1583 Edition | Book 9 | Page 1385 
CloseWitness at the deathbed of John Redman
Edward Cratford witnessed Redman's statements of his religious belief. 1563, pp. 867-74; 1570, pp. 1538-41; 1576, pp. 1311-14; 1583, pp. 1361-64.
CloseWitness at the deathbed of John Redman
John Wright witnessed Redman's statements of his religious belief. 1563, pp. 867-74; 1570, pp. 1538-41; 1576, pp. 1311-14; 1583, pp. 1361-64.
CloseWitness at the deathbed of John Redman
Richard Burton witnessed Redman's statements of his religious belief. 1563, pp. 867-74; 1570, pp. 1538-41; 1576, pp. 1311-14; 1583, pp. 1361-64.
CloseWitness at the deathbed of John Redman
Richard Elithorne witnessed Redman's statements of his religious belief. 1563, pp. 867-74; 1570, pp. 1538-41; 1576, pp. 1311-14; 1583, pp. 1361-64.
MarginaliaAnno 1551.that is past, and I desire it not but the will of God be fulfilled.
After this or a little other like communication, I asked if I mighte be so bolde not troubling him, to knowe hys mynde for my learning in some matters and poyntes of religion. He sayde, yea, and that he was as glad to common wyth me, in such matters, as with any man. And then I sayde to hys seruauntes: I trust I shall not trouble hym. No said Ellis his seruaunt, my L. of London
CloseNicholas Ridley, the bishop of London.
MarginaliaCommunicatiō touching the Sacramēt of the Lordes Body & bloud.I sayde he shoulde do much good in declaring his faith, and I would be glad to knowe his minde as touching the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ.
He sayd, as man is made of two partes, of the body and the soule, so Christ would feede the whole man: but what (sayth he) be the wordes of the text? Let vs take the words of the Scripture: and he rehearsed the text himselfe thus: Accepit Iesus panem:
Redman is quoting Matthew 26:26 from the Vulgate.
Close
MarginaliaQuestion. Whether Christ be present in the Sacrament.Then I asked him of the presence of Christ.
He said, Christ was present with his sacrament, and in those that receaued it as they ought. And there was Mira vnitio,MarginaliaVnitio. a wonderfull vnion (for that word was named betwixt Christ and vs) as S. Paul saith: Vos estis os ex ossibus eius, & caro ex carne eius.
Redman is quoting Ephesians 5:30 from the Vulgate.
Close
MarginaliaQuestion. Whether Christ be present coporally, naturally, and really in the Sacramēt.Then I asked him what he thought of the opinion, that Christ was there corporally, naturally, and really.
MarginaliaCorporally, that is truely: so Christ is there otherwise not.He aunswered: if you meane by corporally, naturally, and really, that he is there present Verè, I graunt.
MarginaliaQuest. Whether Christ be there flesh, bloud, & bone.Then I asked how he thought of that which was wont commonly to be spoken, that Christ was there flesh, bloud & bone, as I haue heard the Stewards in their Leets
CloseA Leet was originally a manorial, subsequently a district, court.
CloseRedman is saying that is that after the Act of Six Articles was passed in 1539, local courts were assigned to investigate accusations of disbelief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament.
He said, that was too grosse, and could not well be excused from the opinion of the Capernaites.
Close'Capernaite' is a prejorative term for anyone who held an overly-carnal understanding of Christ's Real Presence in the sacramental bread and wine. The term is based on John 6: 52.
MarginaliaQuest. Whether Christ be receaued in minde & spirite, or with mouth & body, or with both?Thē I asked him: in as much as Christ was there Verè,
Close'truly'.
He said, we receaue him in our minds & soules by fayth.
Then in asmuch as he was much in this point, þt there was Mira vnitio, a marueylous vnion betwixt vs & Christ, in that we were Caro ex carne eius, & os ex ossibus eius: Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh:
CloseRedman is quoting Ephesians 5:30 from the Vulgate.
Here he paused & held his peace a litle space, and shortly after he spake, saying: I will not say so: I can not tell: it is a hard question, but surely saith he, we receiue Christ in our soule by faith. When you speake of it other wayes, it soundeth grosly and fauoureth of the Capernaites.
