MarginaliaDan. 9. whiche should put downe truth and set vp lyes, and the operation of errour. For this thing and no other, becommeth the seate of Antichrist.

Wherfore this I say to thee (Pope Leo the tenth and to you Lorde Cardinals and all other who soeuer is in anye part or doyng in that Court of Rome) and this I speake boldly vnto your faces, if this Bull hath come out in your name, and by your knowledge, and if ye so will acknowledge it for your owne: then will I lykewise vse my power, by þ^e whiche I am made in my Baptisme the sonne of god, and coheyre with Christ, beyng founded vpō a sure rocke, which neither feareth the gates of hell, nor heauen nor earth, and say, monish, and exhorte you in the Lorde,MarginaliaM. Luthers warning to the Pope. that you will reforme your selues and take a better way, and refrayne hereafter from these diabolicall blasphemies, and to much excedynge presumptuous impieties, and this I alledge: That vnlesse ye so doe know it for certaine, that I with all them that worshyp Christ, do recount your seate, possessed and oppressed of Sathan him selfe, to bee the damned seate of Antichrist, which we not onely doe not obey, and will not be subiect nor concorporate vnto, but also do detest and abhorre the same, as the principall and chiefest enemie of Christ, beyng ready in this our sentence and profession, not onely to suffer gladly your fonde foolishe censures, but also doe pray you hartely that you will neuer assoyle vs agayne, nor euer number vs in your fellowshyp, and moreouer to fulfil your bloudy tyranny, do willyngly offer our selues to dye for the same. And accordyng to the power and might, that the spirite of Christ, and efficacy of our fayth can doe in these our wrytyngs,MarginaliaM. Luther curseth the Pope. if ye shall persiste so still in this your fury, we condēne you, and together with this Bull, and all the Decretals, we geue you to Sathan, to the destruction of fleshe that your spirite in the day of our Lorde may be deliuered: in þ^e name whiche you persecute, of Iesu Christ our Lord. Amen.

For our Lord Iesus Christ yet lyueth and reigneth, (in whom I doe nothyng doubt) who I firmely trust wyl shortly come, and slaye with the spirite of his mouth and destroy with the brightnes of his comming, this man of sinne, and sonne of perditiō, for asmuch as I can not deny,MarginaliaThe Pope the true Antichrist. if the pope be the author and doer of these misshapen and monstruous doynges, but he is the true, finall, most wicked, and that famous Antichrist,:that subuerteth the whole worlde by the operation of his delusions, as we see it in all places fulfilled and accomplished.

But whether doth the burning zeale of charitie cary me. Neither am I as yet fully persuaded this to bee the Popes BullMarginaliaEccius. but to procede from his wicked Apostle Eccius, who with his fathers, furiously gaping at me lyke a gulfe, would swallow me cleane vp: singing with þ^e wicked thus:MarginaliaProuerb. 1. Let vs swallow hym vp quicke and whole lyke hell, and lyke one descendyng downe into the pitte. For litle careth this furious madbrayne, how the veritie of God bee extinguished (yea he woulde count that for a lucre) so hee might fyll his malicious desire with the bloud of his brother. O miserable state of the Church at this time, worthy to be be wayled with teares of bloud. But who heareth our gronings, or who comforteth our weepinges? The fury of the Lord semeth to be inexorable against vs.

MarginaliaThe Pope lyeth in his Bull where he sayth, that he offered money to Luther to come to Rome. Ouer and besides, what a ridiculous toy, or pretie figment haue they inuented wherby belike to sport thē selues with some merye matter amongest their earnest busines, writing that besides other great frendshyppe, whiche they haue shewed vnto me: they haue also offered to supporte mee with monie and to beare my charges with their liberalitie, in my iourney to Rome. Will ye see what a charitie is newly come vppon the Citie of Rome, which after it hath pilled and poled the whole worlde of their money, and hath consumed and wasted the same by intolerable tyranny, now cōmeth, and to me onely offereth money? But this impudent lye I know with whose hammer it was coined, Caietanus the Cardinall, a man borne and formed to lye for the whetstone after his worshipfull Legacie depeached in Germanie comming home to Rome, there he forged and fained that he promised me money, whereas he beyng at Auspurge, was there in such miserable penury and so pinching in his house, that it was thought hee woulde haue famished his familye. But thus it becommeth the Bull to be verè Bulla, that is a thing of nought, voyde of all truth and wyt.

