The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 4

The Obedience of a Christian Man · Part 4

p. xxix¶The obedience of Subiectes vntounto kynges princes and rulers. The .xiij. Chapter of Paul Rom.

LEt every soule submit hī …ylfe vntounto the auctorite off the hyer powers. There is no power but of God. The powers y^t beare ordeyned off God. Whosoever therfore resysteth y^e power resysteth y^e ordinaūce of God. They y^t resist / shall recea to thē silfe dānaciō. For ruelars are not to be feared for good workes but for evyll. Wilt thou be without feare of y^e power? Do well thē & so shalt thou be praysed off the same. For he is y^e minister off god / for thy welth. But and yff thou do evyll / then feare. for he beareth not a swearde for nought. For he is the minister off God / to take vengeaunce on thē that do evill. Wherfore ye must nedes obey not for feare off vēgeaunce only: but also because of consciēce. Evē for this cause paye ye tribute. For they are goddes ministers / servynge for the same purpose.

Geve to every man therfore his duetie: Tribute to whom tribute belōgeth: Custom to whom custom is due: feare to whō feare belongeth: honoure to whō honoure pertayneth. Owe nothinge to eny mā: but to love one a nother. For he that loveth another / fulfilleth the lawe. For these cōmaūdemētes: Thou shalt not cōmit advoutry: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steale: Thou shalt not beare falce witnes: Thou shalt not desyre: and so forth yf there be eny other cōmaundemēt / are all cōprehēded in this saynge: Love thyne neghbour as thy silfe. Love hurteth not his neghbour: therfore is love the fulfillynge off the lawe.

AS a father over his childern ys both lorde ād iudge forbiddinge y^t one brorher avenge him selfe on a nother / but (if ani cause of strife be betwene thē) will have it brought vntounto hī selfe or his assignes / to be iudged & correcte: so God forbiddeth all mē to avēge thē selves / ād taketh y^e auctorite and office of avēgīge vntounto hī selfe sayenge: vēgeaūce is mine & I will rewarde: deuter. xxxij. which texte Paul alegeth Ro. xij. For p. xxxit is impossible y^t a mā shulde be a righteous an egall or an indifferēte iudge in his awne cause / lustes & appetites so blīde vsus. Moare over whē thou avēgest thy selfe / thou makest not peace / but sterest vp moare debate.

God therfore hath gevē lawes vntounto all natiōs & in all lōdes hath put kīges / governers ād rulers in his awne stede / to rule the worlde thorow thē. And hath cōmaunded all causes to be brought before thē / as thou readest Exo. xxij. In al causes (sayth he) of iniury or wronge / whether it be oxe / asse / shepe or vesture / or any lost thīge which an other calengeth / let y^e cause of both parties be brought vntounto y^e Gods whō y^e Gods cōdēne the same shall paie dowble vntounto his neiboure.Iudges are called Gods. Marke / y^e iudges are called Gods in the scriptures because thei are in Gods rowme and execute y^e cōmaūdmētes of God. And in an other place of y^e sayd chapter Moses chargeth sayēge: se y^t thou rayle not on the Gods nether speake evill of y^e ruler of thy people. Who so ever therfore resisteth thē resisteth God (for they are in y^e rowme of god) & they y^t resiste shall receave their dānaciō.

Soch obedience vntounto father & mother / master / husbāde / emperoure / kīge / lordes and rulers requireth God of all naciōs / yee of y^e very turkes ād infideles.Blessynge The blessinge and rewarde of thē that kepe thē / is y^e life of this worlde as thou readest Leuiticū. xviij. kepe my ordinaunces and lawes / which yf a man kepe he shall lyve therin. Which texte Paul reherseth Roma. x. provinge therby that the righteousnes of the law is but wordly / and the rewarde therof is y^e life of this worlde.Curse And the curse of thē that breaketh them / is the losse of this lyfe: as thou seist by the punishment appoynted for them.

And whosoever kepeth the lawe (whether it be for feare / for vayne glorie or profit) though no man rewarde him / yet shall God God rewardeth all obedience: though noman else doo.blesse him abundātly ād sende him wordly prosperite / as thou readest Deuteronomion. xxviij. What good blessinges accompanye y^e kepinge of the lawe / and as we se the turkes ferre exceade vsus christen men in worldly prosperite for their iust kepinge of their temporall lawes. Lyke wise though no mā punishe the breakers of the lawe / yet shall God sende his curses apon them tyll they be vterly brought to nought as thou readest most terrebly even in the said place.God avēgeth all disobediē ce though no man else doo.

Nether maye y^e inferior person avēge him selfe apō y^e superior or violētly resiste him for what so ever wrōge it be. If he doo he is cō dēned in the dede doinge: in as moch as he taketh vpō hī y^t which belōheth to god only which saith vēgeaūee is myne ād I will rewarde Deute. xxxij.Uengeaunce is Gods And christe saith Math xxvi. all they y^t take y^e swerde shall perish with y^e swerde. Takest thou a swerde to avenge p. xxxjthy selfe▪ so gevest thou not roume vntounto god to avēge the but robbest him of his most hi… honoure / in that thou wilt not let him be iudge over the.

