out hys Dioces where he dwelleth, or at most two dayes iourney, if it be in a generall councell: MarginaliaPope Martyn vndoeth the actes and edictes of all other popes.as also all other constitutions of any byshop of Rome, touchyng as well Iudges delegate, as persones not to be called to iudgement beyond a certayne number: or els any other edicte indulte, priuilege, or exemption generall or speciall graunted from the Apostolicke sea, for any person or persons not to be interdicted, suspended, or excommunicated, or cited vp to iudgement without the compasse of certayne limites: or els what soeuer thyng otherwise may hinder stop, or impeache your iurisdiction, power, & free proceeding herein by any meanes, to the contrary notwithstanding. Dat Constant. the first yeare of our Popedome.

¶ Thys bloudy and abhominable commission of Pope Martine, which I haue copyed out of a certayne old monument remayning in the handes of Maister Hackluyt, Student in the Temple, seemeth to be directed and geuen out to the publike destruction of all faithfull Christen men, about the latter end & breaking vp of the Councell of Constance, an. 1418. MarginaliaNote how Antichrist rageth and ryseth agaynst Christ.By the which the prudēt reader hath this to note and consider, what labour what policie, what coūsayle, & what lawes haue bene set, what wayes haue bene taken, what seueritie hath bene shewed, how mens power, wit, and autoritie of the whole worlde haue conspired together from tyme to tyme, cōtinually by all maner meanes, to subuert and supplant the worde, and way of the Lorde: And yet notwithstandiyng man hath not preuayled, but all his force & deuised policies haue ben ouerthrown, dispatched, and wyth the counsayle of Achitophell and Ammon, haue bene brought to nought, and contrarye to the furye of the world, the Gospell of Christ hath still increased. MarginaliaMans power & counsaile to weake agaynst Christ.Neyther yet for all thys, wyll the Pope cease to spurne and rebell styll agaynst the kyngdome of Christ, and of his Gospell: agaynst which neyther he, nor yet the gates of hel shal euer preuayle. The Lord of hostes be mercifull to his poore persecuted flocke. Amen.

Agaynst this pestilent Bull and Inquisition of Pope Martin þ^e great antichrist, I thought good here to adioyne & annexe an other cōtrary writing of the Bohemians, bearing the name and subscription of Procopius, Conradus, and other Captaines of the Bohemians, which seemeth not long after the death of Zisca, to be written against the pestiferous sea of Rome, the tenour wherof here followeth.

