Poli. Yea but (youre tarte tauntes, and youre churlysshe checkes, and raylynges set asyde) tell me I pray the this one thynge, do you thus disprayse, condempne, or fynde faute with them whiche caryeth aboute with them the newe testament or the gospel boke?
Canni. No by my fayth do I not good praty man.
Poliphe. Call ye me but a praty one and I am hygher then you by ye length of a good asses heed.
Can. I thynke not fully so moche yf the asse stretch forth his eares, but go to it skyllis no matter of that, let it passe, he that bare Christ vpon his backe was called Christofer, and thou whiche bearest the gospell boke aboute with the shall for Poliphemus be called the gospeller or the gospell bearer.
Polip. Do not you counte it an holy thynge to cary aboute with a man the newe testament?
Cãni. why no syr by my trouth do I not, except thou graunte the very asses to be holy to.
Poli. How can an asse be holy?
Cannius. For one asse alone is able to beare thre hundreth suche bokes, and I thynke suche a great lubber as thou art were stronge inoughe to beare as great a burden, and yf thou had a hansome packesadle sette vpon thy backe.
Poliphe. And yet for all your iestynge it is not agaynst good reason to saye that ye asse was holy which bore christ.
Cannius. I do not enuye you man for this holynes for I had as lefe you had that holynes as I, and yf it please you to take it I wyll geue you an holy & a religious relyke of the selfe same asse whiche christ rode vpon, and whan ye haue it ye may kysse it lycke it and cull it as ofte as ye lyst.
Poli. Mary syr I thanke you, ye can not gyue me a more thanckefull gyfte nor do me a greatter pleasure, for that asse withouten any tayle was made as holye as any asse could be by the touchynge of christes body.
Canni9. Undouted they touched christes body also whiche stroke and buffeted christ.
Poliphe. yea but tell me this one thynge I praye the in good ernest. Is it not a great sygne of holynes in a man to cary aboute the gospel boke or the newe testament?
Cannius. It is a token of holynes in dede if it be done without hypocrysie, I meane if it be done without dissimulacion/and for that end, intent & purpose, that it shuld be done for.
Poliphe. What the deuyl & a morten tellest thou a man of warre of hypocrisie, away with hypocrisie to the monkes and the freers.
Cannius. Yea but bycause ye saye so, tell me fyrste I praye you what ye call hypocrisie.
Po. When a man pretendis another thyng outwardly then he meanis secretly in his mynde.
Cannius. But what dothe the bearynge aboute of the newe testament sygnyfie. Dothe it not betoken that thy lyfe shulde be conformable to the gospell which thou carryest aboute with the.
Poli. I thynke well it dothe.
Canni9. Wel then when thy lyfe is not conformable to the boke, is not that playne hypocrisie.
Poliph. Tell me thê what you call the trewe carienge of the gospell boke aboute with a man.
Cãni. Sõme men beare it aboute with them in theyr hãdes (as the gray freers were wonte to beare the rule of saynt Fraunces) and so the porters of Londõ, Asses & horses may beare it as well as they. And there be some other that carry the gospel in theyr mouthes onlie, and such haue no other talke but al of christ and his gospell, and that is a very poynt of a pharysey. And some other carrye it in theyr myndes. But in myne opynion he beares the gospell boke as he shuld do whiche bothe beares it in his hande, cõmunes of it with his mouth whan occasyon of edyfyenge of his neyghboure whan conuenyent oportunytie is mynystred to him, and also beares it in his mynde and thynkes vpon it withe his harte.
Poli. Yea thou art a mery felow, where shall a man fynde suche blacke swãnes?
Cannius. In euery cathedrall church, where there be any deacons, for they beare the gospel boke î theyr hãde, they synge the gospell aloude, somtyme in a lofte that the people may heare thê, althoughe they do not vnderstand it, and theyr myndes are vpõ it when they synge it.
Polphe. And yet for all your sayenge all suche deacons are no saynttes that beare the gospell so in theyr myndes.
