MarginaliaAn. 1555. Iuly.And he sayd, you know that you tooke downe the Tabernacle or seelyng wherin the roode did hang, and such other thynges: we would know what recompence you will make vs. For the Queenes procedynges are (as you know) that such must vp agayne.  

Quoth I, I know no such procedynges as yet: and as for all that I dyd, I dyd it by commaundement.

No sayd Thomas Austen: ye will not know the Queenes proceedynges.

Yes sayd I, I refuse not to know them.  

Thē sayd Richard, MarginaliaTho. Austen & R. Austen picke matter against M. Bland.ye are against the Queens procedynges: for you sayd that there are abominable vses and deuilishnes in the Masse.

Goodman Austen sayd I, if I so sayd, I will say it agayne, and God willyng, stand to the proofe of it.

Masters all, quoth Richard Austen, beare record of these wordes, and went his way.

Quoth Thomas Austen, thou wilt as soone eate this booke, as stand to thē. No quoth I, not so soone. MarginaliaM. Bland charged for speaking agaynst the Masse.Tell vs quoth he, what that deuilishnes is, that is in the Masse.

I haue oftē preached it vnto you sayd I, and ye haue not beleued it, nor borne it away, nor will now neither, though I should tell you.

Thou, quoth he, hast told vs alwayes lyke an hereticke, as thou art. Now ye lye goodman Austen, quoth I, by your leaue. Mary quoth he, thou lyest. And I said, and you lye: for I haue taught you CHRIST and his truth.

Quoth he, thou art an hereticke, and hast taught vs nothing but heresy: for thou cāst say nothing þ^t is true.

Yes goodman Austen, I can say that God is in heauen, and ye wyll say (I trow)  

that it is true, & so haue I taught you truly.

MarginaliaFalse accusation.Quoth he, thou hast taught vs like an hereticke, and hast sayd that there is no Deuill in hell.

Wel sayd I, lye on: me thinke ye can say litle truth. Many other tauntes hee gaue, to long to write. And at the last he sayd, ye pulled downe the aultar: wyll ye build it againe? No (quoth I) except I be commaunded: for I was commaunded to do that I dyd.

Wel, if you will not (sayd he) then will I. For I am churchwarden.

I charge you, sayd I, that you do not, except you haue authority. I will, said he, not let for your charge. For we wyll haue Masse here on Sonday, and a Preacher that shal proue thee an hereticke, if thou dare abide his commyng.MarginaliaTho. Austen threatneth to bring in a Popish preacher agaynst M. Bland.

Yes quoth I, God wylling, I wyll abide, and heare him: for sure I am that hee cannot disproue any doctrine that I haue preached.

Yes, quoth he, and that thou shalt heare, if you run not away ere then.

No good man Austen, I wyll not runne away.

Mary, quoth he, I cannot tell: thou art as lyke yea, as nay: wyth many other wordes, we came out of the church doore, and so departed.

When the Sonday came, I looked for our Preacher  

and at the time of morning prayer I sayd to þ^e Clarke: Why do ye not ryng? ye forget that wee shall haue a sermon to day. No, quoth he, Master Milles seruaunt hath bene here this morning, and sayd his Master hath letters from my Lord Chauncellour, that he must go to London, and can not come. That day I did preach to them a Sermon in hys stede. MarginaliaFalse slaunder agaynst M. Bland.Now haue they sclaūdered me that I had prepared a company from diuers places to haue troubled hym: but they agreed not in their lye. For some sayd, I had them at Adesham, and that Richard Austen had knowledge, and sent for the Kinges Constable to see the peace kept, which is found a lye. Other sayd I had them lying in wayte for hym betwene Canterbury and Adesham: other sayd, I had thē in both places, that if the one mist, the other should not. God forgeue them all. Now vpon these two matters they cracke,   that they sent two bils of complaynt to the Counsell. Wherefore by the counsell of frendes,

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I made this testimony, and sent it vp by M. Wiseman.