MarginaliaAn exhortation of the Bohemyans.THe almighty God the father, by his welbeloued sonne Iesus Christ, may in hys holy spirite open the vnderstanding both of you and of all Christians, and lyghtē your hartes wyth the lyght of hys doctrine of righteousnes, and may make you to continue therein, surely established to the end. Thys we desire of you for your saluation, all ye honourable, wyse, and honest noble men, and all the Comunaltie, ye rich and poore, heare and consider with diligent heede, the wordes of this present letter, which is sent vnto you from the countrey of the Bohemians. It is manifest and well knowen to you and many other Cities, Kynges, Princes, & Lordes, that now a certayne number of yeares, there hath bene great discorde betwixt vs and you, & there haue bene some which haue moued you by letters, and prouoked you to make warre agaynst vs, and to destroy vs. MarginaliaThe pope and prelates by their letters stirred them to fight.And as well on your part as on ours, many men, as well noble as vnnoble, haue foolishly lost their lyues. Yet neuer hetherto haue ye in any part vnderstood our fayth by our owne confession, neyther whether we be able to proue the same out of the Scriptures, yea or no: and yet in the meane tyme, Kynges, Princes, Lords, and Cities, haue sustayned great dammage. And hereof we greatly maruaile, that ye doe so much trust and beleue the Pope and hys priestes, which geue you drinke full of poyson, and such comfort as no man can vnderstand, MarginaliaFayre wordes, to make fooles fayne.in that they saye that they will geue you forgeues of all your sinnes, and great grace and pardon, to thys ende, that you should warre vpon vs and destroy vs: whereas their graces and pardons are none other then great lies, and a great seducing of the body and soule of all them that beleue them, and put their trust in them. MarginaliaThe pope seduceth the world with vayne promises of thinges, which he can not geue.This we would proue vnto them, & ouercome them by the holy scripture, & we would suffer, that whosoeuer is desirous to heare the same, should heare it. For the Pope and all hys Priestes, herein deale with you as the deuill would haue done wyth our Lord Iesus Christ, of whom Luke writeth in hys 4. chapter, that he brought hym vpon an high hill, & shewed vnto hym in the twinkling of an eye, all the kingdomes that are in the compasse of the earth, & sayd vnto hym: I will geue thee. &c. So the Deuill deceaueth the Pope and all hys priestes with the riches of the world, and worldly power: And they thinke they can geue grace and pardon when they will, and they themselues shall neuer finde fauour before almighty God, except they repent & make amendes, because of their great deceiuing of Christēdome. And how can they geue that to others, which they themselues haue not? So did the Deuill, who was rich in promising, and poore in geuing. And, like as the Deuill is not ashamed to tell a lye, so also they are not ashamed to speake that which yet shall neuer be found true, MarginaliaThe deuill & the pope riche in promising, and poore in geuing.nor be proued by the holy Scriptures, because, for no cause, they stirre vp Kynges, Princes, Lordes and Cities, to make warre against vs, not to the ende that the Christian faith shoulde thereby be defended, but because they feare that their secret vices and heresies shall be disclosed and made manifest. For, if they had a true cause, & a godly loue to the Christiā fayth: they would then take the bookes of the holy scripture, and would come vnto vs, and ouercome vs with the weapons of Gods woorde, and that is our chiefe desire. For so did the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ, who came to the Paganes and Iewes, and brought them from their infidelitie, to the true faith of our Lord Iesus Christ: and thys they did in the spirite of meekenes, as the Apostle Paule writeth in the sixt chapiter to the Galat. Brethren, if any man be agreued. &c. MarginaliaGal. 6.So ought they also to do, if they perceiued that they were iust, & we vniust. And if we woulde not abide instruction, then they might take to them Kings, Princes, Lordes, and imperiall Cities, and resist vs, according to the commaundements of the holy Scripture. MarginaliaFalse premises of the papistes.But this is the subtile defence of all the Bishops and Priestes, that they say that Maister Hus and Hierome which were burnt at Constance, were ouercome of the holy father the Pope, and of the whole Councell: MarginaliaM. Hus & Hierome by wrongfull violence put to death.For ye must vnderstād that they were not ouercome by the holy ghost, but vniustly, wyth wrongfull violence, which God may yet hereafter greuously punishe in all them that gaue their counsell & ayde thereto: and they say it ought not to be suffered, that we should be heard in confessing our fayth. How may that be proued by the holy Scripture, since Christ heard the deuil, MarginaliaChrist heard the deuill: but the pope will not heare men confesse their faith.as it is written in the 4. chapter of Mathew? and they are not better then Christ, nor we worsse then the Deuill. If they be iust and haue the truth wyth them (as they say they haue) and we be vnrighteous: why do they feare, since the truth ought not to be afeard of falshode, as Esdras writeth in his second booke, the third Chapiter. Zorobabel declared that truth is of all thynges the most mightie, and ouercommeth all thynges: Marginalia2. Esdras 3.For Christ is the truth. Iohn. 14. I am the way, the truth. &c. MarginaliaIohn. 14.And the Deuill is the father of lyes. Iohn. 8. MarginaliaIohn. 8.He is a lyer from the beginning, and neuer abode in the truth, & there is no truth in him. Therfore if the Pope and hys Priestes haue the truth, let them ouercome vs with the word of God. But if they haue lies, then they cannot long abyde in all their presumption. Wherfore, we exhort & besech all the imperiall Cities, all kinges, Princes, noble men, rich and poore, for Gods sake, and for his righteousnes, that one of them write hereof to another, and that there may be some meanes made how we may cōmune wyth you safely and friendly, at some such place as shall be fit both for you and vs, MarginaliaA iust and godly request of the Bohemians.and bring wyth you your Byshops and teachers, and let them & our teachers fight together wyth the worde of God, and let vs heare them, and let not one ouercome the other by violence or false sutteltie, but onely by the worde of God. And if your Bishops and teachers haue better proofes of theyr fayth out of the holy Scripture, then we, and our fayth be founde vntrue, we wyll receiue penaunce and satisfaction accordyng to the Gospell. But if your Byshops and Teachers be ouercome of ours by the holy Scripture: then doe ye repent and harken to vs, and holde wyth vs. And if your Byshops and teachers wyll cease from theyr spirituall pride, and repent and make satisfaction: then wyll we helpe you accordyng to our power, and will compell them, eyther to ioyne wyth vs, or els we will expell them out of Christendome. And if your Byshops and teachers will say, that it is not lawfull for lay men to heare such reasoning, or to be present at it: that may you vnderstand to tende to no other end, but that they feare they should be ouercome and put to shame in the sight of you: MarginaliaWherfore the popes clergie will abide no cōference, with the laitye.For if they knew that they should ouercome therein, out of doubt, they would desire that euery mā should hear it, and thereby, their glory shoulde become the greater, and their fame and prayses shoulde be encreased vpon the earth. And if your Byshops and teachers counsell you to come to no hearing wyth vs, thē do it whether they will or no, and suffer not your selues at any time to be so fo-