Iff any mā myght have avēged him selfe apon his superior / Davidthat mighte David most righteously have done apon kinge Saul which so wrōgfully persecuted David / evē for no other cause / thē y^• God had anoīted him kynge & promysed hī y^e kyngdome. Yet whē god had delyverd Saul in to y^e hādes of David / y^t he might have done what he wold with hī as thou seist in y^e first boke of kynges y^e .xxiiij. chapter / how Saul came in to the cave where David was. And David came to him secretly & cutte of a pece of his garment. And as sone as he had done it his hertsmote hī because he had done so moch vntounto his lorde. And whē his mē corraged him to …le hī he āswered / the lorde forbid it me / y^t I shulde laye myne hond on hī. Nether soffered he his mē to hurte him / When Saul was gone out David folowed & shewed hī the pece of his garmēte & said: why belevist thou the wordes of mē y^t saye / David goeth aboute to doo the harme? perceave and se that ther is nether evell ner wickednesse in my hande and that I have not trespased agaynst the / & yet thou layest awayte for my life. God iudge betwene the & me & avenge me of y^e / but myne hāde be not apō y^e as / the olde proverbe saith (said david) God destroyeth one weked by a nother.out of the weked shall wekednesse procede / but myne hāde be not apō the meanīge that God ever punisheth one weked by an other. And agayne (said David) God be iudge / and iudge betwene the and me ād behold ād plete my cause / & geve me iudgemēte or right of the.

And in the .xxvi. Chapter of the same boke / when Saul persecuted David agayne. David came to Saul by night / as he slepte and all his men / and toke awaye his spere and a coppe of water from his hedde. Then said Abisai Davids servaunte / God hath delyvered the thine enemie in to thine hande this daye / lat me now therfore naile hī to the grounde with my spere and geve him but even one stripe and no moare. David forbad him sainge.God provideth a meanes to take the evell out of the waeye whē they have fulfilled there wekednes kyll him not. For who (said he) shall laye handes on the lordes ā noynted and be not gyltye? The lorde liveth or by the lordes lyfe (said he) he dieth not excepte the lorde smyte him or that his daye be come to dye or else goo to batayll and there perish.

Why did not David sle Saul / seinge he was so weked / not in persecutīge david only / but in disobeyenge Gods cōmaūdmētes ād in y^t he had slayne.Why David slewe not Saul. lxxxv. of Gods prestes wrongfully? Verely for it was not lawfull. For if he had done it / he must have sinned agenste god.The kinge is in the rowme of god in this world. For God hath made the p. xxxijkīge in every realme iudge over all / ād over him is there no iudge. He y^t iudgeth the kinge iudgeth God & he that layeth hādes on the kīge layeth hāde on God / ād he that resisteth the kinge resisteth God and dāneth Gods lawe and ordinaūce. If the subiectes sinne they must be broughte to y^e kīges iudgemēte. If the kinge sinne he must be reserved vntounto the iudgemēt / wrath and vēgeaū ce of God.The kinge must be reserved vntounto the vengeaunce of God. And as it is to resiste the kinge / so is it to resiste his officer which is set or sent to execute the kinges cōmaundmēt.

And in the fyrst Chaptour of the seconde boke of kinges David cōmaunded the younge mā to be slayne / which broughte vntounto him the croune ād bracelet of Saul ād said to please David with all / that he him selfe had slayne Saul. And in the fourth chapter of the same boke david cōmaūded those .ij. to be slayne which brought vntounto him the hed of Isboseth Sauls sōne / by whose meanes yet y^e hole kingdome returned vntounto David accordīge vntounto the promise of God.

And Luke / xiij. When they shewed Christe of the Galileans / whose bloude Pilate mīgled with their awn sacrifice: he āswered suppose ye that these Galileās were sinners above all other galileās / because they sofred soch punishmēte? I tel you naye: but excepte ye repēt ye shall like wise peresh. Thus was told Christ / no doute / of soch an entent as they axed him Math. xxij. Whether it were lawfull to geve tribute vntounto Cesar. For they thoughte that it was no sinne to resiste an hethen prince:It is not lawfull for… christen subiecte to resiste his prince though he be an hethen man. as few of vsus wolde thinke (if we were vnderunder the turke) that it were sinne to rise agenste him / and to ryd oure selves from vnderunder his dominion / so sore have oure Bisshopes robbed vsus of the true doctrine of Christe. But Christe condemned their dedes and also the secret thoughtes of all other that consented there vntounto sayenge: excepte ye repēte ye shall like wise perishe. As who shuld saye / I knowe that ye are within in youre hertes soch as they were outwarde in their deades / and are vnderunder the same damnacion: excepte therfore ye repēt betymes / ye shall breake out at the last in to lyke deades / and lyke wise perishe / as it came afterwarde to passe.

Here by seist thou y^t y^e kinge is in this worlde without lawe & maye at his lust doo right or wronge and shall geve a comptes / but to God only.

A nother conclusion is this / that no person nether anye degre maye be exempte frō this ordinaunce of God. Nether cā the profession of monkes and freres or anye thinge that the Pope or Bisshoppes cā laie for thē selves / excepte them from the swerde of the Emperoure or kinges / yf they breake the lawes. For it is writtē / let every soule submitte p. xxxijhim selfe vntounto the auctorite of the hier powers. Here is no man excepte / but all soules must obeye. The hier powers are the tē porall kinges and princes vntounto whom God hath gevē the swerde to puneshe who so ever sinneth. The kinge hath no power but to his dānacion to prev…leage the spiritualty to synne vnpunyshedGod hath not geven thē swerdes to puneshe one and to let a nother goo fre and to sinne vnpunesshed. Moare over with what face durst the spiritualte / which ought to be the light & an example of good lyvinge vntounto all other / desire to sinne vnpunesshed or to be excepted from tribute / tolle or custome / that they wolde not beare payne with ther brethern / vntounto the mayntenaunce of kinges and officers ordined of god to puneshe sinne?

