med, or no. MarginaliaDancaster conferreth with Bilney.The Byshop graunted him, that hee should haue a litle tyme to deliberate with M. Dancaster: but Bilney required space till the nexte morow to consulte with M. Farmar
Dr. Robert Foreman of Queen's College, Cambridge, and rector of All Hallows, Honey Lane in London, warned some thirty persons in Cambridge in 1526 that a search was about to be made for Luther's books at the university by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Cambridge Chancellor John Fisher, bishop of Rochester.
[Back to Top]The vij. day of December, in the yeare and place aforesayd, the Bishop of London, with þe other Bishops beyng assēbled, Bilney also personally appeared. Whō the Byshop of London asked, whether he would now returne to the vnitie of the Church, and reuoke the errours and heresies wherof hee stode accused, detected, and conuicted. MarginaliaBilney through infirmitie rather then by conuiction, recanteth.Who aunswered that now he was persuaded by Maister Dancaster and other his frendes,
In after years, Latimer recommended that those accused should 'Abiure al your fryends' rather than listen to them and abjure as Bilney did in 1527. The seconde sermon of Maister Hughe Latimer, whych he preached before the Kynges Maiestie within his graces Palayce at Westminster, the xv. day of Marche M.ccccc.xlix (London: John Day and William Seres [1549], STC 15274.7), sigs. Bb3A-Bb3B; (reprinted in the Parker Society edition of Latimer's Sermons, ed. George Elwes Corrie (Cambridge, 1844), p. 222.
[Back to Top]Here, for somuch as mention is made before, of v. letters or Epistles,
The actual number of letters that passed between Thomas Bilney and Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall is confused. What is clear is that Tunstall carefully saved Bilney's letters, and used them here in examining him in 1527.
Bilney's attempt to persuade Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall to favour him may be compared with William Tyndale's efforts to gain Tunstall's patronage in the early 1520s.
HOc nomine, pater in Christo obseruande, longe beatiorem me puto, quod ad tuæ Paternitatis examinationem vocari me contigit. Ea enim eruditione es, ea vitæ integritate (quod omnes fatentur) vt ipsemet non possis (alioqui diuinarū in te dotiū estimator non admodū magnificus) quoties tibi succurrit, quanta tibi gratis fecerit deus, in illius laudes non erumpere, ac tecum in corde tacitus exclamare: Fecit mihi magna qui potens est, & sanctum nomen eius. MarginaliaLuke. 1.In talem nunc me iudicem incidisse gratulor, ac deo qui moderatur omnia, gratiam pro virili habeo. Et quanquam (testis est mihi deus) nullius in omnibus meis concionibus, erroris mihi conscius sum, nedum hæreseos aut factionis (quod calumniantur quidā, questus sui quám animarum lucri auidiores) tamen supra modum lætor, diuina (haud dubiè) benignitate prouisum esse, vt ob veritatis testimoniū, ad Tunstalli tribunal sisterer: qui, si quis alius, optimè nouit, nunquam defuturos Iannes ac Iambres, qui veritati resistant: nunquā defuturos Marginalia* Elymas magus. Act. 23.* Elymates, qui conentur subuertere vias domini rectas: denique nunquam defuturos Demetrios, Marginalia* Pithonissa. Act. 16.* Pythonissas, Balaamos, Marginalia* Nicolaitæ. Apoc. 2.* Nicolaitas, Caynos, Ismaeles, qui omnes, cum quæ sua sunt, non quæ Iesu Christi, auidissimè sectentur & quærant, qui fieri potest vt Christum sincerè ac simpliciter annunciatum perferant. Nam si populus semel in Christū pro se passum, solidè ac purè confidere occeperit, ruent mox in verè fidelium pectoribus, quæcuūque hactenus pro Christo amplexi sunt. Tunc intelligent non hic aut illic Christum esse, sed regnum dei in semetipsis esse. Tunc intelligent patrem neque in monte Samariæ, neque Hierosolymis adorandum esse, sed in omni loco, in spiritu & veritate. Quod si fit, actum de lucris suis putabunt bestiæ agri, quorum interest impleri illud MarginaliaEzech. 34.Ezechielis 34. Dispersæ sunt oues meæ, eo quod non esset pastor, & factæ sunt in deuorationem omnium bestiarum agri, & dispersæ sunt. Errauerunt greges mei in cunctis montibus, & in vniuerso colle excelso & super omnem faciem terræ: dispersi sunt greges mei, & non erat qui requireret: non erat, inquam, qui requireret. Imo si quis requirere velit, ac in caulas Christi, vnitatem dico fidei, errabundos reducere, mox insurgunt nomine Pastores, sed reuera lupi, qui non aliud de grege, quàm lac, lanam, pellem, quærunt, animas cum suas, tum gregis permittentes diabolo. Insurgunt inquam, ac Demetrij instar exclamant: MarginaliaPseudopastores, veri Demetrij.Hic hereticus vbique suadet auertitq̀ multā turbam, diceus, quod non sunt dij qui manibus fiunt.
