must be purged with the true purgatory of the cross of Christ: that is, thou must hate it with all thine heart, and desire God to take it from thee. And then whatsoever cross God putteth on thy back, bear it patiently, whether it be poverty, sickness, or persecution, or whatsoever it be, and take it for the right purgatory, and think that God hath nailed thee fast to it, to purge thee thereby. For he that loveth not the law and hateth his sin, and hath not professed in his heart to fight against it, and mourneth not to God to take it away and to purge him of it, the same hath no part with Christ. If thou love the law and findest that thou hast yet sin hanging on thee, whereof thou sorrowest to be delivered and purged: as for an ensample, thou hast a covetous mind, and mistrustest God, and therefore art moved to beguile thy neighbour, and art unto him merciless, not caring whether he sink or swim, so thou mayest win by him or get from him that he hath: then get thee to the observant which is so purged from that sin, that he will not once handle a penny, and with that wile doth the subtle fox make the goose come flying into his hole, ready prepared for his mouth without his labour or sweat; and buy of his merits, which he hath in store, and give thy money not into his holy hands, but to offer him that he hath hired either with part of his prayers or part of his prey, to take the sin upon him and to handle his money for him. In like manner, if any person that is un der obedience unto God's ordinance (whether it be son, or daughter, servant, wife or subject) consent unto the ordinance, and yet find contrary motions: let him go also to them that have professed an obedience of their own making, and buy part of their merits. If thy wife give thee nine words for three, go to the charterhouse and buy of their silence and so if the abstaining of the observant from handling money, heal thine heart from desiring money, and the obedience of them that will obey nothing but their own ordinance, heal thy disobedience to God's ordinance, and the silence of the charterhouse monk tame thy wife's VOL, II, The right cross of Christ. He that loveth not the law and hateth sin, hath no part with Christ. How to try the doctrine of our spiritualty. If the pray ers and merits of our reli gious men purge out lusts, then are they of value, and else not. What the taketh tongue, then believe that their prayers shall deliver thy soul from the pains of that terrible and fearful purgatory which they have feigned to purge thy purse withal. The spiritualty increaseth daily. More prelates, more priests, more monks, friars, canons, nuns, and more heretics; I would say heremites, with like draff. Set before thee the increase of St. Francis's disciples in so few years. Reckon how many thousands, yea, how many twenty thousands, not disciples only; but whose cloisters are sprung out of hell of them in so little space. Pattering of prayers encreaseth daily. Their service, as they call it, waxeth longer and longer, and the labour of their lips greater; new saints, new service, new feasts, and new holidays. What take all these away? Sin? Nay. For we see the contrary by experience, and that sin groweth as they grow. But spiritualty they take away first God's word with faith, hope, peace, unity, love and concord; then house and land, rent and fee, tower and town, goods and cattle, and the very meat out of men's mouths. All these live by purgatory. When other weep for their friends, they sing merrily; when other loose their friends, they get friends. all his pardons is grounded on purgatory. canons, friars, with all other swarms of hypocrites, do but empty purgatory, and fill hell. Every mass, say they, delivereth one soul out of purgatory. If that were true, yea, if ten masses were enough for one soul, yet were the sicians give none other parish priests and curates of every parish sufficient to scour purgatory. All the other costly work of men might tions only. be well spared. away with their prayers. When other weep, they sing, and when other lose, they win. All is of purgatory. These phy medicines save purga The pope with Priests, monks, THE FOUR SENSES OF THE SCRIPTURE. THEY divide the Scripture into four senses, the literal, tropological, allegorical, and anagogical. The literal sense is become nothing at all. For the pope hath taken it clean away, and hath made it his possession. He hath partly locked it up with the false and counterfeited keys of his traditions, ceremonies, and feigned lies. And partly driveth men from it with violence of sword. For no man dare abide by the literal sense of the text, but under a protestation, if it shall please the pope. The chopological sense pertaineth to good manners (say they) and teacheth what we ought to do. The allegory is appropriate to faith; and the anagogical to hope and things above. Tropological and anagogical are terms of their own feigning, and altogether unnecessary. For they are but allegories both two of them, and this word allegory comprehendeth them both, and is enough. For tropological is but an allegory of manners, and anagogical, an allegory of hope. And allegory is as much to say as strange speaking, or borrowed speech. As when we say of a wanton child, this sheep hath magots in his tail, he must be anointed with birchen salve; which speech I borrow of the shepherds. Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth, whereunto if thou cleave thou canst never err, or go out of the way. And if thou leave the literal sense, thou canst not but go out of the way. Neverthelater, the Scripture useth proverbs, similitudes, riddles, or allegories, as all other speeches do; but that which the proverb, similitude, riddle, or allegory signifieth is ever the literal sense which thou must seek out diligently. As in Borrowed speech. the English, we borrow words and sentences of one thing, and apply them unto another, and give them new significations. We say, Let the sea rise as high as he will, yet hath God appointed how far he shall go: meaning that the tyrants shall not do what they would, but that only which God hath appointed them to do. Look ere thou leap: whose literal sense is, Do nothing suddenly, or without avisement. Cut not the bough that thou standest upon : whose literal sense is, Oppress not the commons; and is borrowed of hewers. When a thing speedeth not well, we borrow speech, and say, The bishop hath blessed it, because that nothing speedeth well that they meddle with withal. If the porridge be burned too, or the meat over roasted, we say, the bishop hath put his foot in the pot, or the bishop hath played the cook, because the bishops burn whom they lust, and whomsoever displeaseth them. He is a pontifical fellow, that is, proud and stately. He is popish, that is, superstitious and faithless. It is a pastime for a prelate. It is a pleasure for a pope. He would be free, and yet will not have head shaven. He would that no man should smite him, and yet hath not the pope's mark. And of him is betrayed, and wotteth not how, we say, he hath been at shrift. She is master parson's sister's daughter; he is the bishop's sister's son; he hath a cardinal to his uncle; she is a spiritual whore; it is the gentlewoman of the parsonage; he gave me a Kyrie eleyson. And of her that answereth her husband six words for one, we say, She is a sister of the charter-house: as who should say, She thinketh that she is not bound to keep silence, their silence shall be a satisfaction for her. And of him that will not be saved by Christ's merits, but by the works of his own imagination, we say it is a holy workman. Thus borrow we, and feign new speech in every tongue. All fables, prophecies, and riddles, are allegories; as Esop's fables, and Merlin's prophecies, and the interpretation of them are the literal sense. So in like manner the Scripture borroweth words and sentences of all manner [of] things, and maketh proverbs Beyond all this, when we have found out the literal sense of the Scripture, by the process of the text, or by a like text of another place, then go we, and as the Scripture borroweth similitudes of worldly things, even so we again borrow similitudes or allegories of the Scripture, and apply them to our purposes; which allegories are no sense of the Scripture, but free things besides the Scripture, and altogether in the liberty of the Spirit. Which allegories I may not make at all the wild adventures; but must keep me within the compass of the faith, and ever apply mine allegory to Christ, and unto the faith. Take an ensample: thou hast the story of Peter, how he smote off Malchus's ear, and how Christ healed it again. There hast thou in the plain text great learning, great fruit, and great edifying, which I pass over because of tediousuess. Then come I, when I preach of the law and the gospel, and borrow this ensample, to express the nature of the law, and of the gospel, and to paint it unto thee before thine eyes. And of Peter and his sword make I the law, and of Christ the gospel; saying, As Peter's sword cutteth off the ear, so doth the law. The law damneth, the law killeth, and mangleth the conscience. There is no ear so righteous that can abide the hearing The right use of alle gories. Allegories are no sense of Scripture. |