There is no powere but of God (by power vnderstōde the auctorite of kinges and princes) The powers that be / are ordened of God. Whosoever therfore resisteth power resisteth God: Yee though he be Pope / Bisshope / monke or frere. They that resiste shall receave vntounto them selves damnacion. Why? For Gods worde is agaynst them which will have all men vnderunder the power of the temperall swerde.

For rulers are not to be feared for good workes but for evyll. Hereby seist thou y^t they y^t resiste y^e powers or seke to be exēpte frō their auctorite have evyll cōsciēces & seke libertie to sinne vnpunesshed & to be fre frō bearīge payne with ther bretherne.

Wilt thou be without feare of the power? So doo well and thou shalt have laude of the same (that is to saye of the ruler) With good livynge ought the spirituallte to ridde thē selves frō feare of the tēporal swerde / & not with craft and with blindinge the kynges and bringinge the vengeaunce of God apon thē ād in purchasinge licēce to sinne vnpunisshed.

¶ For he is the minister of God for thi welth: to defende the from a thousande inconvenientes / from theves / murderers and them that wolde defile thy wife / thy doughter and take from the all that thou hast:A kynge is a greate benefite though he be never so evell. yee life and all / yf thou did resiste.

Forthermoare though he be the greatist tyraūte in the worlde / yet is he vntounto y^e a greate benefit of God and a thīge where fore thou oughtest to thanke God hyly. For it is better to have somwhat than to be cleane stripte out of all togeder: it is better to paye the tenthe than to loose all: it is better to suffer one tyraunte thē mani & to sofre wronge of one thē of every mā. Ye and it is better to have a tyraunte vntounto thy kīge thē a shadow / a passive kīge y^t doth nought hīselfe / but sofre other to doo with hī what they will / and to leade hī whither they lyst. For a tyraunte though he do wronge vntounto the good / yet he punessheth the evill & maketh all mē obeye nether sofereth any man to polle but him selfe only. A kinge that is soft as sylke ād effeminate / that p. xxxiiijis to saye turned vntounto the nature of a womā / what with his awne lustes / which are as y^e lōginge of a womā with childe / so y^t he cā not resiste thē / & what with y^e wyly tyrānye of thē y^t ever rule hī / shalbe moch moare grevous vntounto y^e realme thē a right tyraunte. Reade y^e cronycles & thou shalt finde it ever so.Prīces are ordyned to punish evell doers.

But and if thou doo evyll / then feare. For he beareth not a swerde for noughte. For he is the minister of God / to take vengeaunce on them that doo evyll. Yff the office of princes geven them of God be to take vēgeaunce of evill doers: thā by this texte and Gods worde / are all princes The dānaciō of princes.dāned / even as many as geve libertie or licence vntounto the spiritualtie to sinne vnpunesshed / ād not only to sinne vnpunesshed them selves: but also to open sentuaries / privileged places / churchyerdes / saynt Iohns holde:Sentuaries. yee and if they come to shorte vntounto all these / yet to settforth a neckeverse to save all maner treaspasers frō the feare of y^e swerde of y^e vēgeaunce of God put in the hōdes of princes to take vengeaunce on all soch.Neckevers.

GOd requireth the law to be kepte of all men let them kepe it for what soever purpose they will. Will they not kepe y^e lawe:Thre natures. so vouchsafeth he not that they enioye this temperall life. Now are there. thre natures of men / one all to gether beestly which / in no wise receave the lawe in their hertes / but rise agenst princes & rulers when so ever they are able to make their partie good. Thes are signified by thē that worsheped the golden calfe. For Moyses brake the tables of the lawe yer he came at them.

The seconde are not so beestly / but receave the lawe / and vntounto thē the lawe cometh: but they loke not Moyses in y^e face. For his coūtenaūce is to bright for thē / that is / they vnderstonde not y^t the lawe is spirituall ād requireth the herte. They loke on the pleasure / profit and promocion that foloweth the kepinge of the lawe / and in respecte of the rewarde kepe they the lawe outwardly with workes / but not in the herte. For if they might obteyne lyke honoure / glorie / promociō and dignite and also avoyde all incōvenientes / yf they broke the lawe / so wolde they also breake the lawe & folowe their lustes.

The thred are spirituall and loke Moyses in the open face & are (as Paul saith the seconde to the Romains) a lawe vntounto them selves and have the lawe writtē in their hertes by the spirite of God. Thes neade nether of kinge ner officers to drive thē / nether that any mā profer thē any rewarde for to kepe the lawe. For they do it naturally.

The first worke for feare of the swerde only. The seconde for rewarde. The thred worke for love frely. They loke on the excedī ge mercy / love and kindes which God hath p. xxxvshewed them in Christe and therfore love againe and worke frely. Heven they take of the fre gift of God thorow Christes deservī ges / and hope without all maner doutinge that God accordinge to his promise / Heven cometh by christewill in this worlde also defende them and doo all thinge for thē of his goodnes and for Christes sake and not for any goodnes that is in them. They cōsente vntounto the lawe that it is holy and iust and that all men ought to doo what soever God commaūdeth for no other cause / A christē mā seketh no moare but gods willbut because God commaundeth it. And their great sorow is / because that there is no strength in their membres to doo that which their herte lusteth to do and is a thurst to do.

