Two Dyaloges (c. 1549) | Page 3

shall be no defaute in me, I tell you I wyll do my diligence. Can. Naye
there is no doute of that, there shall be no more faute in you now I dare
say then was wonte to be. 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. Cannius. 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. Cannius. 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