to note and consider,MarginaliaNote howe Antichrist rageth and ryseth against christ. what labour, what pollicie, what coūsaile, & what lawes haue bene set, what wayes haue bene takē, what seueritie hath bene shewed, how mens power, wit, and authoritie of the whole world haue conspired together from time to time, cōtinually by all maner meanes to subuert and supplant the worde, and way of the Lorde: And yet notwithstanding man hath not preuayled, but all his force & deuised pollicies haue bene ouerthrown, dispatched and w^t the councell of Achitophell and Ammon, haue bene brought to nought, and contrary to the furye of the world, the gospell of Christ hathe still increased.MarginaliaMans power and counsaile too weake against christ Neither yet for all this, will the Pope cease to spurne and rebell still against the kingdome of Christe, and of hys Gospell agaynst which, neyther he, nor yet þ^e gates of hell shall euer preuayle. The Lord of hostes be mercifull to hys poore persecuted flocke. Amen.

Agaynst this pestilent Bull and Inquisition of Pope Martine the great antechrist, I thought good here to adioyne and annexe an other contrarye writing of the Bohemians, bearing the name and subscription of Procopius, Conradus, and other Captaynes of þ^e Bohemians, which seemeth not long after the death of Zisca, to be written agaynst the pestiferous sea of Rome, the tenour whereof here followrth.

