A proufe of certeyne articles in religion, denied by M. Iuell sett furth in defence of the Catholyke beleef therein, by Thomas Dorman, Bachiler of Diuinitie. VVhereunto is added in the end, a conclusion, conteinyng .xij. causes, vvhereby the author acknovvlegeth hym self to haue byn stayd in hys olde Catholyke fayth that he vvas baptized in, vvysshyng the same to be made common to many for the lyke stay in these perilouse tymes.

TO THE READERS.

I Am not ignorant (good Readers) of the manyfold daungers, wherinto (what so euer he be) he wyllyngly, as yt wer, casteth hym self, who publysheth any thyng to the world in wrytyng. The whych confy deration after that I had well weighed, and deepely de∣bated wyth my self, of what mynde I was touchyng the sendyng abroade of thys lytle treatyfe of myne, any man may easely iudge. For I, besydes those sawcy snaphaunces, and murmuryng momi, whome no mans doyngs can ple∣ase but there owne (which fortune I tooke to be com∣mon to me wyth many) foresawe also my self, not wyth∣out good cause in apparence, ready to fall in to the iust and lawfull reprehension, euen of those, whose iudge∣ments I haue alwayes both loued, and feared: the wyser, the learneder and the better sort also. Whylest after so god∣ly, so graue, so exact a worck, most amply treatyng of the same matter: I, of all other moost vnfyt therefore, should seeme to take pen in hand to wryte agayne.

This one cause, appeared to me to be of such impor∣tance, that I was euen fully resolued to stay my hand, and trauell herein no farder. When sodenly (beholde) emon∣gest dyuerse other, it camme to my mynde to thynck, on the earnest desyre, and godly greedy hunger of my pooer countrymen: (I meane not the Catholykes only, but euen of those whome simplicitie not malice hath caused to stray) whereof I was to my great comfort dayly enfor¦med, wyth what labour they fought for, wyth what dili∣gence they harckened after, wyth what sauory appetyte

they receaued in to ther myndes, and as it wer deuoured, such bookes as brought them any tydyngs of the truthe. Whereapon I discoursed farder wyth my self, that e••en as in a plague of famyn or dearth•• he that hauyng in hys barnes no great stoare of corne but yet somme, beyng once well mynded, and charytably moued, to employ part of that lytle which he had, to the comfort and relyef of hys pooer hungrye neyghbours: should in all mens iudgement doe verye ••uell, yf afterward apon the liberall almoise of some welthyer man, he should vtterly wyth∣drawe hys, and because hys habylytie serueth hym not to gyue as muche, gyue nothyng at all: euen so me thought it fared wyth me, who myndyng these two whole yeares past, to conferre some part of that small prouysyon, that allmyghty god hath bestowed on me, to publyke cōmo∣dytie, could not now, (I perswaded my self) suppresse and kepe in the same, wythout the manyfest offendyng of hys holy spyryt, who fyrst moued me thereto, and some iniury to hym also, whose liberalitie (to the hynde∣rance perhapps of some) I should by thys meanes abuse.

Thus much thought I necessary good Readers, to sygnyfye to you concernyng thys enterpryse of myne. Where in yf happely I seeme to some, ouer sclenderly to haue excused my self, them referre I to hys iudgement, for my meanyng herein, who shall once iudge both me yf I haue not gonne vpryghtly but troden a wrye, and them yf they haue not iudged syncerlye, but demed a∣mysse. Fare ye well, at Antwerp, the. 26. of Iuly. Anno ••564.

Thom. Dorman.