MarginaliaAn. 1555. March.mighty God, whom he maketh his ministers to do his wil and pleasure: as in example, Moses, Aaron, Phinees, Iosua, Zimrie, Ihehie, Iudith, Mathathiah,  

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These are all examples from the Old Testament of divinely approved violence. See Exodus 2: 11-15; Numbers 25: 6-8; Joshua 6-12; 1 Kings 16: 8-12; 2 Kings 10: 18-28; Judith 13: 4-20 and 1 Maccabees 2: 23-28.

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See Romans 11:33.

Sm. Thinke you it conuenient for me, or any other to doo the like by your example?

Flo. No verily: neither do I know if it were to do again, whether I could do it again, or no: MarginaliaW. Flower intending at Paules to haue done the like.for I was vp very early at Paules Church (so called) vpon Christes day in the mornyng, to haue done it in my ielousie: but when I came in place, I was no more able to do it, thē now to vndo that is done: and yet now beyng compelled by the spirit, not onely to come ouer the water, and to enter the church, but beyng in mynde fully contented to dye for the Lord, gaue ouer my flesh willingly without all feare, I prayse God: Wherefore I can not learne you to doo the like: Firste, because I know not what is in you. Secondly, because the rules of the Gospel cōmaundeth vs to suffer with pacience all wrongs & iniuries: yet neuertheles, if he make you worthy, þ^t hath made me zealous, ye shal not be letted, iudged, nor cōdēned: for he doth in his people his vnspeakable workes in al ages, which no man can comprehend: I humbly beseech you to iudge the best of the spirit, and condemne not Gods doinges: for I can not expresse with my mouth the great mercyes that God hath shewed on me in this thing, which I repent not.

Sm. Are ye not assured to haue death ministred vnto you for the same act committed, and euen with extremitie?

MarginaliaWilliam Flower prepared hymselfe to death before the fact committed.Flo. I dyd before the deede committed, adiudge my bodye to dye for the same: whereupon I caryed about me in writyng myne opinion of God and the holy Scriptures: that if it had pleased God to haue geuen them leaue to haue kylled my body in the church, they might in the saide writyng haue seene my hope, which (I prayse God) is layd vp safe within my brest, notwithstanding any death that maye be ministred vnto my body in this world: beyng ascertayned of euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord, and being most hartily sory for all myne offences committed in this fleshe, and trusting shortly through his mercy, to cease from the same.

Sm. It is no neede to examine or cōmune with you of the hope that ye haue any further: for I perceiue (God be praised) ye are in good estate, & therfore I beseech God for his mercies, spread his wings ouer you, that as for his loue you haue bene zelous, euen to the losse of this life, so he may geue you his holy spirit to cōduct you out of this death, into a better lyfe, which I thinke wyl be shortly.

Flo. I hunger for the same (deare frend) beyng fully ascertained that they can kyl but the body, which I am assured shal receyue life againe euerlasting, & see no more death: entirely desiring you and al that feare the lord, to pray with me to almightye God, to performe the same in me shortly. And thus Rob. Smith departed, leauing hym in the dongeon, and wente againe to his warde. And this (gentle Reader) is the truth, as neare as the saide Smyth coulde reporte it.

And thus much concernyng the talke betweene hym and Robert Smyth in Newgate, concernyng his facte in strikyng the Priest. Nowe to returne agayne to the matter of his examination, where we leaft, we shewed before howe this William Flower after his striking the Priest, first was layd in the Gatehouse: then being examined before Boner, had Articles ministred agaynst hym: the copy wherof here foloweth.

Articles obiected and ministred by B. Boner, against William Branch, alias Flower, late of Lambeth in the Countie of Surrie.  

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The articles alleged against Flower and his answers to them are taken from Bishop Bonner's records, very probably from a court book which is now lost.

MarginaliaArticles obiected agaynst W. Flower by B. Boner.FIrst, that thou beyng of lawfull age and discretion, at the least of. xvij. yeare old, wast professed a Monke in the late Abbey of Ely, wherin after thy profession thou remainedst vntyll the age of xxi. yeares, vsing all the meane tyme the habite and religion of the same house, and wast reputed and taken notoriously  

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The word 'notoriously' did not have negative connotations in the sixteenth century; the article is merely saying that Flower was widely known as a monk.

Item, that after the premisses, thou wast ordered and made Priest, accordyng to the laudable custome of the Catholike Churche, and afterward thou didst execute and minister as a Priest, and wast commonly reputed, named, and taken for a Priest.

