MarginaliaAn. 1555. Aprill.same to be true in euery part therof.

To the. v. article he aunswereth and confesseth, that his cōscience being greatly offēded with þ^e said Sir Ioh. Cheltham priest, for ministring of the sacrament of the aultar to the people at the place and tyme specified in this article, MarginaliaThe order of Flowers striking the Priest at the aultar.he did smyte and did strike the same priest with his hanger or woodknife, aswell vppon his head, as vpon other partes and places of his body, which he remembreth not, whereby the bloud ran out, and was shed in the sayd Church, as he beleueth, hauyng as he sayth, none other cause or matter so to do, but onely that his conscience was offended and greued, MarginaliaNote that the sayd W. Flower afterward in hys next appearance corrected and reformed this answere.in that the same Priest dyd so geue and minister the sayd Sacrament to the people: which people hee beleueth was greatly abashed and offended with his sayd facte and doing, and were enforced and compelled to go out of the church, and to repaire to an other to receaue the sayd sacrament. And further, being then demaunded and examined, whether he dyd then mynde and intend to haue kylled the sayd Priest or not, MarginaliaFlower wyll not answere whether he entended to kill the Priest.he sayd he would not aunswer thereunto. And beyng further examined whether he dyd well or euill in striking the said Priest, he would make no aunswer thereunto as he sayd.

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To the sixt he aunswereth and sayth, that whether he be so excommnnicate or accursed, as is contayned in this article, he referreth hym selfe herein to the ecclesiasticall lawes.

To the seuenth he aunswereth and saith, that by the space of these. xxvj. yeares now past, hee hath alwayes bene, and yet is of this opinion touching the sayd sacrament of the aultar, as foloweth, videlicet: that in the sacrament of the aultar, after the wordes of consecration, there is not really, truly, and in very dede conteyned vnder the forme of bread, the very true naturall body of our Sauiour Iesus Christ.

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To the eight he aunswereth, and beleueth the same to be true in euery part thereof.

To the ninth he aunswereth, and herein hee referreth hym selfe to the sayd lawes, custome, and ordināce specified in this article, that is to say, the Canonicall lawes.

To the last he aunswereth and beleueth, that those thinges before by hym confessed, be true, and those which he hath denied, be vntrue: and that the said cōmon voice and fame hath and doth onely labour and go vpon those thinges by hym before confessed.

By me W. Flower, alias Branch.

After this examination done, the bishop began after the best sort of hys fine diuinity to instruct hym, MarginaliaW. Flower exhorted to recant.and to exhort him to returne againe to þ^e vnity of his mother þ^e catholicke church, with such reasons as he is commonly wont to vse to others, promising many fayre things if he would so do, besides the remitting of þ^t was past.

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To this W. Flower aūswering againe, thanked him for hys offer: MarginaliaW. Flower refuseth to reuoke his fayth and doctrine.and where it was in hys power to kill or not to kyll hys body, he stoode therewith contented, let hym do therein what he thought: yet ouer hys soule he had no such power, which being once seperated frō the body, is in the handes of no man but onely of God, eyther to saue or spyll. As concerning hys opinion of the sacrament, he sayd he would neuer go from that he had spoken, do he wyth hym what he would.

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Then the bishop assigned hym agayne to appeare in the same place at after noone betwixt. iij. or. iiij. In the meane tyme to aduise hym selfe of hys former aunsweres, whether he woulde stand to the same hys opinions or no: which if he so dyd, he would further proceede agaynst him. &c.

At after noone the sayd W. Flower appeared agayne before the sayd bishop,MarginaliaAn other appearaunce of W. Flower before Byshop Boner. the houre and place appointed. To whom the bishop sitting in hys Consistorye, spake these wordes: Branch, ye were this forenoone here before me, and made aunswer to certayne articles: and thereupon I respited you tyll nowe, to the entent you

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should consider and weigh wyth your selfe your state, and to remember whyle you haue tyme, both your abominable act, and also that euil opinion which ye haue conceiued touching the verity of Christes true natural body in the sacrament of the aultar.

To whom the sayd Branch aunswered agayne, and sayd as followeth; MarginaliaWilliam Flower standeth to hys doctrine.That which I haue sayd, I wyll stand to: and therefore I requyre that the lawe may proceede agaynst me. Whereupon the bishop cōmaunded hys Notarie (Harward by name) to reade to hym agayne his articles, as before. Which being read, the sayd W. Flower persisting in hys godly sentence, aunswered to all partes of the articles, as in the forenoone before, saue onely that he requested the bishop concerning the. v. article, he might alter something hys aunswer therein, after this tenor and maner of wordes, to wyt: And  

moreouer cōfesseth & sayth, that where as he stroke þ^e Priest on Easter day last past in S. Margets church in Westminster, MarginaliaFlower misliked his owne act in striking the Priest.hee hath since that tyme, and yet doth mislike hym selfe in that doing, and doth now iudge and beleue, that the same hys act was euyll and nought. Howbeit he sayth and beleueth, that as for the matter and cause wherefore hee so stroke the sayd Priest (which was for ministring of the sacrament of the aultar, which he taketh and iudgeth abominable) he dyd, nor doth mislike hymselfe at all therein.

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Moreouer, hee desireth of the sayd bishop licence to be graunted him, to alter and take out somwhat of the ix. article, and in place thereof these wordes to bee placed, to wit: MarginaliaFlower reformeth his answere to the 9. article.Herein he referreth him selfe to the lawes custome, and ordinaunce specified in this article. &c. At which request Boner graunted to the alteryng of both the articles, accordyng as he desired, and so put in the Actes.

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After this, the bishop turning agayne to hys old maner of exhorting, went about with words ( and wordes onely) to perswade hym to submit hym selfe to the catholicke church, and to the fayth thereof. Which al his perswasions notwithstanding, William remayned styl in the constancie of his sentence, saying, that he would not be remoued from that he had spoken, to dye therefore. Wherupon the bishop assigned hym the next day (being the. xx. of Apryll) to appeare in the same day and place, betwixt the houres of. viij. and. ix. before noone, there and then to heare the sentence pronounced, in case he would not relent. &c.

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MarginaliaThe last appearance of William Flower, before B. Boner.IN þ^e which day, houre and place, the sayd William Flower, as he was appoynted, was brought by hys keeper, belonging to the Warden of the Fleete before Boner: who after hys wonted maner of perswasion, going about to reduce hym to hys catholicke Churche, and the vnity therof, that is, from Christ to Antichrist: sometimes with faire promises alluryng, sometymes wyth manasses and terrors fearing hym. &c. To thys William aunswering, sayd on this wyse: MarginaliaWilliam Flowers constancy.Do what ye wyll, I am at a point: For the heauens shall as soone fall, as I wyll forsake myne opinion. &c. Whereupon the bishop after he had commaunded these woordes to be registred, called for the Depositions of certayn wytnesses, producted for the better informatiō of this matter, þ^e names of which witnesses were these: MarginaliaWitnes produced agaynst William Flower.William Ieninges, I. Bray, Rob. Graunt, Richard Dodde, William Pampion, Robert Smalwood, the Parishe Priest of S. Margets at Westminster. The summe & effect of whose depositions being taken, published and denounced (as in the booke of our former edition is expressed at large, pag. 1138.) the sayd Bishop speakyng to William Flower asked hym, if he knew any matter or cause why his sentence should not be read, and he to be pronounced as an hereticke.

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Wherunto William Flower aunswered agayne, as foloweth: I haue nothyng at all to say. For I haue