Author
John Frith
John Frith (1503–1533) was an English Protestant reformer and theologian whose biblical scholarship and polemical writings significantly advanced evangelical doctrine during the early English Reformation. A protégé of William Tyndale and associate of Miles Coverdale, Frith engaged with continental Protestant thought while imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he composed A Disputacion of Purgatorye (1533), a systematic refutation of Catholic purgatorial theology that exemplified the reformers' scriptural approach to doctrine. His martyrdom under Henry VIII established him as a proto-martyr of English Protestantism and influenced the theological trajectory of the English church during its formative decades.
From A Disputacion of Purgatorye
GRace and peace be with the christen reader. I am sure there are manye that will moch mer uel and counte it a greate presumpcion that I beinge so yon ge and of so smalle lerninge dare attēpte to dispute this matter agēst these thre personages of the which numbre two / that is to saye my 〈…〉 de of Rochestre ād Sir thomas More / are aun cient mē both of greate witte and dignite. Notwithstondinge I wil desire them pacientlye 〈…〉 heare mine answere / not aduertysinge who speaketh the wordes but rathere what is sayed. And [1. Tim. 4.] as concerninge myne youth / let them remembre what paule monischeth. 〈…〉. Timo. 〈…〉. willinge that Timothens shuld instrude the congregacion and that no man shulde despice his youthe for as the sprete of god is boūde to no place / euē so is he not addicre to…
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