not pray vnles he be hyred, thē hath he no loue at al. What therfore helpeth his prayer, which abideth not in charitie? Therfore let him first take compassion of himselfe by praier, that he may come into charitie, and then he shalbee the better able to helpe others. If he beleeue not, or þ^t he standeth in doubt to be able to deliuer his brother by his praier: wherfore doeth he make with him an assured bargayn, & taketh his mony, and yet knoweth not whether he shall relieue him euer a whit the more or not, from his paine? I feare least the words of the Prophet are fulfilled, saying: From the least to the most al mē applye themselues to couetousnes, and from the Prophet to the Priest all woorke deceitfully. For the poore priests excuse themselues, of such bargaining and selling of their praiers, saying: The yong cock learneth to crow of the olde cocke. For sayeth he, thou maist see that the Pope himselfe in stalling of Bishops & Abbots, taketh the first frutes: In þ^e placing or bestowing of benefices, he alwaies taketh somwhat,, & specially if the benefices be great. MarginaliaSelling of pardons.Also he selleth pardōs or bulles, and to speake more plaine, he taketh mony for them. Bishops in geuing orders,MarginaliaSelling of orders. in hallowing churchesMarginaliaSelling of church halowinges. & churchyards, do take mony: In ecclesiastical correction they take mony for the mitigation of penance:MarginaliaSelling of discipline. In the greuous offences of cōuict persons, mony is required, & caused to be payed, Abbots, Monkes, & other religious men that haue possessiō, wil receiue no mā into their fraternitie,MarginaliaSelling of fraternitie. or make thē partakers of their spiritual suffrages, vnles he bestow somewhat vpon them, or promise them somewhat. Curates & vicars hauing sufficient liuings, by the tithes of their paryshioners, MarginaliaSelling of Diriges, yere mindes, confessions, weddinges, buriynges.yet in dirges and yeares myndes, in hearing confessions, in weddinges & buryings, do require & haue money. MarginaliaSelling of Sermons. &c.The Fryers also of the fower orders of beggers, which think thēselues to be the most perfitest men of the Church, do take mony for their praiers, confessions, & buryings of the dead: and when they preach, they beleue that they shal haue eyther money or some other thyng worthy money. Wherfore then be the poore priests blamed? ought not they to bee held excused, although they take money for their praiers by cōpositiō? Truly (me thinketh) that this excuse by other mens sins, doth not excuse thē: forasmuch, as to heap one mischief vpon anothers head, is no sufficiēt discharge. MarginaliaExample to be taken by the fall of Babylon.I would to God that al the buyers & sellers of spirituall suffrages, would with the eyes of their harte beholde the ruine of the great Citite, and the fall of Babylon, and that which they shall saye after that fall. Doth not the Prophet say: And the merchaunts of the earth shall weepe and mourne for her, because no man shall buy anye more their marchandise, that is, their marchandise of gold and siluer, and of precious stone and of pearle, and of silke and purple: And again he sayth. And the marchaunts which were made riche by her, shall stand aloufe for feare of her tormentes, weeping, mourning, and saying, Alas, Alas, that Citie Babylon, that great Citie whych was woont to weare purple, whitesilke, crimsin, gold, pearle, and precious stone, because that in one hour al those ryches are come to nought: And agayne: And they cast dust vppon their heads and cryed out weping and mourning and saying, Alas, Alas, that great and mightie Citie Babilon, by whom al such as had shippes vpon the sea were made riche by her rewards: Because that in one houre she is become desolate.

MarginaliaThe citie of Rome, Babilon Apoc. 18.This Babilon, this great Citie, is the Citie of Rome, as it appeareth by the processe of the Apostle. Because the aungel which shewed vnto Saint Iohn the destructiō of the mightie harlot sitting vpon many waters, with whō the kinges of the earth haue committed fornication, and al they which dwell vpon the earth are made dronke with þ^e wyne of her whoredome, sayd vnto him: And the woman which thou sawest, is the great citie which hath dominion aboue kings &c. And in dede in þ^e daies of Saint Iohn the whole world was subiect to the temporall Empire of the Citie of Rome,MarginaliaThe temporall dominiō of the citie of Rome. and afterwardes it was subiect to the spiritual Empire or dominion of the same. But touching the temporal gouernment of the City of Rome, it is fallen alreadye: and so that the other also, for the multitude of her spiritual fornicatiōs shal fall. The Emperours of this city gaue themselues to Idolatry, aud would haue that mē should honour them as Gods, & put al those to death that refused such idolatry, & by the cruelty of their torments, al infidels gate the vpper hand.MarginaliaThe spirituall dominiō of the citie of Rome.

