of this Bull, he is a very Antichrist, and against Antichrist these thinges I write, to redeeme the veritie of Christ, so much as in me lyeth, which he laboureth to extinguish.MarginaliaM. Luthers protestation. And first, that he shall obteyne no part of his will in any thing agaynst me, here I protest before God and our Lorde Iesu Christ and his holy aungels and all the world, that I dissēt with all my hart from the condemnation of this bull, which bull I also doe curse and execrate as an enemy, a Churche robber and blasphemy against Christ the sonne of God our Lord. Amen.

Furthermore I hold, defend and imbrace with the full trust of my spirit, those Articles in the sayd Bul condemned and excommunicate, and affirme the same ought to bee holden of all faythfull christians vnder payne of eternall malediction, and that they are to be counted for Antichristes, who so euer haue consented to the sayd Bull, whom I also together with the spirit of all them which purely know and worship Christ, in these presentes do count for heathen, and do vtterly shun them accordyng to the precept of our Lorde Iesu Christ. Amen.MarginaliaMarke here how Luther recanteth. And let this stand for my reuocatiō, O Bulla verè Bullarum filia. i. O thou Bull which art the very daughter of all vayneMarginalia* Bulla in Latin, signifieth as much in English as a bubble in the water. * bubbles.

This my confession and protestation made (for witnes wherof I take all them that shall read these presentes) before I procede to defend and declare these foresayd Articles, I will first begin with certaine argumentes for the confutation of the sayd Bull: wherof the first I wyll take of the blynd ignorance of this blockish Antichrist. For the apostle Peter so commaundeth, that we should be redy to render a reason of that fayth and hope which is in vs. And the Apostle Paul willeth a Bishop to be mighty to exhort in sounde doctrine and to refute the gaynesayers.MarginaliaTit. 1. And these thyngs be they, which now 3. yeares ago I haue desired and looked for out of Rome or from them which take parte with Rome. Which thyngs also we do read to be obserued most diligētly amongst the auncient fathers, whensoeuer they condemned heresies. Neither do we read that the Apostles did euer decree any thyng in their Councels but they first alledged the holy Scripture.MarginaliaThe Papistes will not abyde the triall of the Scripture. So I also when I wayted that they should aunswer me with grapes, and to enforme me with true testimonies of the scripture, beholde they bring to me sower and wild grapes, condemning me with nothyng els but bare words, where as I haue fortified my matter with playne scriptures.

I say vnto thee. O thou most vnlearned Antichrist hast thou ioyned such brainsick rashnes together with such barbarous ignorance, that thou wilt presume to thinke all men to be turned into stockes and blocks, and to thinke that thou with thy bare and naked words only canst triumph against the inuincible force and power of Gods holy worde? Haste thou learned this maner of condemning of the magistralities of Colen and Louaine?

If this be the maner of thy Church to damne errours, only to say, I like it not, I deny it, I will not: what foole, what patch, what asse, what blocke cannot condemne after this maner? Is not thy whorish face ashamed in the publike sight of the church to dare once to set the triflyng vanities only of thy naked and bare wordes agaynst the thunderbolts of Gods eternall word? O impudent condemnation and right semely for Antichrist, which hath not one iote or title to bring agaynst such euidēt scriptures inferred against him, but only with one word commeth and saith, I condemn thee. And why thē do we not beleue the Turke? Why do we not admit the Iewes? Why do we not honor the heretikes, which also condemne our writinges as well as he, if it be enough onely to condemne? vnlesse we do not therfore peraduenture geue place vnto them, because they condemne vs not vtterly without some scriptures and reasons: but these men after a new found fashiō, vtterly without all scriptures or reason do condemne vs. What then shall I thinke to be the cause why they proceded agaynst me with this their bul condemnatory so vayne, so ridiculous, so trifling, but onely their meere blockishnes, wherby they seyng my allegations to be true and not able to abyde nor yet to confute the same, thought to terrifie me with the vayne ratling of their rotten parchment.MarginaliaThe Popes vaine terrours can not make M. Luther afrayde. But I tell thee Antichrist, that Luther beyng accustomed to warre, will not be terrified with these vayne buls, and hath learned to put a difference betwene a piece of paper, and the omnipotent word of God.

Of the lyke ignoraunce procedeth this also, that they agaynst their owne conscience, durst not perticularly digest al and singular the Articles in their orders: for they feared lest they should note hym for an heretike, whom they were not aable perhaps to conuince either to be erroneous or offensiue,MarginaliaRespectiuely. and therfore they haue founde out this aduerbe respectiuè: and after the numbring of the Articles, then come they and say that some be respectiuely hereticall, some erroneous, & some offensiue, which is as much to say, as we suppose some to be herticall, some erroneous, and some slaunderous, but we can not tell qui, quales, quanti. i. Which, what maner, & how great they are. O dastardly ignorance, how slippery & cowardly art thou? how art thou afrayd of the light? how doest thou turne and returne all things, lest thou shouldest be taken lyke a Proteus:MarginaliaProteus is a certayne monster among the Poetes, which turneth himself into all coulours. and yet for all that thou shalt not so escape, yea in thy wilines thou shalt the rather be ouertaken and subuerted,

Come out therfore O thou asseheaded Antichrist, and shew forth thy wisedome, and dispose thy matters in order. Tell vs if thou canst, what sayst thou or meanest thou whē thou sayst this article is heretical, this is erroneous, this is offensiue. For it becommeth such a worshipful condemner to know what he condēneth. And to shameful it is to condemn an Article for heretical, and yet cannot name the same. Neither will I be answered here with respectiuely, but I loke to be taught simply and plainely, for I am one of Occams faction which contemneth these respectiues, and loue to haue all things simple and absolute.

MarginaliaThe dotage of Antichrist. Thou seest therfore (good reader) the ignoraunt dotage of this Antichrist, how craftely, and yet grossely he thinketh to walk in a nette vnder his aduerbe, respectiuely, Who not onely doth not teach the truth, and cause of his condemning but neither also dare proue any error, nor shew forth what it is that he condemneth, and yet must hee nedes condemne. Is not this, trow you, a proper kynd of damnyng, to damne and can not tell what he damneth? Is not this a fyne maner of loquutiō, passyng all rethorike, to speake, and yet not to knowe what he speaketh, What purgatories might wee wishe sufficient to purge the doltishe braynes of these Bull braggyng bedlems? With such blyndnes and doltishnes are all the aduersaryes of Gods truth worthy to be plagued.

MarginaliaEcclus. But I know wherupon all this grief riseth. The origine whereof is this: Eccius myne olde aduersarye remembryng how hee was put to shame enough at Lypsia when he rousing hym selfe vppon hys stage, and frothyng at the mouth lyke a boare with a furious voyce called me iij. hundreth tymes hereticke for the Articles of Husse, and yet afterward was not able to proue the same, where as the sentence condemnatorye of the Councell of Constance alledged by me otherwise then Eckius loked for, noted there no certayne Article for hereticall: and also the same condemnation much lyke to this of ours with the lyke foolishnes called some of his Articles hereticall, some erroneous & some offensiue,MarginaliaEccius taken with a lye. and Eccius hearyng this, beyng confounded in hym selfe for his impudent rashenes, perceaued that he had called me hereticke falsely and vntruly: hee thought then to heale this hys wound agayne at Rome, and there to stablish hys false and impudent lying. But the lying sophister shall not preuaile, by the helpe (I trust) of Christ, For I aske & require yet still, þ^t they, absolutely and not respectiuely, distinctly and not confusedly, simply and not dissemblyngly, playnely and not obscurely, particularly and not in generall do shew what is and what is not hereticall. But when will they so do? When Christe and beliall, or when light and darkenes shall agree together.

And what shall I do then in the meane tyme? First I will cōtemne these dastardly dotipoles and vnlearned Papistes and apostles of Antichrist And I will scorne them as Helias dyd, and say: If Baal be God, let him aunswere, Peraduēture he is drunke or busie in his iourney, Cry out higher, for he is a God and peraduenture heareth.Marginalia3. Reg. 18. For what other thyng do these Bull braggyng asses deserue els, which condemne that they knowe not, and confesse also their owne ignoraunce?

Secondly, I will not be troubled nor disquieted for the matter, neither am I to be counted hereticke, erroneous, or offensiue,so long as I shall not be proued and playnely conuicted with simple and manifest wordes in what Article I am so iudged, Neither doe I here charge my Papists these blockheades, that I wil put them to their proufes, but onely that they wyll shewe me at least my errour that is, that they will shew me if they know what it is that they them selues do prattle of, or haue any feelyng of their owne doyngs. For so long as they assigne me no hereticall Article I am at free libertie to deny what Article so euer they lay vnto me to be heretical, 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 be laughed at, where as these drummedaryes do distinct hereticall Articles from those that bee erroneous, and the erroneous from offensiue, and those agayne from slaunderous? By the which subtile distinction of these grosseheaded doltes, this we do gather, that that article which is erroneous, is not hereticall. And if it be not hereticall, what doth it then appertayne to these Ecclesiastical condemners, which ought to condemne those things only, which be hereticall. For that which is not hereticall, is Catholike, as Christ himself sayth: He that is not agaynst vs, is with vs.MarginaliaLuke. 9. Yea I would wish that these iolie sophisters