[Back to Top]Hi sunt, hi (pater colende) sunt, qui sub pretextu persequendi Hereticos, ventris sui negotium agunt, inimici crucis Christi. Qui quiduis potius ferre possunt, quàm puram Christi pro peccatis nostris crucifixi, annunciationem. Hi sunt quibus Christus æternam minatur damnationē, cū ait: MarginaliaMath. 23.Væ vobis Scribæ & Pharisei, Hypocritæ, qui clauditis regnū cœlorū ante homines: vos enim non intratis, nec introeuntes sinitis intrare. Hi sunt qui, cū ipsi aliunde ascenderunt, alios intrare non sinūt. MarginaliaIohn. 10.Quod patet, quia si quis per me inquit Christus introierit, saluabitur, & ingredietur & egredietur, & pascua inueniet: & hi non inueniunt pascua (nunquā enim docent) & alios post se trahūt, vt non per Christū, qui solus est ostium per quod ad patrē peruenitur, sed aliunde per opuscula, quæ ouibus, tacito nonnunquam Christo, suadent, proponunt & iniungūt, ad suum potius questum, quā animarum salutem spectantes: hoc deteriores, quam illi qui super Christum fundamentum edificant, lignū, fœnum, stipulam. Marginalia1. Cor. 3.Isti fatentur se Christum scire, sed factis negant. Denique hi sunt medici illi, in quos mulier illa annis duodecim sanguinis profluuio vexata, omnia sua consumpserat, nec adiumenti quicquam senserat, sed deterius se habebat, donec vix tandem ad Christum venerat: quæ simulatq̀ fimbriam vestimenti eius in fide tetigerat, sic sanabatur, vt statim in corpore idipsum sentiret. MarginaliaLuke. 8.O mutationem dexteræ excelsi: quam & ego miser peccator non semel sensi, qui tamen antea quàm ad Christum venire potui, sic omnia mea insumpseram in ignaros medicos, indoctos confessionum auditores, vt parum mihi virium (alioqui natura imbecilli) reliquum fuerit, parum pecuniæ, ingenij item parum. Indicebant enim mihi ieiunia, vigilias, indulgentiarum, ac missarum emptiones, in quibus omnibus (vt nunc intelligo) sua potius quærebant, quàm salutem animæ meæ languentis.
The book Bilney was reading was the Novum Instrumentum, the first version of the New Testament that Erasmus issued in 1516 that printed the original Greek of scripture in parallel columns with the Latin Vulgate.
Sed tandem de Iesu audiebam, nimirum tum, cum nouum Testamentum primum ab Erasmo æderetur.
The sentence that matters here is; 'Sed tandem de Iesu audiebam, nimirum tum, cum nouum Testamentum primum ad Erasmo aederetur'. It must be noted that Bilney did not use the word 'conuersio' to refer to the exhilarating effect that his reading had upon him. Foxe and Day's stress on Bilney's conversion here is meant to deflect readers' attention from his recantation.