But (alas!) of late into this spiritual possession of the heavenly treasure of these godly riches, are entered in thieves, that have robbed and spoiled all this heavenly treasure away. I may well complain on these thieves, and cry out upon them with the prophet, saying: (Psalm 79) O Lord God, the gentiles, heathen nations, are come into thy heritage, they have defiled thy holy temple, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones:" that is, they have broken and beat down to the ground, thy holy city. This heathenish generation, these thieves of Samaria, these Sabacans and Chaldeans, these robbers have rushed out of their dens, and have robbed the church of England of all the foresaid holy treasure of God. They have carried it away, and overthrown it, and in the stead of God's holy word, the true and right administration of Christ's holy sacraments, as of baptism and others, they mixed their ministry with men's foolish fantasies, and many wicked and ungodly traditions withal.

In the stead of the Lord's holy table, they give the people, with much solemn disguising, a thing which they call their mass; but indeed and in truth it is a very masking and mockery of the true supper of the Lord: or rather I may call it a crafty juggling, whereby these false thieves and jugglers have bewitched the minds of the simple people, that they have brought them from the true worship of God, unto pernicious idolatry, and make them to believe that to be Christ, our Lord and Saviour, which indeed is neither God nor man, nor hath any life in itself, but in substance is the creature of bread and wine, and in use of the Lord's table is the sa crament of Christ's body and blood. And for this holy use, for the which the Lord hath ordained them in his table, to represent unto us his blessed body torn upon the cross for us, and his blood there

shed, it pleased him to call them his body and blood, which understanding Christ declareth to be his true meaning, when he sayeth: "Do this in remembrance of me." And again St. Paul likewise doth set out the same more plainly, speaking of the same sacrament, after the words of the consecration, saying: "As often as ye shall eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall set forth (he meaneth with the same) the Lord's death until his coming again." And here again these thieves have robbed also the people of the Lord's cup, contrary to the plain words of Christ written in his gospel.

Now for the common public prayers, which were in the vulgar tongue, these thieves have brought in again a strange tongue, whereof the people understand not one word. Wherein what do they else, but rob the people of their divine service, wherein they ought to pray together with the minister? And to pray in a strange tongue, what is it but (as St. Paul calleth it) barbarousness, childishness, unprofitable folly, yea, and plain madness?

For the godly articles of unity in religion, and for the wholesome homilies, what do these thieves place in the stead of them, but the Pope's laws and decrees, lying legends, feigned fables and miracles, to delude and abuse the simplicity of the rude people? Thus this robbery and theft is not only committed, nay, sacrilege and wicked spoil of heavenly things, but also in the stead of the same, is brought in and placed the abominable desolation of the tyrants Antiochus, of proud Sennacherib, of the shamelessfaced king, and of the Babylonical beast. Unto this robbery, this theft and sacrilege, for that I cannot consent, nor (God willing) ever shall, so long as the breath is in my body, because it is blasphemy against God, high treason unto Christ, our heavenly King, Lord, Master, and our only Saviour and Redeemer :

it is plain contrary to God's word and to Christ's Gospel: it is the subversion of all true godliness, and against the everlasting salvation of mine own soul, and of all my brethren and sisters whom Christ my Saviour hath so dearly bought with no less price, than with the effusion and shedding forth of his most precious blood. Therefore, all ye, my true lovers in God, my kinsfolk and countrymen, for this cause (I say) know ye, that I am put to death, which by God's grace I shall willingly take, with hearty thanks to God therefore, in certain hope, without any doubting, to receive at God's hand again, of his free mercy and grace, everlasting life.

Although the cause of the true man, slain of the thief helping his neighbour to recover his goods again, and the cause, wherefore I am to be put to death, in a generality is both one, as I said before, yet, know ye, that there is no small difference. These thieves, against whom I do stand, are much worse than the robbers and thieves of the borders. The goods which they steal are much more precious; and their kinds of fight are far divers. These thieves are worse, I say; for they are more cruel, more wicked, more false, more deceitful, and crafty; for those will but kill the body, but these will not stick to kill both body and soul. Those for the general theft and robbery be called, and are indeed thieves and robbers, but these for their spiritual kind of robbery are called sacrilegi, as ye would say, church robbers. They are more wicked, for those go about but to spoil men of worldly things, worldly riches, gold and silver, and worldly substance: these go about in the ways of the devil, their ghostly father, to steal from the universal church, and particularly from every man, all heavenly treasure, true faith, true charity, and hope of salvation in the blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ: yea, to spoil us of our

Saviour Christ, of his Gospel, of his heavenly Spirit, and of the heavenly heritage of the kingdom of heaven, so dearly purchased unto us with the death of our Master and Saviour Christ.

These be the goods and godly substance, whereupon the Christian before God must live, and with. out the which he cannot live; these goods, I say, these thieves, these church robbers go about to spoil us of. The which goods, as to the man of God, they excel and far pass all worldly treasure: so to withstand even unto the death such thieves, as go about to spoil both us and the whole church of such goods, is most high and honourable service done unto God.

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These church robbers be also much more false, crafty, and deceitful, than the thieves upon the bor ders for these have not the craft so to commend their theft, that they dare avouch it, and therefore as acknowledging themselves to be evil, they steal commonly upon the night; they dare not appear at judgments and sessions, where justice is executed; and when they are taken and brought thither, they never hang any man, but they be oft-times hanged for their faults. But these church robbers can so cloak and colour their spiritual robbery, that they can make the people to believe falsehood to be truth, and truth falsehood; good to be evil, and evil good; light to be darkness, and darkness light; superstition to be true religion, and idolatry to be the true worship of God; and that, which is in substance the creature of bread and wine, to be none other substance but only the substance of Christ, the living Lord, both God and man. And with this their falsehood and craft, they can so juggle and bewitch the understanding of the simple, that they dare avouch it openly in court and in town, and fear neither hanging, nor beheading, as the poor thieves of the bor

ders do, but stout and strong like Nimród, dare condemn to be burned in flaming fire, quick and alive, whosoever will go about to betray their falsehood.

The kind of fight against these church robbers is also of another sort and kind, than is that, which is against the thieves of the borders. For there the true men go forth against them with spear and lance, with bow and bill, and all such kind of bodily weapons, as the true men have; but here, as the enemies be of another nature, so the watchmen of Christ's flock, the warriors, that fight in the Lord's war, must be armed, and fight with another kind of weapons and armour. For here the enemies of God, the soldiers of antichrist, although the battle is set forth against the church by mortal men, being flesh and blood, and nevertheless members of their father the devil: yet, for that their grand master is the power of darkness, their members are spiritual wickedness, wicked spirits, spirits of errors, of heresies, of all deceit and ungodliness; spirits of idolatry, superstition, and hypocrisy, which are called by St. Paul principalities and powers, lords of the world, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual subtilties concerning heavenly things: therefore our weapons must be fit and meet to fight against such not carnal nor bodily weapons, as spear and lance, but spiritual and heavenly. We must fight against such with the armour of God, not intending to kill their bodies, but their errors, their false craft and heresies, their idolatry, superstition, and hypocrisy, and to save as much as lieth in us both their bodies and souls.

And therefore, as St. Paul teacheth us, we fight not against flesh and blood, that is, we fight not with bodily weapons to kill the man, but with the weapons of God to put to flight his wicked errors and vice, and to save both body and soul. Our weapons