(in) then in the holy Ghost.

Then sayd one of the Lawyers. Tush, that was but a worde of office. But what is your belefe concernyng holy churche?

The Lord Cobham aunswered. My belefe is (as I sayd afore) that all the scriptures of the sacred Bible are true. All that is grounded vpon them I beleue throughly. For I know, it is Gods pleasure that I should so do. MarginaliaThe Lord Cobhā beleueth not in the pope.But in your Lordly lawes & idell determinations, haue I no beliefe. For ye be no part of Christes holy churche, as your open dedes doth shewe: But ye are very Antichristes, obstinatly set agaynst his holy law and wil. The lawes that ye haue made, are nothyng to his glory, but onely for your vayne glory & abhominable couetousnes.

This they sayd, was an exceadyng heresie MarginaliaAn heresy after the Papistes.(and that in a great fume) not to beleue the determination of holy Churche.

Then the Archbishop asked hym, what he thought of holy Church?

MarginaliaHoly church defined.He sayd vnto him: My beliefe is, that holy church is the member of them, which shall be saued, of whō Christ is the head. Of this church, one part is in heauen wyth Christ, an other in Purgatory (you say) and the third, is here in earth. MarginaliaConsidre him to be then in shrewed handling.Thys latter part standeth in thre degrees, in knighthood, or priesthood, and the cōmunaltie, as I sayd afore plainly in the confession of my beliefe.

Then sayde the Archbishop vnto him: Can you tell me, who is of this church?

The Lord Cobham answered: Yea truly can I.

MarginaliaWalden contra Wicleuistas. li. ar. 2. Cap. 67.Then sayde doctour Walden the Prior of the Carmolites: It is doubt vnto you who is thereof. MarginaliaHowe we may iudge or not iudg by the scriptures.For Christ saith in Mathew: Nolite iudicare, presume to iudge no man. If ye be here forbiddē the iudgemēt of your neighbour or brother, much more the iudgement of your superiour.

The Lord Cobham made him this aunswer: Christ sayth also in the selfe same chapter of Mathew, that like as the euill tree is knowen by his fruit, so is a false Prophet by his workes, appeare they neuer so glorious: MarginaliaMath. 7.But that ye left behind ye. And in Iohn he hath this text: Operibus credite, MarginaliaIohn. 1.beleue you the outward doinges. And in an other place of Iohn: Iustum iudicium iudicate, MarginaliaIohn. 7.
Deut. 1.when we know the thing to be true, we maye so iudge it, and not offende. For Dauid sayd also: Recte iudicate filii hominū MarginaliaPsal. 56.Iudge rightly alwayes ye children of men. And as for your superioritie, were ye of Christ, ye should be meeke Ministers, and no proud superiours.

MarginaliaDiuersitie of iudgementes.Then sayd doctour Walden vnto him: ye make here no difference of iudgementes. Ye put no diuersitie betwene þ^e euill iudgementes which Christ hath forbiddē, and the good iudgementes, which he hath commaunded vs to haue. Rash iudgement and right iudgement, all is one with you. So swift iudges alwayes are the learned scholers of Wickliffe.

MarginaliaA perfite aunswere.Vnto whom the Lord Cobham thus answered: It is wel sophistried of you, forsoth. Preposterous are your iudgements euermore. For as the Porphet Esay saith, ye iudge euill, good, & good, euill. MarginaliaEsay. 5.And therfore the same Prophet concludeth, that your wayes are not Gods wayes, nor Gods wayes your wayes. MarginaliaEsay. 55.And as for that vertuous mā Wickliffe, whose iudgements ye so highly disdayne: I shal say here for my part, both before god and man, that before I knewe that despised doctrine of his, I neuer abstayned from sinne. But since I learned therein to feare my Lord God, it hath otherwyse I trust bene with me: so much grace coulde I neuer finde in all your glorious instructions.

MarginaliaWalden in prefatione, doctrina. 7Then sayd doctor Walden agayne yet vnto hym: It were not well with me (so many vertuous men liuing) and so many learned men teaching the scripture, beyng also so open, and the examples of fathers so plēteous: MarginaliaA great aduersary.If I then had no grace to amende my life, tyll I hearde thedeuill preache. Saint Hierome saith, that he whych seeketh such suspected maisters, shall not finde the mydday light, but the midday deuill.MarginaliaHieroni. in breuiari in minori.