MarginaliaQuest. Whether that be to be worshipped which the priest sheweth to the people betwixte his handes?Then I asked him what he thought of þt which þe Priest was wont to lift vp & shew the people betwixt his hāds?
He saide it is the Sacramente. Then sayd I, they were wont to worship that which was lifted vp. Yea saith he, but we must worship Christ in heauen: Christ is neither lifted vp nor downe.
CloseThis sounds like a rejection of the Real Presence, but it is not necessarily so. Thomas Aquinas had maintained much the same thing, arguing that Christ was only present in the Sacrament under the species of bread and wine, but his actual location was in heaven.
MarginaliaQuest. Whether the carying about of the Sacrament is to be alowed?Then said he, looking vp and praying, God graunt vs grace that we may haue þe true vnderstanding of his word, whereby we may come to the true vse of his Sacraments, and sayd he woulde neuer allow the carying about of the Sacrament, and other fond abuses about the same.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTransubstantiation.Then after a little while pausing, said I: Maister Doctor, if I shuld not trouble you, I would pray you to know your mind in transubstantiation. Iesu M. Wilkes (quoth he) wyll you aske me that? Syr sayde I, not if I shoulde trouble you. No, no, I will tell you saith he: Because I founde the opinion of Transubstantiation receiued in the Church, when I heard it spoken against, I searched the auncient Doctors diligently, & went about to stablishe it by them, because it was receiued. MarginaliaTransubstantiation not to be founde in the Doctours.And whē I had read many of them, I found little for it, & could not be satisfied. Thē I went to the Schoole Doctors, and namely to Gabriell,
CloseGabriel Biel (c. 1410-1495), arguably the pre-eminent theologian of the late fifteenth-century.
CloseTertullian was a major patristic writer and theologian.
CloseIrenaeus was an early patristic writer and theologian.
MarginaliaThe schole Doctours deceaued in the word consecratiō.Then sayd I, you know that the Schoole Doctors dyd hold that panis non remanebat post consecrationem, that bread remained not after consecration as they called it.
MarginaliaWhat is cōsecration.The schoole Doctors (sayth he) did not know what consecratio doth meane: and here he paused a while. I pray you sayd I, what you say that consecratio doth meane? Sayth he, it is Tota actio, in ministring the Sacramente, as Christ did institute it. All the whole thing done in the ministery, as Christ ordeyned it, that is, consecratio, and what (saith he) neede we to doubt that bread remayneth? Scripture calleth it bread, and certaine good authors that be of the latter time, be of that opinion.
CloseIn this account, Redman is expressing doubts about the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and Wilkes is trying to persuade him otherwise. Other memories of Redman's deathbed conversations differ. For a discussion of Redman's beliefs on the Sacrament see Ashley Null, 'John Redman, the Gentle Ambler' in Westminster Abbey Reformed, 1540-1640, ed. C. S. Knighton and Richard Mortimer (Aldershot, 2003), pp. 64-70.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTalke about Doctour Redman.After that I had communed with M. Redman, and taken my leaue of him, M. Yong came foorth into the nexte chamber with me, to whome I said that I was glad to see M. Doct. Redman so well minded. Then said M. Yong to me, I am sure he will not deny it. I ensure you saith he, M. Doct. hath so moued me, that where as I was of that opinion before in certaine things, that I would haue burned and lost my life for them, now saith M. Yong, I doubt of them. MarginaliaD. Yonge stayed by D. Redman from his Popishe opinion.But I see (saith he) a man shall knowe more & more by processe of time, and reading and hearing of other, and M. Doct Redmans saying shall cause me to looke more diligently for them.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe opiniō of Doctour Redman touching iustification by fayth.Also Ellis
CloseI.e., Ellis Lomas.
CloseThis, if accurately reported, is strikingly close to Protestantism, but what Redman actually meant is unclear. If justification by faith was the sole means of attaining salvation, then not teaching it to people endangered their souls. Next to this, the question of whether people were or were not negligent in performing good works hardly mattered.
