Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

For him who contemneth the Table of the
Commandments of God there is but a small
punishment, whereas for him who contemneth the
constitutions of the Pope there is the punishment of
death. What is this but for the High Priest of Rome
to sit and reign in the temple of God (that is, in
man's conscience) as God?"[8]
Bilney and Arthur were arrested, and on the
27th of November, 1527, were brought before the
Bishops' Court, in the Chapter-house of
Westminster. Wolsey took his seat on the bench for
a moment only to state the alternative -- abjuration
or death -- and withdrew to attend to affairs of
State. The two prisoners boldly confessed the faith
they had preached. The extraordinary scene that
followed between Tonstall, the presiding judge,
and Bilney -- the one pressing forward to the stake,
the other' striving to hold him back -- has been
graphically described by the chronicler.[9] But it
was neither the exhortations of the judge nor the
fear of burning that shook the steadfastness of
Bilney; it was the worldly-wise and sophistical
reasonings of his friends, who crowded round him,
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