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, comunes
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 swanes? Cannius. In euery
cathedrall church, where there be any deacons, for
they beare the gospel boke i theyr hade, they synge
the gospell aloude, somtyme in a lofte that the
people may heare the, althoughe they do not vnderstand
it, and theyr myndes are vpo 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 bothu 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. The 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. Cannius. 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, whe thou
comest where good wyne is. Poliphe. Mary
there is nothyng more godly or heuynly. Cannius.
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
ma, and chaungeth hym cleane as it were into a nother
man. Polip. Ah ha, nowe I wot wherabout ye
be, belyke ye thike that I lyue not accordynge to
the gospell or as a good gospeller shulde do. ||Cannius.
There is no man can dyssolue this questio 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