Cannius. But lest ye play the subtyle and capcious sophystryar with me I wyll tell you this one thynge before. No man can beare the gospell in his mynde but he must nedes loue it from the bothum of his harte, no man loueth it inwardly and from the bothû of his harte but he must nedes declare and expresse the gospell in his lyuinge, outwarde maners, & behauour.
Poli. I can not skyll of youre subtyle reasonynges, ye are to fyne for me.
Can. Thê I wyll commune with you after a grosser maner, and more playnly. yf thou dyddest beare a tankard of good Reynyshe wyne vpon thy shulders onelye, what other thynge were it to the then a burden.
Poliphe. It were none other thynge truly, it is no great pleasure so beare wyne.
Canni9. What and yf thou dranke asmoche as thou coudest well holde in thy mouthe, after the manner of a gargarisme & spyt it out agayne.
Po. That wolde do me no good at all, but take me not with suche a faute I trow, for the wyne is very bad and if I do so.
Canni. But what and yf thou drynke thy skynne full as thou art wont to do, whê thou comest where good wyne is.
Poliphe. Mary there is nothyng more godly or heuynly.
Canni9.It warmes you at the stomacke, it settes your body in a heate, it makes you loke with a ruddy face, and setteth your hart vpon a mery pynne.
Poliphe. That is suerly so as ye saye in dede.
Canni. The gospell is suche a lyke thynge of all this worlde, for after that it hathe ones persed & entered in the veynes of the mynd it altereth, transposeth, and cleane changeth vpsodowne the whole state of mã, and chaungeth hym cleane as it were into a nother man.
Polip. Ah ha, nowe I wot wherabout ye be, belyke ye thîke that I lyue not accordynge to the gospell or as a good gospeller shulde do.
Canni9. There is no man can dyssolue this questiõ better then thy selfe.
Poli. Call ye it dissoluynge? Naye and yf a thynge come to dyssoluynge gyue me a good sharpe axe in my hande and I trow I shall dyssolue it well inoughe.
Canni. What woldest thou do, I praye the, and yf a man shulde say to thy teth thou lyest falsely, or elles call the by thy ryght name knaue in englysshe.
Poli. What wolde I do quod he, that is a question in dede, mary he shulde feele the wayghte of a payre of churlyshe fystes I warrant the.
Canni. And what and yf a man gaue you a good cuffe vpon the eare that shulde waye a pounde?
Poliphe. It were a well geuen blowe that wolde aduauntage hym. xx. by my trouthe and he escaped so he myght say he rose vpon his ryght syde, but it were maruayle & I cut not of his head harde by his shulders.
Canni. Yea but good felowe thy gospell boke teacheth the to geue gentle answers, and fayre wordes agayne for fowle, and to hym that geueth the a blowe vpon the ryght cheke to holde forth the lyfte.
Poliphe. I do remembre I haue red suche a thinge in my boke, but ye must pardone me for I had quyte forgotten it.
Can. Well go to, what saye ye to prayer I suppose ye praye very ofte.
Poli. That is euyn as very a touche of a pharesey as any can be.
Cannius. I graunt it is no lesse thê a poynte of a pharesey to praye longe and faynedly vnder a colour or pretêce of holynes, that is to saye when a man prayeth not frõ the bothum of his hart but with the lyppes only and from the tethe outward, and that in opyn places where great resort of people is, bycause they wold be sene. But thy gospel boke teacheth the to praye contynually, but so that thy prayer come from the bothu of the hart.
Poli. Yea but yet for all my sayenge I praye sumtyme.
Can. When I beseche the when ye art a slepe?
Poli. When it cometh in to my mynde, ones or twyse may chaunce in a weke.
Can. what prayer sayst thou?
Poliphe. The lordes prayer, the Pater noster.
Canni. Howe many tymes ouer?
Poli. Onis, & I trowe it is often inoughe, for the gospell forbyddeth often repetynge of one thynge.
Canni. Can ye saye your pater noster through to an ende & haue youre mynde runnynge vpon nothynge elles in all that whyle?