Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the ...

XVI. THE OBEDIENCE OF A CHRISTIAN MAN. 1 73lyke out of nu;;2bre. So thai if thou haddest but of everyauctor one boke, thou coudest not pyle ihem vp in any warehousein londo;z / and every auctor is one co;/trary vntoa-nother.In so greate diversite of sprites, how shall I know95 why lyeth, and who saith trouth? Wherby shall I trye the;?/& iudge thew ? Verely, by gods worde, which 07i\y is true.But how shal I that doo whew thou wilt not let me se thescripture ? «'Naye/ saye they / ' the scripture is so harde, that thou200 coudest never vnderstande it but by thQ doctours.' That is,I must measure the mete-yarde by the cloth.clothes of divers lengthes and of divers bredthes.Here be twe/ztyHow shallI be sure of the length of the mete-yarde by them .? I supposerather I must be fyrst sure of the length of the mete-205 yarde / and there-by measure & iudge the clothes. Iff Imust fyrst beleve the doctoure / then is the doctoure fyrsttrue, & the trueth of the scripture dependeth of his trueth,and so the trueth of God springeth of the trueth of man.Thus Antichriste turnith the rotes of the treesAntichrist2iovppwarde. What is the cause that we damme JoteToVtlle treHow ''P"""''^-some of Origenes workes, and alowe some }know we that some is heresy and some not By .?the scripture,I trowe. How knowe we that saint Augustine (whichis the best or one of the best that ever wrot apon the scrip-215 ture) wrot many thi;/ges amysse at the begynnynge / asmany other doctours doo ? Verely, by the scrip-tures / as he him-selfe well perceaved afterwarde,whe« he loked moare diligently apo;z them / andrevoked many thynges agayne. He wrote ofThe scriptureistuetnaiiofall doctrine a«dtherightetwich-ston.220 many thynges which he vnderstode not when he was newlyconverted / yer he had thorowly sene the scriptures / andfolowed the opinions of Plato and the commune persuasionsof mans wis dome thai were then famouse.