The Lord Cobham sayd: Your fathers the old Phariseis, ascribed Christes miracles to Belzebub, and hys doctrine to þ^e deuill. MarginaliaLuke. xi.
Iohn. x.And you as their naturall childrē, haue styll the self same iudgemēt, concerning his faithfull followers. They that rebuke your vicious liuing, must nedes be heretickes, and that must your doctours proue, when you haue no scripture to doo it. MarginaliaDoctours whē the scripture fayle, they beginne to rayle.Then sayd he to them all: To iudge you as ye be, we neede no further go, thē to your own proper actes. Where do ye find in all Gods law, þ^t ye should thus sit in iudgement of any Christen mē, or yet geue sentence vpon any other mā vnto death, as ye do here dayly? MarginaliaThe clergye to sit on lyfe or death, hath no ground in scriptures. Followers of Cayphas.No groūd haue ye in all þ^e scriptures so lordly to take it vpō you, but in Annas & Cayphas, which sat thus vpō Christ, & vpō his Apostles after his ascensiō. Of thē onely haue ye taken it to iudge Christs mēbers as ye do, & neyther of Peter nor Iohn.

Then sayd some of the Lawyers: Yes forsoth Syr, for Christ iudged Iudas.

The Lord Cobham said: No, Christ iudged him not, but he iudged himselfe: and thereupon went foorth, and so did hang himselfe. But in deede Christ sayd, wo vnto him, for that couetous act of his, as he doth yet still vnto many of you. For since the venime of him was shed into the church, ye neuer folowed Christ: neyther yet haue ye stand in the perfection of Gods law.

Then the Archbishop asked him, what hee ment by that venime?

The L. Cobhā sayd: your possessions & lordships. For then cryed an Angel in þ^e ayre (as your own chronacles mencioneth) wo, wo, wo: this day is venim shed into the church of God. Before that time, all þ^e bishops of Rome were Martyrs in a maner. Marginalia26. Bishops of Rome together martyrs. saue onely. 4.And since that time, we read of very few. MarginaliaA cōparison betwene the martyrs & the popes tyme.But in dede since that same time, one hath put downe an other, one hath poysoned an other, one hath cursed an other, and one hath slayne an other, and done much more mischiefe besides, as all the Chronicles telleth. MarginaliaA cōparison betwene Christ & the pope.And let all men consider well thys, that Christ was meeke and mercyfull. The Pope is proude, and a tyraunt. Christ was poore and forgaue. The Pope is rich and a malicious manslear, as hys daylye actes doo proue him. MarginaliaRome is Antichristes neast.Rome is the very neast of Antichrist, and out of that neast, cōmeth all the disciples of him. Of whom prelats, priestes, & Monkes, are the body, and these pilde friers are the tayle which couereth his most filthy part.

Then said the prior of the friers Augustines: Alacke sir, why do you say so? That is vncharitably spoken.

And the Lord Cobham sayd. Not only is it my saying, but also the prophet Esayes, longe afore my time. MarginaliaEsa. 9.The prophet saith he, which preacheth lies, is the tayl behinde. MarginaliaFryers proued sedicious and yet found no traytours.For as your friers & monkes be (like Phariseis) deuided in your outward aparell & vsages, so make ye diuision among the people. And thus, you with such other, are the very naturall members of Antichriste.

Then sayd he vnto them all: Christ sayeth in his gospell. Wo vnto you Scribes and Phareseis, Ipocrites: For ye close vp the kingdome of heauen before men. MarginaliaMath. 23.Nether enter ye in your selues, nor yet suffer any other that would enter into it. MarginaliaThe religion of byshops.But ye stop vp the wayes thereunto with your own traditions, and therfore are ye the housholde of Antichriste: ye will not permitte Gods verity to haue passage, nor yet to be taught of his true ministers, fearing to haue your wickednes reproued. But by such vaine flatterers as vphold you in your mischiefes, ye suffer the common people most miserably to be seduced.

Then sayde the Archbishop. By our ladye sir, there shall none such preach within my diocesse (and God wil) nor yet in my iurisdictiō (if I may know it) as either maketh diuision or yet dissention among the poore cōmōs.MarginaliaNote I pray you howe those are coūted traytours, and seditious, that teach or cause Gods truth to be taught.

The Lord Cobham sayd. Both Christ & his Apostles