The summe of the which writing of the Archbishop tendeth to this effect. That for somuch as the Pope hearing of the life and miracles of Gilbert, maister of the order of Sempringham, by sufficient witnes and testimonies hath in his letters commaūded him by the aduise of his Cardinals, that the sayd Gilbert shoulde bee canonised and ascribed in the Cataloge of saintes, and that his solemnitie should be celebrate solemnly throughout al the prouince of Canterbury. And also his bodye to be taken vp and shrined to the honour and glory of God: MarginaliaIs this good doctrine maister Cope, in the popes canonisation?He therfore at the Popes commaūdement writing vnto them, willeth all the Suffragans within his prouince of Caūterbury yearelye to solemnise, and cause to be solemnised reuerently the deposition of the sayde Saint Gilbert Confessor: to the entent that their deuotion may bee commended of the Lord, and of hym. And also, that the humble intercession of the sayd saint may profit them to their saluation.

Furthermore, for the more full canonising (cāuising I had almost said) of this new made saint, the said Pope Innocent writing to Hubert aforesaid, adioyneth withall a collect of his own making, which is this: MarginaliaThe blasphemous collect of the popes making for S. Gilbert.Plenam in nobis eterne saluator tuæ virtutis operare medelam, vt qui præclara beati Gilberti confessoris tui merita veneramur, ipsius adiuti suffragus a cunctis animarum nostrarum languoribus liberemur. Qui viuis et regnas. &c. that is: work in vs O eternall sauiour full remedy of thy vertue, that we which worship the worthy merites of blessed Gilbert thy confessour, being succoured by his suffrages, maye be deliuered from all languors & diseases of our soules, who liuest and raygnest. &c.

The cōsecration of this one saint (who perhaps was not the woorst) I thought here to commemorate, MarginaliaCopus. pag. 819. lin. 7.to the entent that the Reader measuring by this one, the canonisation of all the rest, may iudge the better vpō this cōparison of maister Cope, whether of vs doth vendicate more impudent autoritie, the Pope in his Calendar, or I in myne: or to make the comparison more fit, whether is more impudent the Pope in his Calender, or els maister Cope in his Dialogues more doltish.

But briefly to make an end of this matter with you to canonise or to authorise any sanctes, for man it is presumptuous: to prescribe any thyng here to bee worshypped, beside God alone, it is idolatrous: to set vp any mediatours but Christ onely, it is blasphemous. And what so euer the pope doth or hath done in his Calendare, my purpose in my Calendare was neither to deface any old sancte, or to solemnise any newe. In my booke of Actes and Monumentes, entreatyng of matters passed in the churche, these latter v. hundreth yeares, I did regulate out a Calēdare, not for any Canon to constitute sanctes, but onely for a table of them, whiche within the same tyme dyd suffer for the testimonie of the woorde, whom I did and do take to be good and Godly mē. If any haue other iudgement of them, I binde no man to my opiniō, as the Pope doth to his. The day will come whiche shall iudge both them and you. MarginaliaCope counsailed to cease his raylyng.In the meane season it shall be best for you (maister Cope) in my iudgement to kepe a good tongue in your head, and to quiet your raylyng mode. A hard thyng it is to iudge before the Lord. Mans iudgement may faile and is vncertaine, the iudgement of God is alwayes sure. Best is therfore either to be sure by the word and iudgement of God before, what you do say, or els to say the best. MarginaliaNo good commeth of raylyng.Of such slaunderous, & intemperate rayling, can come no good, neither to them whom ye rayle vpon: nor to your selfe, which raileth: nor to the churche of God that heareth you rayle. For them you cā not hurt, they are gone. To your selfe, and though your matter be true, yet litle honesty it will bryng, to be coūted a rayler, and if it be vncertaine, your state is daungerous, and if it be false, most miserable: And as to the churche, what great edification can procede of such con-tentious braulyng and barkyng one agaynst an other, I do not greatly see. And if þ^e zeale of the Bishop of Romes church haue so much swalowed you vp, þ^t ye can not but stampe & stare at traytours when ye see them put in Calendars: first (maister Cope) be ye sure first þ^t they be traitours, wisdome would whom you call traytours. And if ye can so proue them (as ye haue not yet) then let your Ireneus, or Critobulus tell me, why doth not this flagrant zeale of yours, as hoate as Purgatory, burne out, and flame as well agaynst your owne traytours, hauyng so many in your owne Calendare and churche at home?

MarginaliaThe zeale of M. Cope expended.And if there be such a catholicke zeale in you, þ^t hath set your gentle breast on such a peltyng chafe, why thē is not this your catholicke zeale equally indifferēt? Why take ye on so fell on the one side agaynst Syr Iohn Oldcastle, Syr Roger Acton M. Browne. &c? A man would thinke, you played Hercules furens in Orchestra. On the other side agayne ye are Oleo tranquillior. What indifferencie (M. Cope) call you this? Or what zeale make you this to bee? Albeit your zeale, I iudge not, as I knowe it not. Swift iudgement shall not become me, whiche go about to correct the same in you. But this I exhorte you, to beware (maister Cope) that by your owne frutes and doinges euident, ye do not bewray this zeale in you to be Non secundum scientiam, nor such a zeale as fighteth Pro domo Dei, sed pro domo Pōtificis. As I said I iudge you not. You haue your iudge to whom ye stand or fall. My counsaile is, that ye doo not so zeale the Byshop of Rome, that for his sake, ye lose your own soule. Ye remēber the old vulgare voyce, it is not good Ludere cum sanctis, woorse it is Illudere: worst of all it is Debacchari in immerentes: Because that Deus ipse vltionum Dominus many tymes taketh their cause in hand, accordyng as it is written: Opprobria opprobrantium tibi ceciderunt in me. i. The rebukes of thy rebukers fell vpon me. And seldome haue I sene any such blasphemous railers against the end or punishment of Gods sanctes and seruauntes, without great repentaunce, to come to any good ende them selues.

And admit this (as graunted vnto you maister Cope) þ^t these mē had ben traytours, whiche ye are not able to proue. Well, they had their punishmēt therfore, þ^e world can go no farther: & what would you haue more? who & if they repented, why may they not haue as good part in Christes kingdome as your selfe? Now for somuch as the sayd persons also sufferyng a double punishmēt wer so constant in the way of truth, and most principally for the same were persecuted, and chiefly therfore brought to their death: that part of example, because I sawe it to pertayne to the profyte of the Churche, why myght I not inserte it with other churche storyes in my booke? Let the church take that, which belongeth to the church. Let the worlde take that, which to the worlde pertayneth and goe no farther. And if ye thinke it muche, that I woulde exemplifye these, whom you call traytours in the booke of Martyrs: first ye must vnderstand, that I wrote no such booke bearyng the title of the booke of Martyrs. MarginaliaThe name of Martyrs in the Calendare defended.I wrote a booke called the Actes and Monumentes, of thinges passed in the churche. &c. Wherin many other matters bee contayned beside the Martys of Christ. But this perauenture moueth your cholar, that in the Calendare I name them for Martyrs. MarginaliaWhat is a Martyr.And why may I not in my Calendare call them by the name of Martyrs, whiche were faythfull witnesses of Christes truth and testament, for the which they were also chiefly brought vnto their end? MarginaliaHoly sancte of Christ.Or why may I not call them holy sanctes, whom Christ hath sanctified with his blessed bloud? And what if I should also call þ^e theefe & murderer hanging on the right side of the Lord, by the name of an holy sancte, and Confessour, for his witnessyng of the Lord, what can maister Cope say agaynst it?

And as for colouring the names of certain Martyrs in