Thes of the last sworte kepe y^e lawe of their awne accorde and that in the herte / and have professed perpetuall warre agaynste the lustes and appetites of the fleshe / tyll they be vtterly subdued: yet not thorow their awne strength / but knowynge and knowlegynge their wekenes crye ever for strength to God which hath promysed assistence vntounto all that call vponupon him. These folow God and are led of his sprite. The other two are led of lustes and appetites.

Lustes and appetites are divers and many and that in one mā:Lustes ye and one luste contrarie to a nother and the greatest lust carieth a mā all to gether awaye with him. We are also chaunged frō one lust vntounto a nother Otherwise are we desposed when we are childern / otherwise whē we are youngmē and other wise when we are olde / otherwise over evē & other wise in the morninge: ye somtymes altered .vj. tymes in an howre. How fortuneth all this?Frewill. Because y^t the will of mā foloweth the witte & is subiecte vntounto the witte and as the witte erreth so doith the will / ād as the witte is in captivite / so is the will / nether is it possible that y^e will shuld be fre where the witte is in bondage.

That thou maist perceave ād feale the thī ge in thine herte and not be a vayne sophister disputinge aboute wordes with out perceavinge / marke this. The rote of al evill the greatest damnaciō and most terrible wrath and vengeaunce of God that we are in / is naturall blindnes. We are all out of the right waye / every man his wayes: One iudgeth this best / a nother that to be best. Now is Worldly witte.worldlye witte no thinge else but craft and sotilte to obteyne that which we iudge falsly to be best. As I erre in my witte / so erre I in my will.The will is bond and led. When I iudge that to be evyll / which in dede is good / then hate I that which is good. And when I suppose that good which is evill in dede / then love I evill. As yf I be perswaded and borne in hande that my most frende is myne enemye then hate I my best frende: and yf p. xxxviI be brought in belefe that my most enimie is my frende / Then love I my most enimie Now when we saye / every man hath his fre will / to doo what him lusteth I saye verely that men doo what they lust. Not with stondynge to folow lustes is not fre…dome / but captivite and bondage. If God open any mans wittes to make hym feale in his herte / that lustes and appetites are damnable / and geve hī power to hate and resiste them / then is he fre even with the fredome where with Christ maketh fre / ād hath power to doo the will of God.Fredome.

Thou maist hereby perceave that all that is done in the world (before the spirite of God come and geveth vsus light) is damnable sinne / and the moare glorious the moare damnable:All is synne that sprēgeth not of the spirite of god ād all that is not done in the lighte of gods worde. so that that which y^e worlde counteth most glorious is moare damnable in the sighte of God / then that which the whore / the thefe and the mortherer doo. With blinde reasons of worldly wisdome maist thou chaūge the myndes of youth and make them geve them selves to what thou wilt eyther for feare / for prayse or for profit:Soo doo our spiritualte in all there workes. and yet doist but chaunge them from one vice to a nother. As the persuasions of her frendes made lucrece chast. Lucrece beleved yf she were a good huswife and chast / that she shulde be most glorious / & that all the world wolde geve her honoure / and prayse her. She soughte her awne glory in her chastite and not Gods. When she had lost her chastite / then counted she her selfe most abhominable in the sighte of all men / ād for very payne & thought which she had / not that she had displeased god / but that she had lost her honoure / slew her selfe. Loke how great her payne and sorow was for the losse of her chastite / so greate was her glorie and reioysinge there in / and so moch despiced she them that were other wise / and pitied them not. Which pride god moare abhorreth thē the whordome of any whore. Of like pride are all the morall vertues of Aristotell / Plato and Socrates / and all y^e doctrine of the philosophers the very Gods of our scole men.

In lyke maner is it for the most parte of oure most holy religion. For they of lyke imaginacion doo thinges which they of Bedlē maye se / that they are but madnes. They loke on the miracles which God did by the sayntes to move the vnbelevinge vntounto the fayth and to confirme the trouth of his promyses in Christe / whereby all that beleve are made sayntes:True miracles are wrought to cofirme the preachinge ād not the Godheed of the preacher: as thou seist in the last chaptoure of Marke. They preached (saith he) every where / the lorde workinge with them and confirminge their preachinge with miracles that folowed. And in the fourth of the actes) the disciples praid that p. xxxvijGod wolde stretche forth his handes to do miracles and wonders in the name of Iesus And Paul .j. Corinth. xiiij. saith / that the miracle of speakinge with divers tonges is but a signe for vnbelevers and not for them that beleve. Thes miracles turne they vntounto a nother purpose sayenge in Oure ypocrites are blindetheir blinde hertes. Se what myracles God hath showed for this saynte / he must be verely great with God. And attonse turne them selves from Gods worde and put their trust and confidence in the saynt and his merites and make an advocate or rather a God of the saynt / and of their blinde imaginacion make a testamente or bonde betwene the saynt and them / the testamente of Christes bloude cleane forgoten.The religious loke apon the out syde only. They loke on the sayntes garmentes and lives or rather lyes wihch men lye on the sayntes: and this wise imagion in their hertes sayenge: the saynt for weringe soch a garmente and for soch deades is become so glorious in heven. Yf I doo lyke wise / so shall I be also. They se not the fayth and trust which the sayntes had in Christe / nether the worde of God which the sayntes preached / nether the entente of the sayntes / how that y^e sayntes did soch thīges to tame their bodies & to be an ensample to y^e worlde / & to teach that soch thinges are to be despiced which the worlde …oost wondreth at and magnifieth. They se not also that some lādes are so whot that a man can nether drinke wine ner eate fleshe ther in: nether consider they the complexiō of the sayntes / ād a thousande like thinges se they not. So when they have kylled there bodies and brought them in that case / that scace with any restauratyve they can recover their health agayne yet had they lever die thē to eate fleshe. Why? for they thinke / I have now this .xx.xxx. or .xl. yeres eatē no fleshe and have obteyned I doute not by this tyme as hie a rowme as the best of thē: shuld I now loose that? nay I had lever die: and as lucrecia had lever have ben slayne yf he had not ben to stronge for her then to have lost her glorie / even so had these. They ascribe heven vntounto their imaginacions and mad invencions / and receave it not of the liberalite of God / by the merites and deservinges of Chirst.The spirituall man.

