shalt thou be any more.MarginaliaEzech. 28. Ezech. chap. 28.MarginaliaThe Pope an Idle shepherd.
Zach 11. Furthermore he is the Idle shepheard forsakyng hys flocke, hauyng a sword on hys arme, and an other sword in hys right eye. Zach. 11. and sittyng in the temple of God, doth aduaunce hymselfe aboue all thyng that is called God, or whatsoeuer is worshipped, by the testimony of Paul to Thes. 2. epist. 2. chap. And in the defection or fallyng away shal the man of sinne be reuealed, whom the Lord Iesus shall slay with the breath of hys mouth. For euery kingdom deuided in it self, shalbe brought to desolation.MarginaliaThe beast horned like the lambe. He is also besides, the beast ascendyng vp out of the earth, hauyng two hornes lyke vnto a Lambe, but he speaketh like a dragon,MarginaliaThe pope signifieth the beast ascending out of the earth. and as the cruell beast ascendyng vp out of the sea, whose power shall continue 42. monethes. He worketh the things that he hath geuen to the image of the beast. And he compelled small and great, rich and poore, freemen and bondslaues, to worship the beast, and to take hys marke in their forehead or their handes. Apoc. the 13. chapter.MarginaliaTerrible scriptures agaynst the pope. And thus by the testimony of all these places is he the chiefe Antichrist vpon the earth, and must be slayne with the sword of Gods word, and cast with the Dragon, the cruell beast, and the false Prophet that hath seduced the earth, into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented world without ende.

If the city of Rome do allow hys traditions, and do disalow Christes holy commaundementes, and Christes doctrine, that it may confirme hys traditions:MarginaliaRome Babylon. then is she Babilon the great, or the daughter of Babilon, and the great whore sittyng vpon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth haue committed fornication, and the inhabitauntes of the earth are become dronken with the wyne of her harlotry lying open to baudry. With whose spirituall whoredom enchauntmentes, witchcraftes, and Symon Magus merchaundises, the whole round world is infected and seduced: saying in her hart, I sit as Queene, and widow I am not, neyther shall I see sorrow and mournyng. Yet is she ignoraunt that w^tin a litle while shal come the day of her destruction and ruine, by the testimony of the Apoc. chap. 17.MarginaliaApoc. 17. Because that from the tyme that the continuall sacrifice was taken away, and the abhomination of desolatiō placed,Marginalia1290. dayes figured in Dan. there be passed 1290. dayes by the testimony of Daniell, and the Chronicles added do agree to the same. And the holy Citie also hath bene troden vnder foote of the heathen, for 42. moneths: and the woman was nourished vp in the wildernes (vnto which she fled for feare of the space of the serpent) duryng 1260. dayes, or els for a tyme, tymes, and half a time which is all one. All these thynges be manifest by the testimon yof the Apocalips, and the Chronicles therto agreeyng. And as concernyng the fall of Babilon aforesayd, it is manifest in the Apoc. where it is sayd:MarginaliaThe fall of Babylon.
Apoc. 14. In one day shall her plagues come, deathe, lamentation, and famine, and she shall be burned wyth fire. For strong is the Lorde which wyll iudge her. And agayne, Babylon that great City is fallen, which hath made all nations to dryncke of the wyne of her whoredome. And thirdly, one mighty Aungell tooke vp a myll stone that was a very great one, and did cast it into the sea, saying: with such a violence as this is, shall that great Citie Babylon be ouerthrowen, and shal no more be found. For her marchauntes were the princes of the earth, & wyth her witchcraft all nations haue gone astray, and in her is there found, the bloud of the Saintes and Prophetes. MarginaliaEsay. 13. And of her destruction speaketh Esay in the. xiij. chapiter. And Babilon that glorious Citie, beyng so noble amongst kyngdomes in the pryde of the Caldeans, it shall be: that lyke as the Lord dyd ouerturne Sodome & Gomorre vpside downe, it shall neuer more be inhabited, nor haue the foundation layd in no age, from generation to generation. Ieremy sayeth: Your mother that hath borne you, is brought to very great confusion, and made euen with the ground. And agayn: The Lord hath deuised and done as he hath spoken agaynst the inhabiters of Babilon, which dwel richly in their treasures vppon many waters, thyne end is come. And thirdly: Drouth shall fall vpon her waters, and they shall beginne to be dry, for it is a land of grauen Images, and boasteth in her prodigious wonders: It shall neuer more be inhabited, neyther be builded vp in no age nor generation. Verely, euen as God hath subuerted Sodome and Gomorre wyth her calues.

MarginaliaIerem. 15. Pardon me (I besech you) though I be not plentiful in pleasaunt wordes: For if I should runne after the course of this wicked world, and should please men, I should not be Christes seruaunt. And because I am a poore man, and neither haue nor can haue notaries hyred to testifie of these my writings: I call vpon Christ to be my witnesse, which knoweth the inward secretes of my harte, that I am redy to declare the thynges that I haue writtē after my fashion, to the profite of all Christē people, & to the hurt of no mā liuing, & am redy to be reformed, if any man wyll shew me where I haue erred: beyng redy also (miserable sinner though I be) to suffer for the confession of the name of Christ & of his doctrine, as much as shall please hym by hys grace and loue to assist me a miserable sinner. In witnes of all these things, I haue to this writyng set the seale of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, which I besech hym to imprint vppon my forehed, and to take frō me all maner of marke of Antichrist. Amen.