MarginaliaIn the latter dayes certayne shall depart from the fayth, forbidding mariage and eating of meates. 1. Tim. 4.Item, that after the premisses, thou forgetting God, thy conscience, honestie, and the laudable order of the Ca-

tholike church, diddest contrary to thy profession & vowe, take as vnto thy wyfe, one woman, commonly called Alice Pulton, in the parish Church of Tewkesbery in the Dioces of Gloucester, with whom thou haddest mutuall cohabitation and carnal copulation, as man and wyfe, and begattest of her two children.

MarginaliaA great heresye.Item, that thou being a religious man and a Priest, diddest contrary to the order of the ecclesiastical lawes, take vpon thee to practise in diuers places within the Dioces of London, Phisicke and Surgerie, when thou wast not admitted, expert, nor learned.

Item, that vpon Easter day last past, that is to wyt, the. xiiij. day of this present moneth of April, within the parish Church of S. Margarets at Westmynster, within the Countie of Middlesex and Dioces of London, thou didst maliciously, outragiously, and violently pull out thy weapon, that is to wyt, thy Woodknife or Hanger. And wheras þ^e Priest & Minister there called sir Iohn Cheltā, was executyng his cure and charge especially in doyng his Seruice, and ministring the sacrament of the aultar to the communicants, then didst thou wickedly and abominably smite with thy said weapon the said priest, first vpon the head very sore, & afterwards vpon his hands or other partes of his body, drawing bloud abundantly vpon hym: the sayd priest then holdyng the said sacrament in his hand, and geuyng no occasion, why thou shouldest so hurt hym: the people greeuously being offended therwith, and the said Church polluted thereby, so that the inhabitauntes were compelled to repayre to an other Churche to communicate, and to receyue the said sacrament.

Item, that by reason of the premisses, thou wast and art by the ecclesiasticall lawes of the Church, amongst other penalties, excōmunicate and accursed, ipso facto, and not to be companied withal, neither in church, nor otherwhere, but in special cases.

Item, that thou concerning the veritie of Christes naturall bodye and bloud in the sacrament of the aultar, haste ben by the space of these yeares. 20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. and 1. or any one of them, and yet art at this present of the opinion: that is to say, MarginaliaHis fayth in the Sacrament.that in the sayd sacrament of the aultar, after the wordes of consecration, there is not really, truely, and in very deede, conteyned (vnder the formes of bread) the very true and naturall body of our saueour Iesus Christ.

Item, that thou for the hatred and disdaine that thou hadst and didst beare against the said sacrament, & the vertue thereof, and against the said Priest ministring the same, (as before) didst smite, wound, and hurt hym in maner and forme as before is declared.

Item, that thou ouer and besides the paynes due vnto thee, for the doyng of the cruell fact, art also by the order of the ecclesiastical lawes of the Church, and the laudable custome and ordinance of the same, to be reputed, taken, & iudged (as thou art in deede) a very heretike, and to be punished by and with the paynes due for heresie, by reason of thy sayd heresie and damnable opinion.

Item, that all the premisses be true, manifest, and notorious and famous, and that vpon the same, and euery part thereof, there was and is within the saide parishe of Saint Margaretes and other places thereabout, a publicke voyce and fame.

¶ The answeare of William Flower made to the articles aforesaid.  

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The articles alleged against Flower and his answers to them are taken from Bishop Bonner's records, very probably from a court book which is now lost.

MarginaliaFlower aunswereth to the articles.TO the first article hee answeareth, and confesseth the same to be true in euery part thereof, except that he sayth and confesseth that he neuer consented and agreed in his hart to be a Monke.MarginaliaFlower made Mōke agaynst his will.

To the second article he answeareth, and confesseth the same to be true in euery part therof. Howbeit he saith, that he neuer did nor yet doth esteeme the said order of priesthood according to the said order of the Catholike church, because he was offended therwith in his conscience.

To the third article he answeareth, & confesseth that he intendyng to lyue in godly matrimonie, and not forgettyng God, dyd mary with the saide Alice Pulton named in thys article, MarginaliaFlower confesseth his matrimony to be honest and lawfull.wherein he beleueth that he dyd well, and accordyng to Gods lawes. Further, confessing and beleuyng, that all the tyme when he was professed Monke, and made priest, he did thereby vtterly forget God: MarginaliaW. Flower more deuout to God being in the state of matrimony, then before.but when he dyd so marry the sayd Alice Pulton, and in continuyng with her, did beget three chyldren, he dyd remember God, as he sayth, and beleueth that he dyd then lawfully.

To the fourth article he answeareth, and beleueth the same to be true in euery part therof.

To the fift article he answeareth, and confesseth that his cōscience being greatly offended with the sayd sir Iohn