He now that is renewed in Christe / kepeth the lawe without any law written or compulsion of any ruler or officer / save by the ledynge of the sprite only: but the The natural man.naturall man is entised and moved to kepe the lawe carnally / with carnall reasons and worldly persuasions / as for glorie / honoure riches and dignite. But the last remedie of all when all other fayle / is Feare is the last remedy.feare. Beate one & the rest wyll absteyne for feare: as Moyses ever putteth in remembraunce sayenge: p. xxxviijkyll / stone / burne. So shall thou put evill from the / and all Israell shall heare and feare and shall no moare do so. Yf feare helpe not / then will God that they be taken out of this life.

Kynges were ordened then / as I before said / and they swerde put in their handes to take vengeaunce of evill doers / that other myght feare / ād were not ordeyned to fight one agenst a nother or to rise agenste the Emperioure to defende the false auctorite of the Pope that very Antechriste / Kinges defende the false auctorite of the pope there office punishīge of sinne layde aparte. Bisshoppes ministre the kynges dutie there awne leyd aparte: ye they persecute there awne office.Bisshoppes they only can minister the temperall swerde / their office the preachinge of Gods worde layde a parte / which the will nother doo ner sofre anye man to doo / but sley with the temperall swerd (which they have goten out of the hande of all Princes) them that wolde. The preachinge of Gods worde is hatefull and contrarie vntounto them: Why? For it is impossible to preach Christe excepte thou preach agenst Antychriste / that is to saye / them which with their false doctrine & violēce of swerde enforce to quē che y^e true doctrine of Christe. And as thou canst heale no disease / excepte thou begynne at the rote: even so canst thou preach agenst / no mischeve excepte thou begynne / at the Bisshopes. Kynges doo but wayet on the popes pleasure.Kynges they are but shadowes / vayn names and thinges ydle / havynge no thinge to doo in the worlde / but when our holy father neadeth their helpe.

The iugulīg of the pope.The Pope contrarie vntounto all conscience and agenst all the doctrine of Christe / which saith my kyngdome is not of this worlde. Iohn. xviij. hath vsurped the righte of y^e emperoure. And by polycy of y^e Bisshopes of almanyBishopes of al many and with corruptynge the electours or chosers of the Emperoure with money / brī geth to passe that soch a one is ever chosen Emperoure that is not able to make his partie good with the Pope. To stoppe the Emperoure that he come not at Rome / he bringeth the frēch kinge vp to MylaneMilane / and on the oder side bringeth he the venecians. Yf the venecians come to nye / the Bisshopes of frauncebisshopes of Fraunce must bringe in the French kynge And the Socheners ar called and send for to come ād socre. And for their laboure he geveth to some a rose / to a nother a A cappe of mayntenaunce.cappe of mayntenaūce. One is called Most christē kinge.most christen kinge a nother Defender of the popis faith·defender of the fayth / a nother the eldest The eldest sonne of the holy seate Blasynge of armessonne of the most holy seate. He blaseth also the armes of other & putteth in the holy crosse / the croune of thorne or the nayles and so forth. Yff the frē che kynge goo to hie / and crepe vppe other to Bononye or Naples: then must oure englysh The english bisshopes:bisshops bringe in oure Kynge. The craft of y^e bisshopes is to entitle one Kynge with an others realme. He is called Kinge of Dē marke p. xxxix/ and of Englonde / he kinge of Englonde and of Fraunce.The falshed of the bisshopes Then to blinde y^e lordes and the comens / the kinge must calenge his righte. Then must the lande be taxed and every man paye / and the treasure borne out of the realme and the londe beggerde. How many a thousand mens lives hath it cost? And how many an hondred thousande poundes hath it caried out of the realme in oure remembraunce?? O a cruell ād an abhominable ensample of tirāny Iudge them by there deades saith christe.Besides how abhominable an example of gatheringe was there? soch verily as never tyraunte sens the world began did / ye soch as was never before herde or thought on nether amōge Iewes saresens / turkes or hethen sens God created the sonne to shine: that a beest shulde breake vp in to the temple of God / that is to saye / in to the herte and consciences of men and compell them to swere every mā what he was worthe / to lende that shulde never be payd agayne. How many thousandes forsware them selfes? How many thousā des set them selves above there abilite / partly for feare lest they shuld be forsworne ād partly to save there credence? When the Pope hath his purpose / then is peace made / no man woteth how / and oure most enimie is oure most frende.

