More.
Lo now ye haue herd how many maner of wise Tyndale teacheth vs that this word chyrch is takē. In whych yet he hath lefte oute one sygnyfycacyone or twayen yt this worde playnely sygnyfyeth. One is that this worde chyrch besyde all the sygnyfycacyons that Tyndale hath here shewed vs: doth syginfye that parte of the chyrch that in synodis & coū¦sayles do represent the whole chyrch. As when we saye that there is a law made by the chyrch that heretikes shall not be sufferd to preach / lyke wise as a parliamēt rep̄senteth ye hole reame, & is by the comen speche so called to / as whē we say yt the realme hath made a law that heretikes shalbe burned. [ B]
The chyrch also sygnifyeth sometyme a mych lesse nom¦ber that is to wyt / the onely rulers or hedes of the chyrche. as where we be commaunded to complayne to the chyrch / yt is not ment to all ye whole towne nor to all the clergy ther¦of, of, but to rulers and gouernours. Syth Tyndale hath ta¦ken vppon hym to shew vs here his hygh doctryne, how ma¦ny manner of wyse this worde chyrch is taken: yt bylon∣ged rather vnto hym to haue taken in these sygnifycaciōs, then some of them that he hath taken as ye shall se anon
But fyrst I meruaile me mych that Tyndall hath eyther clene lefte out or ellys put in so darkely, yt he wold not haue yt perceyued that sygnyfycacyon of this worde chyrch, that is one of the pryncypall sygnyfycacyons therof, and wher∣upon the greteste wayght of all our mater depēdeth. And yt [ C] is that sygnifycacyon, by whych•• the chyrch sygnyfyeth not as Tyndale taketh yt in his thyrde sygnyfycacyon, for all a multitude gathered to gether in one, of all kyndes, condy∣cyons, and degrees of people / but of such onely people as be crysten people, and them not in one cytye onely, but that hole nomber of euery cytye, towne, and village thorow out all the hole world: this sygnifycacyon Tyndale leueth out clene, bycause yt toucheth moste the mater.
For as for that he saith in his fore remembred note: he se¦meth but to set a specifycacyon of his thyrde sygnifycacion, as though he wolde meane yt for ye hole nōber of cyteseyns, or ellys for the onely nōber of the electys wyth in some one cytye, as he there putteth London for his example. And yf