MarginaliaAnno. 1555. October.be confessed to Gods glory, and to the good example of other) thou wast in thy yeare not onely a furtherer and continuer of that whiche before thee by thy predecessor was well begonne:  

MarginaliaCommendati? of Syr George Barnes Maior of London.but also diddest laboure so to haue perfited the woorke, that it shoulde haue beene an absolute   thyng and a perfecte spectacle of true charitie and Godlinesse vnto all Christendome. Thyne endeuour was to haue set vp an house of occupations, both that all kynde of pouertie beyng able to worke, should not haue lacked, whereuppon profitablye they might haue bene occupied to their owne reliefe and to the profite and commoditie of the common wealthe of the Citie, and also to haue retired thither, the poore Babes brought vp in the Hospitals, when they had come to a certaine age and strength, and also all those whiche in the Hospitalles aforesaid had beene cured of their diseases. And to haue brought this to passe, thou obtainedst (not without great diligence and labour, bothe of thee and thy brethren) of that Godlie Kyng Edwarde, that christian and pierles Princes hande, MarginaliaBridewell obtayned of King Edward by sir George Barnes, to set pore people a work.his princelie place of Bridewell,   and what other thinges to the performance of the same, and vnder what condition it is not vnknowne. That this thyne endeuour hath not had like successe, the fault is not in thee, but in the condition and state of the tyme, which the Lorde of his infinite mercie vouchsafe to amende when it shall be his gracious will and pleasure.

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MarginaliaTo the Citiz?s of London.Farewell now all ye Citizens that be of GOD, of what state and condition so euer ye be. Vndoubtedly in London ye haue hearde Gods worde truely preached. My hartes desire and dailie praier shall be for you (as for whom, for my time, I knowe to my Lorde God I am countable) that ye neuer swarue, neither for losse of life nor worldly goodes, from Gods holye worde, and yelde vnto Antichrist: whereupon must needes folow the extreme displeasure of GOD, and the losse both of your bodies and soules into perpetuall damnation for euermore.

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Now that I haue gone through the places where I haue dwelt anye space in the tyme of my pilgrimage here vpon earth, remembring that for the space of king Edwardes raigne, which was for the time of mine office in the Seas of London and Rochester, I was a member of the higher house of the parliament: MarginaliaTo the higher house and temporall Lordes of the Parlament.therfore (seyng my God hath geuen me leysure and the remembraunce therof) I will bid my Lordes of the temporaltie farewell. They shall haue no iust cause (by Goddes grace, to take it that I entend to say, in ill part. As for the spirituall Prelacie that now is, I haue nothyng to saie to them, except I shoulde repeate againe a greate part of that I haue said before now alreadye to the sea of London. To you therfore my Lordes of the temporaltie will I speake, and this would I haue you firste to vnderstande, that when I wrote this, I loked dailie when I shoulde bee called to the chaunge of this life, and thought that this my writyng shoulde not come to youre knowledge, before the tyme of the dissolution of my Body and Soule should be expired, and therefore know ye, that I had before mine eyes onely the feare of God, and christian charitie toward you, whiche moued me to write: for of you hereafter I loke not in this worlde, either for pleasure or displeasure. If my talke shall do you neuer so much pleasure or profite, you can not promote me, nor if I displease you, ye can not hurt me or harme me, for I shall be out of your reach. Now therefore if you feare God, and can be content to heare the talke of hym that seeketh nothyng at your handes, but to serue God and to doe you good: hearken what I saie. I saie vnto you, as S. Paule saith to the Galathians: MarginaliaGal. 3I wonder my Lordes what hath bewitched you, that ye so sodainly are fallen from Christe vnto Antichrist, from Christes Gospell vnto mens traditions, from the Lorde that bought you, vnto the Bishop now of Rome. MarginaliaA good warn?g or lesson to the temporall Lordes.I warne you of your perill: be not deceiued, except you wil be found willingly consenters vnto your owne death. For if ye thinke thus: Wee are laye men, this is a matter of religion, we followe as we are taught and led, if our teachers and gouernours teache vs & leade vs amisse, the fault is in them, they shal bear the blame: My Lordes this is true (I graunt you) that both the false teacher, and the corrupt gouernour, shall be punished for the death of their Subiecte, whom they haue falselye taught and corruptlie ledde, yea and his bloud shall be required at their handes: but yet neuerthelesse shall that Subiect dye the death himselfe also, that is, hee shall also bee damned for his owne sinne:

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MarginaliaEzech. 3. Luke. 6.for if the blind lead the blind, Christ saieth not the leader onely, but hee saieth: both shall fall in the Ditche. Shall the Sinagoge and the Senate of the Iewes (trowe ye)  

which forsooke Christ and consented to his death, therefore be excused, bicause Annas, and Cayphas, with the Scribes and Phareseis and their clergie, did teache them amisse? yea and also Pilate their gouernour and the Emperours Lieuetenant by his tyrannie, did without cause put hym to death? MarginaliaIgnorance wil not excuse the t?poralty being seduced in religion.Forsooth no my Lordes, no. For notwithstandyng that corrupt doctrine, or Pilates washing of his handes, neither of both shall excuse either that Sinagoge and Seigniorie, or Pilate: but at the Lordes hande, for the effusion of that innocent bloud, on the latter day all shal drinke of the deadly whip.   Ye are wittie   and vnderstand what I meane: therfore I will passe ouer this, and returne to tell you how ye are fallen from Christ to his aduersarie the Bishop of Rome.