¶Now because the Emperoure is able to obteyne his right: french / englessh / venecians and all must apon him. * O greate whore of babylon / how abuseth she the p…inces of the worlde / how dronke hath sh… made them with her wine?The whore of babylon. How shamefull licences doth she geve them / to vse nychromancie to hold whores / to devorse thē selves to breake the fayth and promises that one maketh with an other: that the confessours shall delyver vntounto the kynge the Confession of whom he will / and dispenceth with thē even of the very lawe of God / which Christ him selfe can not doo.Confession.

Agenst the popis false power.

MAthew. xxvi. Christe saith vntounto Peter / put vp thy swerd in to his shethe. For all y^t laye hande vponupon y^e swerde / shall peresh with y^e swerde / y^t is / whosoever without the cōmaundment of the temperall officer to whō God hath geven the swerde leyeth hande on the swerde to take vengeaunce / the same deserveth deeth in the deade doinge.Not peter only but crist also was vnderunder the tē perall swerde. God did not put Peter only vnderunder the temperall swerde / but also Christe him selfe. As it appereh in the fourth Chapter to the Galathiens. And Christe saith Math. iij. Thus becometh it vsus to fullfill all rightwesnes / that is to saye / all ordinaunces of God. Yf the hed be then vnderunder the temperall swerde / how cā the mēbres be excepted? Yf P…ter sinned in defendinge Christ agenste the temperall sw…rde (whose auctorite and ministres the Bisshopes then abused agenste p. xlChrist as ours doo now) The kynges sinne in gevī ge exēpcions and the prelates in receavī ge them.who can excuse oure prelates of sinne which will obeye no man / nether kinge nor Emperoure? Ye who can excuse from sinne / ether the kinges that geve / ether the Bisshopes that receave soch exempcions contrarie to Gods ordinaunces and Christes doctrine?

And Math. xvij. both Christe and also Peter paye tribute / where the meaninge of Christes question vntounto Peter is: yf princes take tribute of straungres only and not of their childern / then verily ought I to be fre which am the sonne of God / whose servauntes and ministres they are and of whom they have their auctorite. Yet because they nether knewe that nether Christe came to vse that auctorite / but to be oure servaunte and to beare oure burthen and to obeye all ordinaunces / both in right and wronge for oure sakes and to teach vsus: therfore said he to saynt Peter. Paye for the and me lest we offende them. Moareover though that Christe and Peter (because they were pore) might have escaped / yet wold he not for feare of offendinge other and hurtinge their consciences. For he might well have geven occasion vntounto the tribute gatherers to have iudged amisse bothe of him and his doctrine: ye & y^e Iewes might happely have byn offended thereby and have thought that it had not be lawfull / for them to have paid tribute vntounto hethen princes and ydolaters / seinge that he so greate a prophet payde not: Ye and what other thynge causeth the laye so litle to regarde there princes / as that they se them both dispised ād disobeyed of the spiritualte?Whē the spiritualte payeth tribute But oure prelates which care for none offendinge of consciences and lesse for Gods ordinaunces / will paye nought: but when princes must fighte in oure most holy fathers quarell and agenst christe. Then are they the first. There also is none so pore that then hath not somewhat to geve.

Shamelesse iugulars.Marke here how past all shame oure scole doctours are (as Rochester is in his sermon agenst Marten Luther) which of this texte of Mathew dispute that Peter because he payd tribute / is gretter then the other Apostles / and hath moare auctorite and power then they / and was heed vntounto them all / contrary vntounto so many cleare textes / where Christe rebuketh them sayenge: that is an hethenesh thinge that one shuld clyme above a nother or desyre to be greater To be greate in the kyngdome of heven is to be a servaunte / and he that most humbleth him selfe and becometh a servaunt vntounto other (after the ensample of Christe I meane and his Apostles and not of the Pope and his Apostles oure Cardinales and Bisshopes) the same is greatest in that kyngdome. p. xijYf Peter in payenge tribute became greatest / how cometh it / that they will paye none at all? But to paie tribute is a signe of subiection veryly / and the cause why Christ payed was because he had an howsholde / and for the same cause payed Peter also. For he had an house / a shippe and nettes / as thou readest in the Gospel. But let vsus goo to Paul agayne.

