Marginalia4. interrogation. I pray you, what punishment iudge you for hym, that shall steale or pilfer any thyng out of the Church?

MarginaliaThe answere. This your brotherhode may soone discerne, by the person of a theef, how it ought to be corrected. For some there be, which hauyng sufficient to liue vpon, yet do steale. Other there be which steale of mere necessitie: Wherfore consideryng the qualitie and difference of the crime, necessarie it is that some be corrected by losse of goodes: some by stripes: some other more sharply, and some more easely: yea & when sharper correction is to be executed, yet that must be done w^t charitie, and with no fury. For in punishyng offenders, this is the cause & end wherfore they are punished: because they should be saued, and not perish in hell fire. And so ought discipline to proceede in correctyng the faythfull, as do good fathers in punishyng their children, whom both they chasten for their euill, & yet beyng chastened, they looke to haue thō their heyres, & thinke to leaue thē all they haue, notwithstādyng they correct them sometymes in anger. Therfore this charitie must be kept in mynde. And in the correction there is a measure to be had, so that the minde neuer do any thing without the rule of reasō. Ye adde moreouer with what recompence or measure those thynges ought to be required agayne, which be stollen out of Churches. But God forbyd that the Church should euer require agayne with increase, that which is lost in outward thynges, & so seeke her gayne by endamagyng other.

Marginalia5. interrogation. Item, whether two brethren may mary two sisters, beyng farre of from any part of kyndred?

MarginaliaThe answere. This in no part of Scripture is forbidden, but it may well and lawfully be done.

Marginalia6. interrogation. Item, to what degree of kyndred may the matrimony of the faythfull extend with their kyndred, or whether is it lawfull to marry with the stepmother, and with their kynsfolkes?

MarginaliaThe answere.
In what degre of kindred man may marry A certaine terrene law amongest the old Romanes doth permit, that either brother or sister, or the sonne and daughter of two brethren may marry together. But by experience we learne, that the issue of such mariage doth neuer thriue, nor come forward. Also the holy law of God forbiddeth to reueale the turpitude of thy blood or kyndred.

Wherfore necessary it is, that in the third or fourth degree the faithfull may lawfully marry. For in the second as beyng vnlawfull, they must needes refrayne. To be coupled with the stepmother, is vtterly abhominable, for is it written in the law: Thou shalt not reueale the turpitude of thy father. For somuch then as it is so writtē in the law, & they shall be two in one flesh: the sonne then that presumeth to reueale the turpitude of his stepmother, which is one flesh with his father, what doth he thē but reueale the turpitude of his owne father. Likewise it was forbidden and vnlawfull to marry with your kinswoman, which by by her first mariage was made one flesh with thy brother.MarginaliaBy this rule the mariage of king Henry with Q. Katherine Dowager was vnlawfull. For the which cause Iohn the Baptist also lost his head, and was crowned a Martyr. Who though he dyed not for the confession of Christ: yet for somuch as Christ sayth: I am the truth, therfore in that Iohn Baptist was slayne for the truth, it may be sayd his bloud was shed for Christ.

Marginalia7. interrogation. Item, whether such as be so coupled together in filthy and vnlawful matrimony, ought to be separated and denied the partakyng of holy Communion.

MarginaliaThe aunswere. Because there be many of the nation of English men which beyng yet in their infidelitie, were so ioyned and coupled in such execrable mariage: the same commyng now to fayth, are to be admonished hereafter to abstaine from the like, & that they know the same to bee a greuous sinne. That they dread the dreadful iudgement of God, lest for their carnall delectation, they incurre the tormentes of eternall punishment. And yet notwithstandyng they are not to be secluded therfore from the participatiō of Christes body and bloud, least we should seeme to reuēge those thynges in thē, which they before their Baptisme through ignoraunce dyd commit.MarginaliaA discrete saying of Gregory to be noted. For in this tyme the holy Churche doth correct some faultes more feruently, some faultes she suffereth agayne through mansuetude and meekenes, some wittingly and willingly she doth doth winke at, and dissemble: that many tymes the euill which she doth detest, through hearyng and dissemblyng she may stoppe & brydle. All they therfore which are come to the fayth, must be admonished that they commit no such offence. Which thyng if they do, they are to be depriued of the Communion of the Lordes body and blood. For like as in them that fall through ignoraunce, their default in this case is to be tollerate: so in them agayne it is strongly to be insued, whiche knowyng they do nought, yet feare not to commit.