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MarginaliaThe Lordes of the parlament be fallen from Christ to Christes enemy.

And lest, my Lordes, ye may peraduenture thinke, thus barelie to call the Bishop of Rome Christes aduersarie, or (to speake it in plaine termes) to call hym Antichrist, that it is done in mine anguishe, and that I do but rage, and as a desperate man do not care what I saie, or vppon whom I doe raile:  

therfore, that your Lordshippes maie perceiue my minde, and thereby vnderstande that I speake the wordes of the trueth and of sobrietie (as Sainct Paule saide vnto FestusMarginaliaAct. 26.) bee it knowne vnto your Lordships al, that as concernyng the Bishoppe of Rome, I neither hate the person nor the place. For I ensure your Lordshippes (the liuyng Lord beareth me witnes, before whom I speake) MarginaliaMany good m? in the Sea of Rome.I do thinke manie a good holie manne, manie Martyrs and Sainctes of GOD, haue sitte and taught in that place Christes Gospell truelie, MarginaliaSo long as the sea of Rome folowed the rules of the Apostles, it could be called Peter or Paules chayre.whiche therefore iustlie may be called Apostolici, that is, true Disciples of the Apostles, and also that Churche and Congregation of Christians to bee a right Apostolike churche, yea and that certaine C. yeres after the same was firste erected and builded vpon Christ, by the true Apostolicall doctrine taught by the mouthes of the Apostles them selues. If ye will know how long that was and how many hundreth yeres, to bee curious in pointyng the precise nomber of the yeres I will not bee to bolde, but thus I saie: so long and so manye hundreth yeres as that Sea did truelie teache and preache that Gospell, that Religion, exercised that power, and ordered euerie thyng by those lawes and rules whiche MarginaliaThe church receiued of the Apostles of Christ, Christ of God. Tertull.that Sea receiued of the Apostles, and (as Tertullian saieth) the Apostles of Christ, and Christ of God: so long (I saie) that Sea might well haue beene called Peter and Paules chaire and Sea, or rather Christes chaire, & the Bishop thereof Apostolicus, or true Disciple and Successour of the Apostles, and a Minister of Christ.

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But since the time that MarginaliaThe sea of Rome hath degenerated from the Apostles rules and hath set vp an other religion.that Sea hath degenerated from the trade of trueth and true religion the whiche it receiued of the Apostles at the beginnyng, and hath preached an other Gospell, hath set vp an other religion, hath exercised an other power,MarginaliaHath exercised an other power. and hath taken vppon it to order and rule the churche of Christe by other straunge lawes,MarginaliaHath ordeined stra?ge lawes. Canons and rulers then euer it receiued of the Apostles, or the Apostles of Christ, whiche thinges it doth at this daie, and hath continued so doyng (alas, alas) of too too long a tyme: since the tyme (I saie) that the state and condition of that Sea hath thus bene chaunged, in truthe it ought of dutie and of right to haue the names cha?ged both of the Sea and of the sitter therein. For vnderstand my Lords, it was neither for the priuilege of the place or person thereof, that that Sea and Bishop therof were called Apostolike: but for the true trade of Christes Religion which was taught and maintained in that Sea at the firste, and of those Godly men. MarginaliaIf true doctrine maketh sea Apostolike: then c?trary doctrine maketh the sea to be antichrist.And therefore as truelie and iustly as that Sea then, for that true trade of religion and consanguinitie of doctrine with the Religion and doctrine of Christes Apostles, was called Apostolick: so as truely & as iustly for the contrarietie of religion, and diuersitie of doctrine from Christe and his Apostles, that Sea and the Bishop thereof, at this day both ought to be called, and are in deede Antichristian.

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The Sea is the seat of Sathan, and the Bishop of the same, that mainteineth the abominations thereof, is Antichriste hym selfe in deede. And for the same causes this Sea at this daie is the same which Saint Iohn calleth in his reuelation, MarginaliaApocalip. 17.Babylon or the whore of Babylon, and spirituall Sodoma and Egyptus,MarginaliaApocalip. 11. the mother of fornications and of the abominations vpon

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