Wherfore ye must neades obeye / not for feare of vengeaunce only: but also because of consciēce. That is though thou be so mighty (as now many yeres oure Pope ād prelates every where are) that thou neadest not to obeye the temperall swerde for feare of vē geaūce: yet must thou obeye because of conscience. First because of thine They make no cōsciēce at any evell doī ge.awne conscience. For though thou be able to resiste / yet shalt thou never have a good conscience / as longe as Gods worde / lawe and ordinaunce are agenste the.They care for there neybours as the wolfe doeth for the shepe. Secondarily for thy neibours conscience. For though thorow crafte and violence thou mightest escape and obteyne libertie or pri…elege to be fre from all maner duites / yet oughtest thou nether to sue or seke for any soch thinge / nether yet admit or accepte / if it were profered The evell ensample of the spiritualte causeth the laye to beleve that they are not bound to obeye.lest thy fredome make thy weake brother to grudge and rebelle / in that he seeth the goo emp…e and he him selfe moare lade / thy parte also layde on his shulders. Seist thou not if a man favoure one sonne moare then a nother / or one servaunte moare then a nother / how all the rest grudge / and how love / peace and vnyte is broken? What christenly love is in the to thy neyboure warde / There is no christen love in t…em.when thou cāst fynde in thyne herte to goo vp and doune emptie by him all daye longe and se hī over charged / yee to faull vnderunder hys burthen / and yet wilt not once set to thine hande to helpe him? What good conscience can there be amonge oure spiritualte to gather so greate treasure to gether and with ypocresie of their false lerninge to robbe almost every man of house and landes / and yet not ther with contente but with all craft and wilenes to purchease so greate lyberties and exempcions from all maner bearinge with their bretherne / sekinge in Christe no thinge but lucre? I passe over with sylēce how they teach princes in every lande to lade new exaccions and tyrānye on their subiectes moare and moare dayly nether for what What purpose? even to flater the prīces that they maye abyse there auctoryte to slee who so ever beleveth in Christe and to mayntene the Pope.purpose they do it saye I. God I trust shall shortly disclose their iuggelinge and bringe their falshed to light and leye a medecine to them / to make their scabbes breake out. Never the lesse this I saye / y^t they have robbed all realmes / not of Gods worde only: but also of all wealth and prosperite / and have driven peace out of all londes & withdraune them selves from all obedience to p. xlijprinces and have separated them selves from the laye men / countinge them viler then dogges / & have set vp that greate ydole the whore of Babilō Antychrist of Rome whom they call Pope and have conspired agenst all commune wealthes and have made them a severall kyngedome / wherein it is lawfull vnpuneshed to worke all abhominacion. In every paresh have they spies and in every greate mans house and in every taverne and Alehouse. And thorow Confession.confessions know they all secretes / so that no man maye open his mouth to rebuke what so ever they doo / but that he shalbe shortly made an herytike.Prelates know all mēs secretes ād no man theirs. In all councels is one of them / yee the most parte and chefe rulars of the councels are of them: But of there councell is no man.

Even for this cause paye ye tribute' that is to wete / for consciences sake / to thy neyboure / and for the cause that foloweth. For they are Gods ministers servinge for the same purpose. Because God will so have it / we must obeye. We do not loke (if we have Christes spirite in vsus) what is good profitable / glorious & honourable for vsus / nether on oure awne will / but on Gods will only. Geve to everi mā therfore his dutie: tribute to whom tribute belongeth: custome to whō custome is due: feare to whō feare belō geth: honoure to whō honoure perteyneth.

That thou mightest feale the workinge of the spirite of God in the and lest the bewtie of the deade shuld deceave the and make the thinke that the lawe of God which is spirituall were content and fulfilled with the outwarde and bodyly deade it foloweth. Owe no thinge to any man: but to love one an other.Love fulfilleth the law before god ād not the outwarde dede. For he that loveth a nother fulfilleth the lawe. For thes cōmaūdmētes: thou shalt not cōmitte advlterye / thou shalt not kyll / thou shalt not stele / thou shalt not beare false witnese / thou shalt not desyre / and so forth if ther be any other cōmaundemēte are all comprehended or contayned in this sayenge:Agenst workemen. love thy neyboure: therfore is love the fulfillinge of the lawe. Here hast thou sufficiēt agenst all the sophistres werke holy & iustifiars in the worlde / which so magnifie their dedes. The lawe is spirituall ād requireth the herte / ād is never fulfilled with y^e deade in the sight of God. With y^e deade The dede fulfilleth the la… before the worlde.thou fulfillest the lawe before the worlde and lyvest thereby / that is / thou enioyest this present lyfe ād avoydest the wrath and vengeaunce the deeth and puneshment which the lawe thretneth to them that breake it. But before God thou kepest the lawe yf thou love ōly. Now what shal make vsus love?Faith maketh a mā love. Verely that shall fayth doo. Yf thou beholde how moch God loveth them Christe and from what vengeaunce he hath delyverde p. xliijthe for his fake and of what kingdome he hath made the heyre / then shalt thou se cause ynough to love thy very enemie without respecte of rewarde / ether in this life or in the life to come / but because that God will so have it and Christe hath deserved it: Yee thou shuldest feale in thine herte that all thy deades to come / are abundantly recompensed allready in Christe.