Item, in this I desire to be satisfied, after what maner I should deale or do with the Bishops of Fraunce, and of Britaynes.

MarginaliaThe answere. As touchyng the Byshops in Fraunce, I geue you no authoritie or power ouer them. For the Byshop of Arolas, or Orliance hath by the old tyme of our predecessours receiued the Palle, whom now we ought not to depriue of hys authoritie. Therfore when your brotherhode shall go vnto the prouince of Fraunce, what soeuer he shall haue there to do with the Byshop of Orliance: so do, that he loose nothing of that whiche he hath found and obtained of the auncient ordinaunce of oure foreelders.Marginalia25. q. 2. cap. in Galliarum. But as concernyng the Byshop of Britaine, we commit them all to your brotherhod, that the ignorant may be taught, the infirme by persuasion may be cōfirmed, the wilfull by authoritie may be corrected.

Marginalia9. interro. Whether a woman beyng great with child, ought to be baptised, or after she hath childed, after how long time she ought to enter into the Church. Or els that which she hath brought forth, least it should be preuented with death, after how many dayes it ought to receaue Baptisme. Or after how long tyme after her childbyrth is it lawful for her husbād to resorte to her. Or els if she be in her monethly course, after the disease of womē, whether thCōmuniō? Or els her husband after the lying with his wife, before he be washed with water, whether is it lawful for hym to enter the Churche, and to draw neare vnto the mistery of the holy Communion? All which thynges must be declared and opened to the rude multitude of Englishmen.

MarginaliaThe aunswere. The childyng or bearyng woman, why may she not be Baptised: seyng that the fruitfulnes of the flesh is no fault before the eyes of almighty God? For our first parentes in Paradise, after they had transgressed: lost their immortalitie by the iust iudgement of God which they had taken before. Then, because almighty God would not mankynd vtterly to perish because of his fall (although he lost now his immortalitie for his trespasse) yet of his benigne pietie, left notwithstandyng to him the fruite and generation of issue. Wherfore the issue and generation of mans nature, whiche is conserued by the gift of almightie God, how can it be debarred from the grace of holy Baptisme?

MarginaliaThe churching of women. As cōcernyng the Churching of women after they haue trauailed: where ye demaunde after how many dayes they ought to go to the Church, this you haue learned in the old law, that for a man child. 30. dayes, after a womā child. 66. dayes be appointed her to keepe in: Albeit this you must take to be vnderstād in a mistery. For if she should the houre after her trauayle enter into the Churche to geue thankes, she committed therein no sinne. For why the lust and pleasure of the flesh, and not the trauaile and payne of the flesh is sinne. In the coniunction of the flesh is pleasure, but in the trauayle and bringyng forth of the child is payne & gronyng. As vnto the mother of all it is sayd: In sorrow thou shalt trauayle. Therfore if we forbyd the woman after her labor to enter the church,MarginaliaHe speaketh here after the custome of the tyme. thē what do we els but count the same the punishment geuen vnto her, for sinne? Therefore for the woman after her labour to be baptised: either that which she hath trauailed forth (if present necessitie of death doth so require) yea in the selfe same houre, either she that hath brought forth, either that whiche is borne in the same houre when it is borne, to be baptised we do not forbid.

Moreouer, for the man to company with his wife, that he must not: before the child that is borne be wayned.MarginaliaMothers that nurse not their owne childrē reprehended. But now there is a lewde and naughtie custome risen in the condition of maryed folkes, that mothers do contēne to nourse their owne children, which they haue borne, but set them to other women out to nourse: which seemeth onely to come of the cause of incontinencie. For while they will not contayne themselues, therfore they put from them their children to nourse. &c.

As concernyng the woman in her menstruous course whether she ought to enter the Churche? To this I aunswere: she ought not to be forbid. For the superfluitie of na-