An apology, or answer in defence of the Church of England concerning the state…An apologie, or aunswer in defence of the Church of England concerninge the state…

For we do keep in ure our old & ancient laws,¹ and so far forth as it may be in these days, and manners, and in so great a corruption of all things, we do execute diligently and earnestly Church discipline: as for stews for common whores or flocks of concubines & harlots, we have not. Nor we do not prefer adultery ⟨image 26⟩before marriage: nor we do not occupy bawdery: nor we gather no rents upon bawdy houses: nor we do not suffer incests and devilish abuses of bodily lust, nor such as Aloisius, or as Casus, or as Diazius the murderer to go unpunished. For if these things had liked us, we needed not to have departed from the fellowship of these men, where those things do flourish and are had in price, & by reason of our departing, thus to fall into the hatred of men and into present perils. Paul the fourth had not many months paste in prison at Rome certain Augustine friars & divers Bishops, & a great number of other godly men, for the cause of religion. He put them to tortures, he examined them upon interrogatories, he assayed always that might be. At the last how many could he find of all these to be men of unordinate lusts, how many whorehunters, how many adulterers, how many incests? Thanks be unto our god, although we be not such as we ought to be, & such as our profession doth require, yet what so ever we be, if we be compared with these men, even our life and our innocency shall easily confute these slanders. For we do exhort the people not only with books and sermons, but also with examples and well doing, unto all kind of virtue and of good deeds. We teach that the gospel is not an ostentation of knowledge, but the law of life: and as Tertullian saith, that a christian man ought not to speak nobly,² but to live nobly: And not the hearer, but the doers of the law are justified before God.³

For we doe kepe in vre oure olde & auncient lawes,¹ and so farre forth as it maye be in these dayes, and maners, and in so great a corruption of al thinges, we doe execute diligently and earnestly Churche discipline: as for stewes for cōmon whores or flockes of concubines & harlots, we haue not. Nor we doe not prefarre adultery