Page 36
¶That the latter Byshops of Rome dege∣nerated vtterly from the first and middlemost Byshoppes of Rome, and that they vsurpe the cursed title of full power, agaynst all right and reason.
NOt vnfitly are diuerse godly and learned men of the Church reported to haue sayd, that among the lat∣ter Byshops of Rome that are worthy to be recko∣ned among Shepherdes, Gregory is the last. For as for the hindermost sort that haue folowed after hym, they were not sheepefeeders but sheepebyters, a few excep∣ted, for through their neglecting of Gods worde, and their earthly affections, they haue not onely in wonderfull wise darkened the clearnesse of the christian doctrine with mens inuentions and traditions, but also defiled and marred the simplicitie and purenesse of Gods seruice, with vncleane superstitions, differing little or nothing from the heathe∣nish & wicked Idolatries. Many of them haue opēly defen∣ded corrupt doctrines, and the Idolles themselues, and o∣ther abhominacions, and therewithall haue forced them vppon the people. Othersome of them treading all disci∣pline and honestie vnder foote, haue wallowed themselues in filthy and vnlawfull lustes, in ryot and lecherie, in vn∣chastnesse, in aduowtrie and whoredome, in incest and o∣ther horrible offences, as it were in the myre of Cocytus, and the poole of Stix. Others of them haue not refrayned themselues from poysonynges, from Necromancie, or fe∣lowshyp with Deuilles, from magik, damned in all ages, from murtheryng, and from treasons. All of them for the most part, and specially the latter Bishops of Rome, being blinded with diuelish desire of soueraintie, and swolne and puft vp with such pride as the lyke was neuer heard of, haue not bene ashamed before God, nor before his aungels and the whole world, to aduaunce themselues into that