¶ These two suppositions (as they are termed in the scholes) writen by Walter Brute, and exhibited vnto the Bishop, although they conteyned matter sufficient eyther to satisfie the Bishop if he had bene disposed to learne, or els to haue prouoked hym to reply agayne, if hys knowledge therin had bene better then his: yet could they worke neyther of them effect in hym. But he receiuyng and perusing the same when he neyther could confute þ^t which was sayd, neyther would reply or aunswer by learnyng to that which was truth, finding other bycauillations, sayd that thys his writyng was to short and obscure, and therefore required hym, to write vpon the same agayne more playnely and more at large. Wherupon the sayd Maister Walter (satisfiyng the Byshops request, and ready to geue to euery one an accompt of his faith) in a more ample tractation renueth hys matter agayne before declared, writing to the Byshop in wordes and forme, as followeth.  

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Having been asked by Trefnant for a more detailed explanation of his beliefs, Brut readily responds. He begins with more detail on his Apocalyptic beliefs, which not only refute most features of medieval tradition regarding the Antichrist (e.g., that Antichrist is a human , born of the tribe of Dan, that he will slay Enoch and Elijah), but which also place the Welsh at the centre of opposition to Antichrist, because they excel everyone in strength, courage and steadfast faith. From there, Brute went on to attack the clergy, deny papal claims to temporal authority, maintain that auricular confession was not based in Scripture and to maintain that the Eucharist was a memorial,. All of this material, Foxe prints accurately, although, in marginal notes he tries to spin aspects of Brut's thought, such as the Lollard's denunciation of tithes or of just wars. Where Foxe draws the line, is in Brut's defence of the duty of women to preach, which Foxe deletes. Brut's defence is taken from Trefnant's register; see Registrum Johannis Trefnant, Episcopis Herefordensis, ed. W. W. Capes, Canterbury and York Society (London, 1916), pp. 289-358.

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MarginaliaAn other declaration of the same matter before, after a more ample tractation, exhibited by Walter Brute to the B. REuerend father, forasmuch as it seemeth to you that my motion in my two suppositions or cases, and in my two conclusions, is too short and somewhat darcke: I will gladly now satisfie your desire, accordyng to my small learning, by declaring the same conclusions. In opening wherof, it shall plainely appeare, what I doe iudge in all matters, that I am accused of to your reuerence: desiring you first of all that your discretion would not beleue that I do enterprise of any presumption to handle the secretes of the scriptures, which the holy and iust, and wise doctours haue left vnexpounded. It is not vnknowen to many, that I am in all pointes farre inferiour to them, whose holynes of lyfe & profoundnes in knowledge, is manifolde wayes allowed. But as for myne ignoraunce, and multitude of sinnes, are to my selfe and others sufficiently knowen: wherefore, I iudge not my selfe worthy to vnloose or to cary their shooes after them. Do you therfore no otherwise deeme of me, then I doe of myne owne selfe. But if you shall finde any goodnes in my writinges, ascribe it to God onely:MarginaliaThey that so humbly iudge of themselues and do not so carelesly continue, are of God. who according to the multitude of hys mercy, doth sometymes reueale those thynges to Idiotes and sinners, which are hidden from the holy and wyse, according to thys saying: I will prayse and confesse thee O father, for that, thou hast hidden these thinges from the wyse and prudent, and hast disclosed them to the litle ones. Euen so O father, because it hath thus pleased thee. And in an other place. I am come to iudgement into this world, that they which see not may see, and that they which see, may be made blinde. And Paule saith: That God hath chosen the weake thinges of the world, to cōfound the mighty, that no man shall boast in him selfe, but that all men should geue the honour to God.

It was commaunded to Esay, bearing the type of Christ: Go and say to thys people: Heare ye with your hearing, and do not vnderstand? Beholde ye the vision, & yet know ye not the thyng that ye see? Make blynde the hart of thys people, and make dull their eares, & shut their eyes, least that perchaunce with their eyes they should see, and with their eares they should heare, & wyth their harts they should vnderstand and be conuerted, and I shoulde heale them. And I sayd, how long Lord? And he sayd, vntill that the cities be made desolate without inhabitantes, and the house without any person within it.MarginaliaEsay. 6. Also in Esay thus is it written: And the multitude of all nations, which shall fighte agaynst Ariel, and all persons that haue warred, and besieged & preuayled agaynst it, shall be as a dreame that appeareth in the night, and as the hungry person dreameth that he eateth, but when he shall awake out of hys sleepe, hys soule is empty. And lyke as the hungry person dreameth that he eateth, and yet after that he shall awake, he is still weary and thyrstye, and hys soule voyde of nourishment: euen so shall it be with the multitude of all nations that haue fought agaynst the mount Sion. Be you amased, and haue great wonder: reele ye to and fro, and staggre ye: be ye druncken and not wyth wyne: staker, but not through drunckennes: for the Lord hath mingled for you the spirite of drousines.MarginaliaEsay. 29. He shall shut your eyes, he shall couer your Prophetes and Princes that see visions.