And so these great iudges and cōdemners after all this, yet haue authoritie to commaunde vs to beleue them to say truth, when they doe nothyng but lye, and that they are good Catholickes, when they be starke heretickes, and that they are true Christians, when they play the very Antichrist, & all by the vertue of this vniuersall: Quodcunq; ligaueris &c. 1.MarginaliaThe Pope by the vertue of this vniuersall Quodcunq̀; ligaueris, can do all thinges. What soeuer thing thou bindest. &c. So that where nothing is excepted, they thinke they may doe all thynges. Who not onely do lye most loudley and manifestly, but also (which passeth all impudencie) do vaunt and cōmend their liberalitie before the people to bring me more into hatred, ma king men falsely to beleue that they offered frendshippe and money vnto me: Where as these tyrantes of Rome, if they had had any truth, goodnes or godlines in them, should haue taken some better heede in their doing and speaking, so that no aduersarie myght conceaue any suspition of euill against them. But now if there were no other matter els to bring this Bul out of credite, onely this grosse & foolishe lye were sufficient to declare how light, vaine, and false this Bull is. What? would Rome (thinke ye) offer money to me?MarginaliaMē hyred by the papistes to kill Luther. And how them commeth this. which I know to be most certaine, that out of the banke (as they call it) two or three hūdreth crownes were assigned in Germanie to be disposed & geuē to ruffins and catchpoles, to murder Luther: for these be the reasons and argumentes, wherby now fighteth, raigneth, and triumpheth the holy Apostolicke Sea, the mistres of faith and mother of all Churches, the which long since should haue bene proued to be the very seat of Antichrist & manifold wayes hereticall, if shee had fought with þ^e sword of the spirite, which is the word of God:MarginaliaThe popes church flieth the triall of scripture. wherof she her selfe is nothing ignoraunt, and therfore because she would not be brought to that issue thus she fareth and taketh on lyke as shee were madde, in the Churche of Christ, confounding and consumyng all thynges with warres, murthers, bloudshed, death, and destruction, and yet for all this they must needes be counted most holy fathers in God, & Vicars of Christ, and Pastors of his flocke.

But go to (that I may also daly with them a while) let them yet send me the money they speake of: for as touchyng their promise & safeconduct (because I will not ouercharge them) that I gladly resigne to them againe, seing I haue no great nede therof, so that the money may come to my hands.MarginaliaWhat safeconducte M. Luther requireth of the pope. But here I must require so much as may suffice mee: to witte, that I may be furnished, with fiftie thousand footemen, & ten thousand horsemen, to conduct me safe to Rome, and so for any other promise of safeconduct I wil not trouble them. And this I require, because of the daunger that is in Rome, which deuoureth vp her inhabitauntes, neyther keepeth nor euer did keepe promise with any: Where these most holy fathers do slay their beloued children in the charitie of God and brethren destroy their brethren to doe seruice to Christ, as the maner is and style of Rome. In the meane time I will kepe my selfe free and safe from the Citation of this most reuerent Bull. O ye miserable verlettes, which are so confounded with the truth & with your owne conscience, that neither ye can lie handsomly, neither dare ye speake the truth, and yet neither can ye so keepe your selues quiet, to your perpetual ignomie and confusion.

Furthermore, here in thys Bull is brought in a straūge fashion of stile, not heard of before. For where Augustine would haue sayd, that he would not beleue the Gospel, except he had ben moued by the authoritie of the Church, now commeth in this goodly Bull, & maketh this Catholicke church to be a few reuerent Cardinals his brethrē, & Priours of regular orders, Maisters of Diuinitie & Doctours of the law, out of whose counsell the sayd Bull boasteth her selfe to be borne and brought forth, a blessed Babe (forsooth) of such an vniuersall Church.MarginaliaA new vniuersal church of the popes making. O happie trauell (no doubt) of this catholicke Church, neuer seene nor heard of before, & such as Augustine the valiant impugner of sectes, if he did see, woulde not doubt to call it the Sinagoge of the Deuill. See therfore the madnes of these Papistes. The vniuersall Church is a few Cardinals, Priours, and Doctors scarcely perhaps twenty persons in all, when also it is possible enough that neuer one of them all is the member of one Chappell or Altar. And where as the Church is the communion of Saintes, as we say in the Creede, out of thys communion of saintes, that is,MarginaliaThe vniuersall Church bound to xx. persons. out of this vniuersal church, all they then must needes be excluded, who so euer be not in the number of these twenty persons: and so whatsoeuer these holy men doe thinke or iudge, by and by the vniuersall Church must needes holde and beleue the same, albeit they be lyers, heretickes, and Antichristes, thynkyng and iudging nothing but that which is abhominable.

Would there euer any man thinke such doltishnes and madnes to be in Rome? Is there anye brayne in these mēs heads thinke ye or hart in their bodies?MarginaliaWhat Anstine calleth the vniuersall Church. Austine speaketh of the church dispersed through the whole world, confessing þ^e Gospell with one consent.MarginaliaNo vniuersall Catholicke booke, but onely the scriptures. Neither woulde God that any booke els should be receiued wyth such a cōsent of the whole world as the holy scripture (as the sayd Augustine in hys confessions affirmeth) least by the receauing of other bookes schismes myght take occasion to ryse, according as the wicked Sea of Rome hath long sought by her decrees, & hath, for a great part, brought the same to passe already. But yet the vniuersall church did neuer agree thereto. For in the East, West, & South there haue bene christiās, which being content onely with the gospel, haue not regarded how Rome hath gone about of a particuler Church, to make her selfe a vniuersal church, & accuseth other churches as schismaticall