MarginaliaAn exhortation of the Bohemians.THe almighty God the father, by hys welbeloued sonne Iesus Christ, may in hys holy spirite open the vnderstanding both of you and of all Christians, & lighten your hartes with the light of hys doctrin of righteousnes, and may make you to continue therin, surely established to the end. This we desire of you for your saluation, all ye honourable, wise, & honest noble men, & al the Comminaltie, ye rich and poore, heare and consider with dilligent heede, the wordes of this present letter, which is sent vnto you from the Country of the Bohemianes. It is manifest and well knowne to you and many other citties, Kynges, princes, and Lordes, that now a certayne number of yeares, there hath ben great discord betwixt vs and you, and there haue bene some which haue moued you by letters,MarginaliaThe Pope and prelates by their letters stirred them to flight. and prouoked you to make warre against vs, and to destroy vs. And as well on your part as on ours: many men, as wel noble as vnnoble, haue foolishly lost their lyues. Yet neuer hetherto haue ye in any parte vnderstoode our fayth by our owne confession, neither whether we be able to proue the same out of the scriptures, yea or no: and yet in the meane time, kinges, Princes, Lordes, and Citties, haue sustayned great dammage. And hereof we greatly meruaile, that yet do 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, MarginaliaFaire words doe make fooles faine.in that they say that they wil geue you forgeuenes of all your sinnes, and great grace & pardon, to this end, that you should warre vpon vs & destroy vs: wheras 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. Thys we would proue vnto them, & ouercome them by the holy scripture, and we wold suffer: that whosoeuer is desirous to heare the same, shoulde heare it. MarginaliaThe Pope seduceth the world with vaine promises of thinges, which he cannot geueFor the Pope and all hys priestes, herein deale with you as the deuill woulde haue done wyth our Lorde Iesus Christ. Of whome Luke writeth in hys 4. chap. that he brought him vpon an high hill, & shewed vnto hym in the twinckling of an eye, al the kyngdomes that are in the compasse of the earth, & said vnto him: I wil geue thee &c. So the deuill deceiueth the pope, and all the priestes with the riches of the worlde, and worldly power: And they thinke they can geue grace and pardon when they wyll, and they themselues shall neuer finde fauour before almighty God, except they repent and make amendes, because of theyr great deceauing of Christēdom. And how can they geue that to others, which they themselues haue not? So dyd the Deuill, who was rich in promising, and poore in geuing. MarginaliaThe deuil & the Pope riche in promising and poore in geuing.And like as the Deuill is not ashamed to tell a lye, so all they are not ashamed to speake that which shall neuer be found true, nor be proued by the holy scriptures, because for no cause, they stirre vp kinges, Princes, Lordes, and Citties, to make warre agaynst vs, not to the end that the Christian fayth shoulde therby be defended, but because they feare þ^t theyr secret vices and heresies shalbe disclosed and made manifest. For if they had a true cause, & a godly loue to the Christiā faith they would then take the books of the holy scripture, and would come vnto vs, and ouercome vs with the weapōs of Gods word, and that is our chiefe desire. For so dydthe apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ, who came to þ^e Paganes and Iewes, and brought them from their infidelitie to the true fayth of our Lorde Iesus Christ, and this they dyd in the spirite of meekenes, as the Apostle Paul writeth in the 6. chap. to the Galat.MarginaliaGalat. 6. Brethren if anye man be agreeued. &c. So ought they also to doe, if they perceiued that they were iust, and we vniust. And if we woulde not abide instruction: then they might take to them kinges, Princes, Lordes, and imperiall citties, and resist vs according to the commaundementes of the holy scripture. MarginaliaFalse pretenses, of the papistes.But this is the subtile defence of all theByshops and Priestes that they say that mayster Hus and Hierome which were burnt at Constance, were ouercome of the holy father the Pope, and of the whole Councell: MarginaliaM. Hus & Hierom by wrongful violence put to death.For ye must vnderstand that they were not ouercome by the holy Ghost, but vniustly, with wrongfull violence, which God may yet hereafter greeuously punishe in all them that gaue their counsel and ayd thereto: and they saye it ought not to be suffered, that we should be heard in confessing our fayth. How may tha be proued by the holy scripture, since christ heard the deuilt as it is written in the fourth chap. of Mathewe? And theyl are not better then Christ, nor we worsse then the Deuill.MarginaliaChrist heard the deuill: but the pope wil not heare men confesse their fayth. If they be iust and haue the truth with them (as they saye they haue) and we be vnrighteous, why do they feare, sinc the truth ought not to be afeard of falshod, as Esdras writeth in hys second booke, the third chapiter.Marginalia2. Esdras 3. Zorobabell declared that truth is of all thinges the most mightye, and ouercommeth all thinges. For Christ is the trueth. Iohn 14.MarginaliaIohn 14. I am the way, the trueth. &c. And the deuill is the father of lies. 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 lyes, then they cannont long abide in al their presumptiō. Wherfore, we exhort and beseech al the imperiall Cities, al kings Princes, noble men, rich and poore, for Gods sake, and for hys righteousnes, that one of them write hereof to an other, and that there may be some meanes made howe we may cōmune w^t you safely and friendly, at some such place as shal be fit both for you and vs, and bring with you your Byshops and teachers, MarginaliaA iust and godly request of the Bohemians.and let them & our teachers fight together with the word of God, and let vs heare them, and and let not one ouercome the other by violence or false subtiltie, but onely by the word 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 found vntrue, we will receiue penaunce and satisfaction: according to Gospell. But if your Byshops and teachers be ouercome of ours by the holy Scripture, then doe ye repent and harken to vs, and hold with vs. And if your Byshops & teachers will cease from their spirituall pride, and repent and make satisfaction: then wil we helpe you according to our power, and will compell them, eyther to ioyne with 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 presēt at it:MarginaliaWherefore the popes clergie wil abide no cōference with the laytie. that may you vnderstand to tend to no other end, but that they feare they should be ouercome and put to shame in the sight of you: For if they knew that they should ouercome therein, out of doubt, they would desire that euery mā should heare it, & thereby, their glory should become the greater, & their fame and prayses should be encreased vpon the earth. And if your Bishops and teachers coūsell you to come to no hearing with vs, thē do it whether they will or no, & suffer not your selues at any time to be so folishly seduced with their folish pardons, but tary at home in your houses w^t your wiues and children. And let þ^e pope of Rome came to vs with all his Cardinals and byshops, and with all hys priestes, with his owne person & power to warre with vs, & let themselues deserue the absolution of sinnes, grace, and pardon, which they preach to you (for they haue great nede of forgeuenes of sinnes, grace, & pardō) & by the grace of god we will geue them pardō enough as they shall neede. But their subtile excuse is this:MarginaliaThe Popes pretensed excuse detected. they say that it belōgeth not to priestes to fight w^t bodily weapons & true it is that belongeth not to them: but it belongeth as little to them to stirre vp, to counsaile, & to fortifie others thereto: For Paule saith in the þ^e 1. to the Rom.MarginaliaRom. 1. & in þ^e fift to þ^e Galath. that all that do such thinges are worthy of euerlasting death.

And if ye will not determine to do any other thing then to fight against vs, then will we take the Lord to our helpe and his trueth, & we will defend it to the death, & we will not be afraid for the excommnnicatiō or curse of the Pope, or his cardinals, or of þ^e bishops, because we know that þ^e Pope is not god as he maketh himselfe, that he can curse and excommunicate when he will, or blesse when he will: