Marginalia1555. Febr.betwene nine and ten.

I am ready to come agayne, when soeuer ye cal quoth I.

And thus was I brought by the Shriffes to the Counter in Southwarke, Maister Hooper goyng before me, and a great multitude of people beyng present, so that wee had much to do to go in the streetes.

Thus much was done the xxviij. day of Ianuary,

THe second day, which was the xxix. of Ianuary, MarginaliaM. Rogers & M. Hooper brought againe before the Chaūcellor.we were sent for in the mornyng about ix. of the clocke, and by the Shriffes fetched from the Counter in Southwarke, to the Church agayne, as to wyt, to S. Mary Oueries, where wee were the day before in the afternone, as is sayd. And when Maister Hooper was condemned (as I vnderstode afterward) then sent they for me. Then the Lord Chauncellour sayd vnto me:

MarginaliaGardiners wordes to M. Rogers.Rogers (quoth hee) here thou wast yesterday and, wee gaue the libertie to remember thy selfe this night, whether thou wouldest come to þ^e holy Catholicke Church of Christ againe or not. Tel vs nowe what thou hast determined, whether thou wilt be repentaunt and sory, and wilt returne agayne and take mercy.

MarginaliaAunswere of M. Rogers to the B. of Winchest.My Lord, quoth I, I haue remembred my selfe right well, what you yesterday layd for you, and desire you to giue me leaue to declare my minde what I haue to say therunto, and that done, I shall aunswere you to your demaunded question.

MarginaliaM. Rogers not suffred to defend himself by wryting.When I yesterday desired that I might be suffered by the Scripture and the authority of the first, best, and purest Churche to defend my doctrine by wrytyng (meanyng not onely of þ^e primacie: but also of all the doctrine that euer I had preached) ye aunswered me that it might not, nor ought not to bee graunted me, for I was a priuate person: & that the Parlament was aboue the authoritie of all priuate persons, and therfore þ^e sentence therof might not be found fautie and valureles by me, beyng but a priuate person. And yet my Lord, quoth I, I am able to shewe examples, that one man hath come into a generall Councell, and after the whole had determined and agreed vpon an Act or Article, that some one man comming in afterward, hath by the word of God declared so pithely that MarginaliaWhole Coūcells turned by priuate persons.the Counsell had erred in decreeing the sayd Article, that he caused the whole Counsell to chaunge and aulter their Acte or Article before determined. And of these examples (sayd I) I am able to shewe two. I can also shewe the authoritie of S. Augustine, MarginaliaContra Maxentium. lib. 3. cap. 14.that when he disputed with an hereticke, he woulde neyther himselfe, nor yet haue the hereticke, to leane vnto the determination of two former Councels, of the which þ^e one made for him and the other for the hereticke that disputed agaynst him: but sayd that he would haue the scriptures to be their iudge, which were common and indifferent for them both, & not proper to eyther of them.

Item, I could shewe (sayde I) the authoritie of a learned Lawyer Panormitanus. whiche sayth: MarginaliaExtrau. De Appel. Cap. Significasti.that vnto a simple lay man that bryngeth the word of god with hym there ought more credite to be geuen, then to a whole Councell gathered together. By these thinges will I proue that I ought not to be denyed to say my minde, and to be heard agaynst a whole Parlament, bryngyng the word of God for me, and the authoritie of the old Churche 400. yeares after Christ, albeit that euery man in the Parlamēt had willingly and without respect of feare and fauour agreed thereunto (whiche thing I doubt not a little of, specially seyng the lyke had ben permitted in that old Church, euen in generall Councels yea and that in one of the chiefest Councels that euer was vnto whiche neither any Actes of this Parlament, nor yet any of the late generall Councels of the Byshops of Rome, ought to be compared). For, sayd I, MarginaliaA case put to the B. of Winchest.if Hēry the viij. were aliue, and shoulde call a Parlament, and begyn to determine a thyng (and here I would haue alledged the example of the Act of making the Queene a Bastard, and of makyng him selfe the Superiour heade, but I could not, beyng interrupted of one,MarginaliaThis was syr Anth. Browne. whom God forgeue) then will ye (poyntyng to my Lord Chauncellour) and ye and ye, and so ye all (poyntyng to the rest of the Byshops) say: Amē, yea and it lyke your grace, it is meete that it be so enacted, &c.

Here my L. Chauncellor would suffer me to speake no more: MarginaliaM. Rogers not sufferred to speake.but bad me sit downe mockingly, saying that I was sent for to be instructed of them, and I would take vppon me to be their Instructer.

My lord (quoth I) I stand and sit not: shal I not be suffered to speake for my life?

Shall we suffer thee to tell a tale and to prate, quoth he? and wyth that he stoode vp, and began to face me, after his olde arrogant proud fashion:MarginaliaMarke here the spirite of this prelate. for he perceyued that I was in a way to haue touched them somwhat: which he thought to hinder, by dashinge me out of my tale, and so hee dyd, For I could neuer be suffered to come to my tale agayne,

no not to one word of it: but he had much like communication with me as he had the day before, and as his maner is, taunt vpon taunt, and checke vpon checke. For in that case (beyng gods cause) I tolde hym he should not make me afrayd to speake.

L. Chaun. See what a spirite this felow hath, sayd he, findyng fault at myne accustomed earnestnes, and harty maner of speakyng.

Rog. I haue a true spirit, quoth I, MarginaliaThe godly spirite of M. Rogers.agreyng and obeying the word of God, and would further haue sayd, that I was neuer the worse, but the better, to be earnest in a iust and true cause and in my maister Christes matters: but I might not be heard. And at the length he proceeded towardes his excōmunication and condemnation, after that I had tolde hym that MarginaliaThe Church of Rome is the church of Antichrist, meaning the lawes and doctrine now vsed in Rome.his Church of Rome was the Church of Antichrist, meaning the false doctrine and tyrannicall lawes, with the maintenance therof by cruell persecution vsed by the Byshops of the sayd Church (which the B. of Winchester and the rest of his fellow bishops that are now in England, are the chiefe members): Of lawes I meane (quoth I) and not of al wemen which are in the Popes Churche. Likewise when I was sayd to haue denied their sacrament (whereof he made his wonted reuerent mention, more to maintayne his kingdome therby, then for the true reuerēce of Christes institution: more for his owne and hys Popish generations sake, then for religion or gods sake) I tolde him after what order I did speake of it (for the maner of his speaking was not agreyng to my wordes, which are before recited in the communication that we had the. 28. of Ianuary): wherwith he was not contented, MarginaliaHow the Bishop of Winchester seeketh for bloud.but he asked the audience whether I had not simply denied the sacrament. They would haue sayd, and did what he lusted: for the most of them were of hys own seruantes at that day, the. 29. day of Ianuary I meane. At the last I sayd, I will neuer deny that I sayde, that is, that your doctrine of the sacrament is false: but yet I tell you after what order I sayd it.

To be short, he read my condemnation before me perticularly, mentionyng therin but two Articles, first that I affirmed the Romish catholike church, to be the church of Antichrist: and that I denied the reality of their sacrament. He cursed me to be disgraded and condemned, and put into the handes of the laitie, and so he gaue me ouer into the shriues handes, which were much better then his.

¶ The copy of which his condemnation here I thought to put downe in English, to the entent that the same beyng here once expressed, may serue for all other sentences condemnatory through the whole story to be referred vnto.

¶ The Sentence condemnatory agaynst Maister Rogers.  

Commentary     Close

A copy of this sentence survives in Foxe's papers: BL, Harley 421, fos. 40r-41r. This text was copied on Foxe's behalf from an official record of the proceedings against leading heretics which Bishop Gardiner conducted at the end of January 1555; this record is now lost.

MarginaliaThe Sentence definitiue agaynst Maister Rogers.IN the name of God Amen. We Steuen by the permission of God Bishop of Winchester, lawfully and rightly proceding with all godly fauour by authority and vertue of our office, against thee Io. Rogers priest, alias called Mathew, before vs personally here present, being accused and detected, and notoriously slaundered of heresie, hauing heard, sene and vnderstand, and with all diligent deliberation wayed, discussed, and considered the merites of the cause, all thinges beyng obserued, which by vs in this behalfe, in order of lawe ought to be obserued, sittyng in our iudgement seat, þ^e name of Christ beyng first called vpon, and hauing God only before our eyes: because by the actes enacted, propounded, and exhibited in this matter, and by thine own confession iudicially made before vs, we do finde that thou hast taught, holden, and affirmed and obstinately defended diuers errours, heresies, and damnable opinions contrary to the doctrine and determination of the holy church, as namely these: MarginaliaHis Articles.That the catholike church of Rome is the church of Antichrist: Item, that in the Sacrament of the aulter there is not substantially nor really the naturall body and bloud of Christ: the which aforesayd heresies and damnable opinions beyng contrary to the law of God, and determination of the vniuersall and Apostolicall church, thou hast arrogantly, stubburnly, & wittingly mainteyned, held, and affirmed, and also defended before vs, as well in this iudgement, as also otherwyse, & with the lyke obstinacy, stubbornnes, malice and blyndnes of hart both wittingly and willingly hast affirmed, that thou wylt beleue, maintain and hold, affirme, and declare the same: We therefore S. Wint. B. Ordinary and Diocesan aforesayd by the consent and assent as wel of our reuerend brethrē the L. bishops here present & assistēt, as also by the counsel & iudgemēt of diuers worshipful lawyers & professors of diuinitie, with whom we haue cōmunicated in this behalfe, do declare & pronounce thee the said I. Rogers, otherwise called Mathew, through thy demerites, transgressions, obstinacies, & wilfulnesses (which thou manifold waies hast incurred by thine own wicked and stubburne obstinacie) to haue bene