The letter from Oxford to Bonner, the articles objected against the martyrs and their answers were all taken from Bonner's official records, probably from a court book which is now missing.
Marginalia1.TO the first they answered and confessed the same to be true, except that they doo beleue þt there is here in earth, one Catholick & whole church, & that the same churche doth hold & beleue as is contained in this article.
Marginalia2.To the second they answer, and beleue the sayde article not to be true: for they saye that they haue and do beleue, that they are necessarily bounden, vnder payne of dampnation of their soule, to geue full fayth and credence vnto the said Catholick churche, & to the fayth and religion of the same, in al necessary pointes of the same faith and religiō, without wauering or doubting in any part therof.
[Back to Top]Marginalia3.To the third they answer, that the church of Rome, and other Churches mencioned in this article, be not true members and partes (as they be vsed in faithe and religion) of the catholicke church of Christ, and that the faith and religion vsed in the sayd churches, is not agreable with the churche of Christe, but are false and erroneous in fayth and religion.
[Back to Top]Marginalia4.To the fourth they answer & say, that howsoeuer the said churches of Rome and others of Christendom haue and do beleue touching the sacrament of the altar, yet they do beleue, that in the Sacrament, vnder the formes of bread & wine, there is not the very substance of Christes body and bloude, but that there is onely the substāce of material breade & wine, and that the same materyal bread and wyne, be onely the signes & tokens of Christes body & bloud, & are to be receiued onely for a remēbraunce of Christes passion & death wtout any substance of Christes body and bloude at all.
[Back to Top]Marginalia5.To the fyft article they answer, that the true receiuing and eating of Christes bodye, according to Christes institution, is to take, distribute, and eate material bread, and there by to remembre the passion & death of Christ, and so they receiue by faythe (as they beleue) Christes body and bloud, and not otherwyse.
[Back to Top]Marginalia6.To the syxt they answer the same to be true in euery part therof, except that ouer and besydes the Gloria in excelsis, the epistle & Gospel, which they beleue to be good, they beleue the Pater noster and Crede vsed in the Masse be also good.
Marginalia7.To the seuenth they aunswere and confesse that auriculer confession is not necessarye to be made to the priest: neuertheles they thynke that it is necessary to go to suche a priest as is able to geue good counsayle, and that for coūsayle onelye, and not otherwise. And as concerning the ceremonies of the church, they answer the same to be vayne and vnprofitable. No seruice in the church ought to be sayd, but onely in the English tongue.
[Back to Top]Marginalia8.To the eyght they answer and beleue the
same to be true in euerye part thereof, except that they do not beleue that they be hereticks or suspected of heresye.
Marginalia9.To the ninth Osmond and Bramford answered, that they referred them selues to the sayd lawes, mēcioned in that article, but Chāberlaine made no answer at al to this article.
Marginalia10.To the. x. the sayde Osmonde and Bramford answered and saide, that by reasō of their beliefe afore by them confessed, they are not to be reputed, taken, or iudged for wylful and obstinate heretickes, nor to be punished therfore, as is declared in that article. The other answered nothyng.
THese articles in the same forme and maner of wordes as cōmonly obiected to al other that follow after, wyth the same answers also thereto annexed. In whyche articles thou mayest note (Reader) the crafty and subtyle handlyng in these Lawyers & Registers, who so deceitfullye frame their articles aud posicions that vnlesse a man do aduisedlye consider them, it is hard for a simple man to answer to them, but he shalbe snared and intangled.
[Back to Top]So they paynt their church with such a visage of vniuersal, whole, holy, catholicke, as who shoulde saye: he that denyeth Rome, denyeth the holy church of Christ here in earth.
Lykewyse in examining them, and specially the symple sort in the matter of the sacrament, to the materiall bread in the sacrament, they put to this woord (onely) very captiously & fraudulently, to take them at the worst auantage, making the people beleue that they take the holy sacrament to be no better thē onely cōmon bread, when they do not so, but make a difference betwene the same, both in the vse, honour, and name thereof.
[Back to Top]Agayne, when the Examinates hold but onelye agaynst the erroneous pointes of romish religion, these Byshops in their Interrogatories geue out the matter so generallye, as thoughe the sayd Examinates in whole spake against al the articles of faith taught in Rome, Spaine, England, Fraunce Scotlād. &c
Moreouer, concerning latyn seruice, in such craftye forme of woordes, they propounde their article, that it myght appere to the people, these men to deny any seruice to be lawfull in anye place, conetry, or language, but onely in Englysh.
And as these articles are craftly, captiously, and deceitfullye in forme of words deuised by the Bishops and their Notaries: so the answers agayne to the same, be no lesse subtely framed, and after the most odious maner put down, in the name of the Examinates whych being red vnto them, thus wythoute further aduise, they were constrayned vpon a sodayne to subscribe the same with their handes. Wherby if any word escaped their hand, peraduenture not consideratly subscribed: there the Papistes take their aduauntage agaynst them, to diffame them, and to bring them into hatred wyth the people.
[Back to Top]THese articles thus propounded and aunswered to, they were vntil the after none dismissed, at what tyme they did agayne appeare, and there were examined and traueled with, by faire and flattering speaches, aswel of the Byshop as of others his assistaunce, to recant and reuoke their opinions, who not withstanding remayned constant and firme. And therfore after the common vsage of theyr Ecclesiastical lawes, were sent awaye agayn vntil the next daye, being saturdaye, and the xviii. daye of the said moneth, and then in the forenone the Byshop vsinge hys accustomed maner of proces, which he had before, aswel with them, as with others, did likewyse dysmisse them, and at last in the after noone condempned them as heretickes, and so delyuered them to the Shiriffes. In whose custodye they remayned vntyl they were delyuered to the shirife of Essex, and by him wer executed, Chamberlain at Colchester, the xiiii. of Iune, Thomas Osmond at Maningtree, the. xv. of Iune, & W. Bramford alias Butler at Harwyge, the same. xv. day in þe moneth of Iune.
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