“As the devil, Christ’s ancient adversary is a liar and the father of lies, even so hath he stirred up his servants and members to persecute Christ, and his true word and religion, which he ceaseth not to do most earnestly at this present. For whereas the most noble Prince of famous memory, King Henry VIII., seeing the great abuses of the Latin masses, reformed something herein, in his time; and also our late sovereign Lord, King Edward VI. took the same whole away, for the manifold errors and abuses thereof, and restored in the place thereof, Christ’s holy Supper, according to Christ’s own institution, and as the apostles in the primitive church used the same in the beginning, the devil goeth about by lying, to overthrow the Lord’s holy Supper, and to restore the Latin satisfactory masses, a thing of his own invention and device. And to bring the same more easily to pass, some have abused the name of me Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, bruiting abroad that I have set up the mass at Canterbury, and that I offered to say mass before the Queen’s Highness, and at Paul’s church, and I wot not where. I have been well exercised these twenty years to suffer and bear evil reports and lies; and have not been mych grieved thereat, and have borne all things quietly. Yet when untrue reports and lies turn to the hindrance of God’s truth, they be in no wise to be tolerated and suffered. Wherefore, these be to signify to the world, that it was not I that did set up the mass at Canterbury; but it was a false, flattering, lying and dissembling monk which caused the mass to be set up there, without my advice or counsel. [Here Foxe has the words omitted by Strype, ‘Reddet illi Dominus in die illo’.] And as for offering myself, to say mass before the Queen’s Highness, or in any other place, I never did, as her Grace knoweth well. But if her Grace will give me leave, I shall be ready to prove against all that will say the contrary, that the Communion Book, set forth by the most innocent and godly Prince, King Edward VI. in his high court of Parliament is conformable to the order which our Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed, and which his Apostles and primitive church used many years. Whereas the mass in many things not only hath no foundation of Christ, his Apostles, nor the primitive church, but also is manifest contrary to the same, and contains many horrible blasphemies in it. And although many either unlearned or maliciously do report that Mr. Peter Martyr[329] is unlearned, yet if the Queen’s Highness will graunt thereunto, I with the said Mr. Peter Martyr, and other four or five which I shall choose, will by God’s grace, take upon us to defend that not only our Common Prayers of the churches, ministration of sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies, but also that all the doctrine and religion by our said sovereign lord King Edward VI. is more pure and according to God’s word than any that hath been used in