MarginaliaMaster Bland person of Adesham cleareth himselfe of the false slaunder.VVHere as vpon certayne communication had betwene the sayd Person and Richard Austen, and Tho. Austen, in þ^e presence of all þ^e parish of Adesham, the Sonday before S. Andrewes day last,  

þ^e said Austen then declared, that the sayd Parson had taught ther in tymes past great heresies, which to confounde they would prepare a Preacher agaynst the next Sondaye following, if so be the sayd Parson woulde abide, and not runne away. Vpon which rumor, diuers and sundry persons resorted out of þ^e countrey vnto the said parishe church, at the sayd same day appointed, there to heare the Preacher: and at the time in which the Sermō ought to be made, no mā appeared there to preach. But it was reported vnto the Parson, that the Preacher appointed, had vrgent busines, & could not come. So that the multitude being now come together, the same Parson perceiuing that the peoples expectation was defrauded, sayd: For as much as you are come willingly to heare some good aduertisment of the Preacher, which now cannot be present, I thinke it not conuenient to permit you to depart wythout some exhortation for your edifying. And so further declaring that he had no licence to preach, sayd that he would not medle with any matter in controuersy. And then hee began the Epistle of the day, MarginaliaMaster Bland exhorting the people to loue and quietnes.desiring his audience to marke three or foure places in the same Epistle, which touched quietnes and loue one to an other: and there briefly reading the Epistle, he noted the same places, & so making an end therof, desired all men to depart quietly and in peace, as they did, without any maner of disturbance or token of euyll.

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Witnesses the vnder named, with diuers others.

Edmond Mores.   Commentary     Close Morres and Forstall had been among the radical protestants examined by the privy council about the Freewillers in Kent (BL, Harley 419, fos. 133r-134v, printed in Champlin Burrage, ed., The Early English Dissenters (2 vols., Cambridge, 1912), pp. 1-6). Bland's parish clerk, Laurence Ramsey, was also one of these Kentish radicals. [Back to Top] Richard Randall. Iohn Hils.

William Forstall. Thomas Gooding.

MarginaliaThe third matter agaynst M. Bland.VPpon the Innocentes day,  

being the xxviij. day of December: they had procured the Priest of Stodmarsh to saye them Masse: hee had nye made an end of Mattins ere I came: and when he had made an end of Mattens, he sayd to me: MarginaliaA Popish massepriest of Stodmarsh brought to say masse at Adesham.Master Parson, your neighbours haue desyred me to say Mattens, and Masse: I trust ye will not be agaynst the Queenes proceedinges: no, quoth I, I will offend none of the Queenes maiesties lawes, God willing. What say ye, quoth he, and made as he had not heard? and I spake þ^e same wordes to hym agayne, with an hyer voyce: but hee would not heare, when all in the Chaūcell heard: So I cryed the thyrd tyme (that all the church heard) that I would not offend the Queenes lawes: and then hee went to Masse: and when he was reading the Epistle, I called the clerke vnto me, with the becking of my finger, and sayd vnto hym: I pray you desyre the priest, when Gospell is done to tary a little: I haue something to say to the people: and the clarke did so.

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And the priest came downe into the stall, where hee sat: and I stoode vp in the Chauncell doore, MarginaliaMaister Bland agayne exhorteth the people in his parish church.& spake to the people of the great goodnes of god, alwaies shewed vnto his people, vnto the tyme of Christes comming: and in him, and his comming, what benefite they past, we present, and our successours haue: and among other benefites, I spake of the great and comfortable sacrament of his body and bloud. MarginaliaBland speaketh of the right institution of the Sacramēt of the lords supper.And after I had declared briefly the institution, the promise of lyfe to the good and damnation to the wicked, I spake of the bread, and wine, affirming thē to be bread & wyne after the consecration, as yonder Masse booke doth, saying: Panem

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