I woulde counsayle you (quod Mordant) not to preache. If you can, and wyll forbidde me by lawfull authoritie, then muste I obey (sayde Saunders.) Naye (quod Mordant) I will not forbidde you, but I doe geue you counsayle. And thus entred they bothe the citie, and departed eche from other: Mordant with a malicious minde to geue warnyng to the bloudy Bishoppe of London, that Saunders would preache in his cure the next daye: Saunders to his lodgyng, with a minde bent to do his duetie. when he was come to his lodgyng, because hee semed to bee somewhat troubled, one whiche was with him there, asked him how he did: In very dede (sayeth he) I am in prison til I be in prison: meaning that his mynd was vnquiet, vntill he hadde preached, and that then he shoulde haue quietnesse of mind, though he wer put in prison.
[Back to Top]The next daye, (whiche was Sondaye) in the forenoone, he made a Sermon in hys paryshe, entreatinge that place whiche Paule wryteth to the Corinthians. Marginaliaii. Cor xi.I haue coupled you to one man, that ye shoulde make your selues a chaste Virgin vnto Christ. But I feare least it come to paße, that as the Serpent beguiled Eue: euen so your wittes should be corrupt from the singlenes which ye hadde towardes Christ. He recited a summe of that true Christian doctrine, throughe whiche they wer coupled to Christe, to receiue of hym free iustification through faith in his bloude. The Papisticall doctrine he compared to the Serpentes deceiuyng: and least they should be deceiued by it, he made a collation betwene the voyce of God, and the voyce of the Popishe Serpente, descending to one particular thing by it, as it were to let them plainely see the difference, that is, to the order of the churche seruyce, sette foorth by kyng Edwarde in the English tong, comparyng it with the Popish seruice, nowe vsed in the latin tongue. The fyrst he said was good, because it was according to the worde of God. 1. Corinthians. 14. and the order of the primatiue churche. The other he sayd was euill, and though in that euyll be entermingled some good Latin woordes: yet was it but as a litle honye or milke myngled with a greate deale of poyson, to make them to drink vp al. This was the summe of his Sermon. In the after noone he was ready in his church to haue geuen another exhortation to his people: but the Byshop of London interrupted hym, by sēdyng an offycer for hym. This officer charged hym vppon the payne of disobedience, and contumacye, foorthwith to come to the Bishoppe, his maister. Thus, as þe Apostles wer brought out of the temple, where they were teachynge vnto the rulers of the Priestes: so was Laurence Saunders brought before this Byshop, in his Palace of London, who had in his company the aforenamed sir Iohn Mordant, and
[Back to Top]some of his Chapleins. The Byshop layde no more to Laurence Saunders charge, but treason for breakyng the Queenes proclamation: Heresye, and sedition for his Sermon.
The treason and sedition, his charity was content to let slip, vntyll an other tyme. But an heretike he would nowe proue hym, and al those, he said, which did teach and beleue þt the administration of the Sacramentes and al orders of the churche are most pure, whiche dooe come moste nigh to the order of the primatiue Churche. For the Church was then but in her infancye, and coulde not abide that perfection, whiche was afterwarde to bee furnished wyth Ceremonies. And for this cause Christe hymselfe, and after hym the Apostles dyd in manye thinges beare with the rudenesse of the church. To this Laurence Saunders answered, with the authoritie of saynt Augustine, that Ceremonies were euen from the begynnynge inuented, and ordayned for the rude infancy and weake infirmitie of manne. And therefore it was a token of the more perfection of the prymatiue churche, that it hadde fewe Ceremonies, and of the rudenesse of the Churche Papisticall, because it hadde so many Ceremonies, partly blasphemous, partly vnsauery, and vnprofitable.
[Back to Top]After muche talke hadde, concernynge thys matter: the Bishop wylled him to wryte what he beleued of the Transubstantiation. Lawrence Saunders did so, saying: My Lord ye do seeke my bloude, and ye shall haue it. I praye God that ye maye be so baptised in it, þt ye maie thereafter lothe bloudsuckyng, and become a better manne. This wryting the Bishop kept for his purpose, euen to cut the writers throte, as shall appeare hereafter. The Byshop when he hadde his wyll, sent Laurence Saunders to the Lorde Chauncelloure, as Annas sente Christe to Caiphas: and like fauoure founde Saunders, as Christe his mayster dyd before hym. But the Chauncellor being not at home, Saunders was constrayned to tarye for hym, by the space of foure houres, in the vtter chamber, where he found MarginaliaBishops seruauntes at Tables, when they might haue bene better occupyed.a Chaplein of the Bishops verye merily disposed with certain gentlemen playing at the Tables, with diuers other of the same family or house ther, occupied in the same exercise.
This detail emphasizes Gardiner's ungodliness by indicating the irreverance of his household and especially his chaplain.