious mōsters, but only their monstrous furye & madnes? Vnlesse peraduenture they meane those Articles so to be scādalous, as cōmonly all true & Catholicke Articles are wont to be. For what is more scandalous then veritie? Yea onely truth & veritie is scandalous to all proud and senseles persons, as is sayd of Christ. 1. Cor. 1. VVe preach (sayth S. Paule) Christ crucified, a stumblyng stone to the Ievves, & to the Gentils foolishnes.Marginalia1. Cor. 1. And Luke. 2. He is set to bee the fall and rysing vp of many in Israell. MarginaliaLuke. 2.Wherfore, where as my Papistes do distinguish scandalous Articles from hereticall and erroneous, and for asmuch as that whiche is not hereticall nor erroneous, must nedes be Catholicke and true: it foloweth therof that these scandalous Articles be vnderstanded and condemned of them for such as be very Catholicke & sound. O worthy condēnation & meete for the Papistes. Marke here good reader, the impiety of these blynd bussardes: whether they role them selues: how they deride & mocke them selues: how easely they are taken in their owne wordes: how fonde and foolishe they are in all their studyes, not onely in not prouyng any errour or sclaunder in these Articles, but also in goyng about onely to expresse them: how they cast out thynges impossible and most foolishly repugnant to them selues. Where is then, thou most presumptuous and shameles Bull, thy doltishe respectiue now become? Whether respectedst thou? Verely into the bottomles pitte of impietie, and thine owne brutishe stoliditie.

MarginaliaOffensiue.The lyke also is to be sayd touchyng the Articles offensiue, whiche must be neither sclaūderous, neither erroneous, nor hereticall, seyng they are distincted by such great Rabbines. Who will not now maruel at the deepe and profound wisedome of these Papistes, whiche could fynde out that to be offensiue in the Churche, whiche is neither false, neither heretical, nor sclaūderous: but true, sounde, Catholicke and edifying, and yet must that also be condemned? And who would not now desire and couet to be condemned also of such harebraynd Idiotes, who by their owne condemnyng do vtter them selues to approue thynges damnable, and to condemne thynges iustifiable, that is, whiche openly shewe them selues, to theyr owne great ignominy and shame, to be more senseles thē stockes, rockes, or blockes. Go ye now therfore, O ye impious and braynlesse Papistes, and if you will nedes write, shewe your selues more sober: for this Bull (it appeareth) was spued out in your night feastes amonges your drabbes and harlottes, or els hudled vp in the Canicular dayes or madde mydsommer Moone: For neuer were there any disserdes that would shew thē selues so madde.

MarginaliaThe Popes dyrt cast in his owne teeth.Let vs now returne this dyrt of Antichrist & cast it in hys owne teeth, and of hys owne wordes let vs Iudge hym & condēne him, that hereafter he may learne to take better heede & be better aduised in hys lying. For as the prouerbe sayth, a lyer had neede to haue a good memory. If some Articles be offēsyue, and other hereticall, and thou condemnest hym whiche is no hereticke, and consequently a true Catholicke, although he be sixe hundreth times offensyue, doth not thy shameles mouth then condemne thy selfe, not onely of heresie, but of extreme impiety, blasphemy and treason agaynst Gods holy truth, shewyng thy selfe to bee the man in deede whiche is the Aduersary, and is extolled aboue all that which is called God, or is worshypped? Art not thou then the mā of synne and the sonne of perdition, which denyeth God hys redemer, and taketh away the loue of truth, to stablishe the settyng forth of hys errour, for men to beleue iniquitie, as Paul foretold? Marginalia1. Theß. 2.For if þ^e Article be not hereticall, it can not be offensyue or sclaunderous, but onely to such heretickes as Antichrist is, and Satanistes of all pietie. See therefore how this shameles and moste foolishe Bull, whiles it condemneth in me one thyng to be hereticall and an other offensyue, doth manifestly declare the authors thereof to be true heretickes & the enemyes of God in dede. So that now it may appeare, that there is no knowledge nor coūsel against the Lord, seing blynd impiety is thus caught in the wordes of his owne mouth: so truely it is sayd, that hee which casteth vp a stone on hygh, it falleth down agayn vpō his own pate.MarginaliaProuerb. 21.

MarginaliaThe Pope vtreth hys own wickednes.And (whiche is chiefest of all) by this their wicked contradiction it commeth to passe, that the cogitations of their own hartes be reueiled, & that they them selues chiefly do vtter & disclose their owne wickednes which they couet most to conceile, that all men may see how ready they are to condemne all veritie euen at once. For when they affirme such Articles to bee hereticall, which neither they cā, not know, nor yet dare shew or name to be hereticall, what haue we therby to vnderstād but that they are the aduersaryes of Christ from the bottome of theyr harts, and ready to impugne all truth, and yet notwithstandyng with theyr damnable hypocrisie they pretende them selues to be condemners of heresies? Learne, learne ye beetell headed asses with your blusteryng Bulls, learne I say, what it is, Christ to be a signe of cōtradiction and a stone of offence. MarginaliaLuke. 2.
1. Pet. 2.
How soone and easely is all your inward impietie and your ignominy disclosed with the same couert of wordes, wherwith in vayne ye went about to cloke the same? Thus then haue we here proued by this first and manifest argument, that the foresayd Bull procedeth from none other, then very Antichrist hym selfe, the chiefest aduersary of God and of all godlines. And now let either Eccius or þ^e Pope acknowledge if he dare, & then consider what opinion we ought to haue of hym, or what name to gyue hym: in whom all cursed names, as in one heape, do concurre together and agree, as impietie, blasphemy, ignoraunce, folishnes, hypocrisie, lying, briefly Sathā him self with his Antichrist.

MarginaliaThe Popes Bull condemneth also such bookes of M. Luthers which haue no errour.Neither doth this impiety any thyng lesse appeare in that also whiche I will now say. For this worshypfull Bull decreeth in playne and most impudent wordes, that those bookes also of mine ought to be burned, in the whiche are no errours conteyned, to the ende that the memory of me may be vtterly rooted out. Canst thou O Christē reader, now doubt that the great Dragon of hell him self speaketh in this Bul? It is an old prouerbe, that þ^e asse syngeth therfore euill fauouredly, because he taketh his note to hye. So this Bull in lyke maner should haue pyped more tunably, if she had not set vp her blasphemous throte so open agaynst heauen, so impudently and deuilishly condemnyng also the manifest and euident truth. For hetherto Sathan when soeuer he oppressed the truth, did it vnder the colour of truth: but this man of synne, the Aduersary which is extolled aboue God, without all colour, not priuely but apertly, and that in the open Church of God, without all shame taketh vpon hym to condemne, and commaundeth to be burned the syncere veritie of Christ knowne and allowed both of him & of all others. What could be more done amongest the Turkes? What place is this woorthy of (I pray thee) but the depe dungeon of hell? MarginaliaThe Papistes pretend to know & maintayne the veritie of Christ, and yet can not abyde it.And are ye not afeard ye Antichristes, with your brutish Bulles, least stones and trees should sweat with bloud, at the most horrible sight of this your execrable impietie and blasphemy?