[Back to Top]The sayd maister Yong hath reported (the which also I heard) that M. Doctor Redman should say, MarginaliaConsensus Ecclesiæ is but a weake staffe to leane to.that consensus Ecclesiæ, the consent of the Church was but a weake staffe to leane to, but did exhort him to reade the Scriptures, for there was that which should comfort him when he should be in such case as he was then.
[Back to Top]
CloseAlthough both William Seres (A Reporte of Maister Doctor Redmans answers (London, 1551), 20827, sig A2r-v) and Alexander Nowell himself (A Confutation as wel of M. Dormans last Boke…[London, 1567], STC 18739, fos. 11v-13r) are quite disingenuous about the origins of this document, its apparent genesis is revealing. Word of Redman's deathbed reached William Cecil, who instructed Nowell to draw up this of doctrinal points made by Redman and to get witnesses to subscribe to it. (For the identities of these witnesses see commentaries earlier in this section.) Cecil gave this document to Seres who printed it in A Reporte, fos. A3r-A6r). This again is indicative of the efforts made by Cecil and the Edwardian authorities to capitalize on Redman's death for purposes of religious propaganda.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe confession of D. Redman before M. Nowell.1 IN primis, the sayd D. Redman sent for M. Nowell of his own mind, and said he was willing to commune with him of such matters as he had moued þe said D. Redman of a day or two before: and he being desired of the said M. Nowell to declare his mind cōcerning certain points of our Religion, first said: aske me what ye will, and I wil answere you (before God) truly as I thinke, without any affection to the world, or any worldly person.
[Back to Top]Witnesses Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton, Ellis Lo-
mas, Iohn Wright.
2 Item, the said D. Redman said, that the sea of Rome in these latter daies is Sentina malorū, that is, a sinke of al euil.
Witnesses Iohn Yong, Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton,
Iohn Wright, Edw. Cratford, Rich. Elithorne, Ellis Lomas.
3 Item, that Purgatory, as the schoolemen taught it and vsed it, was vngodly, and that there was no such kynde of Purgatory as they fantasied.
Witnesses Iohn Yong, Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton,
Ellis Lomas, Edw. Cratford, Rich. Elithorne, Iohn Wright.
MarginaliaOffering vp of the Sacrament called the sacrifice of the Masse.4 Item, that the offring vp of the Sacrament in Masses and Trentals for the sinnes of the dead, is vngodly.
CloseWhat Redman is saying here is that the Sacrament should not be offered in Requiem masses, not that these masses should not be celebrated. But this would contradict the third point, since if if there is no Purgatory, Requiem masses serve no useful purpose.
Witnesses Iohn Yong, Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton,
Edward Cratford, Ellis Lomas.
5 Item, that the wicked are not pertakers of the body of Christ, but receiue the outward Sacrament only.
CloseIf Redman is saying that the character of the recipient affected the efficacy of the Sacrament, than both Protestants and Catholics would reject this view. But if he is saying that taking the Sacrament would not in and of itself save the unrepentant, than this statement was relatively uncontroversial.
[Back to Top]Witnesses Iohn Yong, Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton,
Ellis Lomas, Edw. Cratford, Rich. Elithorne, Iohn Wright.
MarginaliaCarying about of the Sacrament disproued.6 Item, that the Sacrament ought not to be caried about in procession: for it is taught what is the vse of it in these wordes: Accipite, manducate, & bibite, & hoc facite in mei memoriam: Take, eate, and drinke, and do this in remembrance of me.
Witnesses Ioh. Yong, Alexander Nowell, Rich. Burton,
Iohn Wright, Edward Cratford, Ellis Lomas.
MarginaliaAdoration of the Sacrament disproued.7 Item, that nothing which is seene in the Sacramente, or perceiued with any outward sence, is to be worshipped.
Witnesses Iohn Yong, Alexander Nowell, Ellis Lomas,
Richard Burton.
MarginaliaA grosse opinion to thinke that Christ is corporally eaten in the Sacrament.8 Item, that we receiue not Christes body Corporaliter, id est, crassè: corporally, that is to saye, grosly, like other