Hereupon, by the image of Nabuchodonosor, þ^e empire of the Romaines is likened to yron, which beateth together, and hath the mastery of all mettals. And in the visiō of Daniel, wherein he saw the foure windes of heauen to fight in the mayne sea, and fower great beastes comming out of the sea: MarginaliaThe fourth beast in the prophesie of Daniel meaneth Rome.The kingdom of the Romaynes is lykened to the fourth terrible and maruelous beast, the which had great yron teeth: eating & destroying, and treading the rest vnder his feete: & this beast had ten hornes, & as Danyellsayth, he shall speake words agaynst the most highest, and shall teare with his teeth the Saynts of the most highest: and he shall thinke, that he may be able to chaunge times and lawes, and they shall be delyuered into hys power, untill a tyme, tymes and halfe a time. In the MarginaliaThe beast with 7. heades in the Apoc. signifieth Rome.Apocalips, Saine Iohn sawe a beast comming out of the sea, hauyng 7 heads and 10 hornes, and power was geuen to hym to make monthes 42. So long time endured the Empire of the Romaynes, that is to say, from the beginning of Iulius Cesar, which was the first Emperor of þ^e Romains, vnto the ende of Fridericus, whych was the last Emperour of the Romaines. Vnder this empire Christ suffred, & other Martirs also suffred for his name sake. And here is fallen Rome as Babylon (which is all one) accordyng to the maner of speakyng in the Apocalips as touchynge the temporal and corporal power of gouerning. And thus shall she fall, also touchynge the spirituall power of gouerning, for the multitude of the iniquities and spirituall fornication and merchaundise that are committed by her in the Church.

MarginaliaThe feete of the Image in the dreame of Nabuchodonozar signifieth Rome.The feete of þ^e image which Nabuchodonezor saw, dyd betoken the Empire of Rome, & part of them were of yron, and part of clay & earth. The part that was of yron fell, and þ^e power therof vanished away, because þ^e power therof was at an end after certaine monthes. That part of clay and earth yet endureth, but it shal vanish away by the testimony of the Prophets: whereupon saint Iohn in the Apocalips: After that, he saw the part made of yron rising out of the sea, to which eche people, tribe, and tong submitted themselues. And he saw an other beast cōmyng out of the earth, which had two hornes, like to the hornes of a Lambe, and he spake like a Dragon, and he vanquyshed the first beast in his sight.MarginaliaThe beast with two hornes lyke the Lambe, signifieth the spirituall dominion of Rome.

This beast as seemeth me, doth betoken the claye and earthē part of the feete of þ^e image, because hee came out of þ^e earth. Forþ^t by terrene helpe he is made the high & chief priest of the Romaines, in the church of Christ, & so from alow he ascended on hygh. But Christ from heauen descended, because that he which was God & author of euery creature became man: and he that was Lord of Lords, was made in the shape of a seruant. And although that in the heauens the company of angels minister vnto him, he himselfe ministred or serued in earth, that he might teache vs humilitie, by which a man ascendeth into heauen, euen as by pride a man goeth downe into the bottomlesse pyt. This beast hath two hornes most like a Lambe, because þ^t he chalengeth to himselfe both þ^e priestlye & kingly power, aboue al other here in earth. The Lambe that is Chryst which is a king for euer vpō þ^e kingly seat of Dauid, & he is a Priest for euer after þ^e order of Melchisedech: but hys kingdome is not of this world, but the kingdome of thys beast is of this world, because those þ^t be vnder him, fyght for him. MarginaliaIesus is Christ two maner of wayes, as King and priest.And as Iesus is Christ two maner of waies, because that Christus is as much to say as Vnctus. He verelye was annoynted king, & annointed priest: so this beast saieth that he is chiefe king & priest. Wherefore doth he call himselfe Christ? because that Chryst knowing that afore, sayd: Many shal come in my name, saying, I am Chryst, and shall decyue many. And thus because that he is both king & priest, he chalengeth to himselfe the double sworde, that is the corporall sword and the spirituall sworde.MarginaliaThe double sword of the Pope. The corporal sword is in his right hand, and þ^e spiritual sword is in his right eye, by the testimony of Zachary. But hee speaketh subtilly like a Dragon, because that by the testymony of Christ he shal deceiue many, as the Apoc. witnesseth. He did great wonders, that also he might make more fire to come from heauen into the earth in the sight of mē, that he might deceiue those that dwel vpon the earth, because of the wonders that are permitted hym to do in the sight of the beast, & hee ouercame the first beast which ascended out of the sea. For that beast challenged vnto himself authoritie of gouernment of þ^t whole worlde. He hath put to death & tormented those that resist his commaundements, and would be honored as a God vpon the earth. The byshop of Rome sayth, that þ^e whole world ought to be in subiectiō vnto him, those that be disobediēt vnto his commaundements, he putteth in prison, and to death if he can: If he cannot, he excommunicateth them, and commaundeth them to be cast into the deuils dūgeon. But hee that hath no power ouer þ^e body, much lesse hath he power ouer þ^e soule. And truely his excommunicatiō, nor the excommunication of any priest vnder him, shall at that time little hurt him that is excommunicat, so that the person of him that is excommunicate, be not first excommunicat of God through sinne.

And thus it seemeth a trouth vnto me, that God thus turneth their blessinges into cursinges, because they geue