Thou wilt saye haply / if love fulfill the lawe / thē it Iustifieth. I saye that that where with a man fulfilleth the lawe / declareth hym iustified but that which geveth hī where with to fulfill the lawe / iustifieth hym. By iustifienge vnderstonde the forgeuenesse of sinnes and the favoure of God.Iustifiynge. Now sayeth the texte Roma. x. the ende of the lawe or the cause wherfore the lawe was made is Christe to iustifie all that beleve. That is / the lawe is gevē to vtter sinne / to kill y^e cōsciences / to dāne oure deades / to bringe to repē taūce & to dryve vntounto Christe:The office or dutie of the law. in whom god hath promised his favoure and forgevenesse of sinne vntounto all that repente and cōsente to the law y^t it is good.The belevī ge of Gods promises iustifieth. Yf thou beleve the promises thē doth Gods truth iustifie the / y^t is forgeueth the ād receaveth the to favoure for Christes sake. In a suertie wher of and to certifie thine herte / he sealeth the with the sprite. Ephe. j. and .iiij. And .ij. Corinth. v. saith Paul. Which gave vsus hys sprite in ernest. How the sprite is geven vsus thorow Christe / reade the eght chapter of the pistle to the Romayns and Gala. iij. and .ij. Corinth. iij. Neverthelesse the sprite The spirite ād the īward vertues are knowē by the outward dedeand his frutes where with the herte is purified / as fayth / hope / love / pacience / longe soferinge and obedience / coude never be sene without outwarde experience. For yf thou were not brought sometime in to combraūce / whēce God only coulde delyver the / thou shuldest never se thy fayth yee excepte thou foughtest sometyme agēst desperaciō / hell / deeth sinne and powers of this worlde for thy faythes sake thou shuldest never know true fayth frō a dreame. Excepte thy brother now and then offended the / thou coudest not knowe whether thy love were Godly. For a turke is not angre / tyll he be hurte & offended but if thou love hī that doeth the evyll / thē is thy love of God / lyke wise if thy rulers were all waye kinde / thou shuldest not knowe whether thyne obedience were pure or no but and if thou canst paciently obeye evill rulers in all thinge that is not to y^e dishonoure of God ād whē thou hurtest not thy neybours / thē arte thou sure / that Gods spirite worketh in the and that thy fayth is no dreame nor any fals imaginacion.

Therfore counceleth Paul Roma. xij. recompense to no man evyll: And on youre parte have peace with all men. Derely p. xliiijbeloved avenge not youre selves: but geve rowme vntounto y^e wrath of God. For it is written vengeaunce is mine and I will rewarde / saith the lorde.Overcome thyne enimy with well doynge. Therfore yf thy enimie hongre feade him: Yf he thurst / geve hym drinke. For in so doynge thou shalt heape coles of fyre on his heed (that is thou shalt kendle love in him) Be not overcome of evill (that is let not a nother mans wekednesse make the weked also). But overcome evyll with good / that is / with softenesse kyndnesse and all pacience winne him: evē as God with kyndnesse wonne the.

THe lawe was geven in thunder lyghteninge / fyre / smoke and the voyce of a trumpet ād terreble sighte. Exodi. xx.The law▪ So that the people quoke for feare and stode a ferre of sayenge to Moyses. Speake thou to vsus ād we will heare: let not the lorde speake vntounto vsus / lest we dye. No eare (yf it be a waked and vnderstondeth the meanynge) is able to abide the voice of the lawe: excepte the promises of mercy be by. That thunder excepte the rayne of mercy be ioyned with it / destroyeth all ād byldeth not The lawe is a witnesse agenste vsus ād testifieth that God abhorreth the sinnes / that is in vsus and vsus for oure synnes sake.The kynge:

In lyke maner when God gave y^e people of Israell a kynge it thundred and rayned that the people feared so sore y^t they cryed to Samuel for to praye for them / that they shuld not dye .j. Regum .xij. As the lawe is a terreble thinge: even so is the kynge. For he is ordened to take vengeaunce and hath a swerde in his hande ād not pecockes feeders. Feare him therfore ād loke on him as thou woldest loke on a sharpe swerde that hanged over thy heed by an herre.Rulars are Gods gyfte.

Heedes and governers are ordened off God and are even the gyft of God / whether thei be good or bad. And what so ever is done vntounto vsus by thē / that doeth God / be it good or bad. Yf they be evill Why the rulers are evellwhi are y^e evill? verely for oure wekednesse sake are the evyll. Because that when they were good we wolde not receave that goodnesse of the hande of God and be thankefull / submittinge oure selves vntounto his lawes ād ordinaunces / but abvsed the goodnesse of God vntounto oure sensuall ād beestly lustes. Therfore doeth God make hys scorge of them and turne them vntounto wilde beestes cōtrary to y^e nature of their names and offices / even in to lyons / beares / foxes and vncleyne swyne / to avēge hī selfe of oure vnnaturall & blinde vnkindnes and of oure rebellious disobedience.

In the .Cvj. psalme thou readest / he destroyed the ryvers ād dried vp the springes of water and turned the frutefull lāde in to barenesse / for the wekednesse of the inhabiters p. xlvtherein. Whē y^e childer of Israell had forgoten God in Egipte / God moved the hertes of the Egipciēs to hate thē & to subdue thē with craft & wilynes. Psalme. Ciiij. and deuteronomion .iij. Moyses reherseth sayenge: God was angre with me for youre sakes: so y^t the wrath of God fell on Moyses for the wekednesse of the people. And in the seconde Chapter of the seconde boke off kynges God was angry with the people ād moved David to numbre them when Ioab and the other lordes wondred why he wolde have thē nūbred and because they feared lest some evyll shulde folowe / disuaded the kinge: yet it holpe▪ not. God so hardened his herte in his purpose / to have an occasion to sley the weked people.Evell rulers are a signe that God is āgre with vsus

Evyll rulers thē are a signe y^t God is angry & wroth with vsus. Ys it not a greate wrath & vēgeaūce y^t the father & mother shulde hate there childerne / evē their flesh ād their bloud? or y^t an husbāde shulde be vnkīde vntounto his wife or a master vntounto y^e servaunte y^t wayteth on h…s profite / or y^t lordes & kīges shulde be tiraūtes vntounto their subiectes & tenaūtes which paye thē tribute / tolle / custome & rēte / laborīge & toylīge to fynde thē in honoure & to maītene thē in their estate? ys not this a fearfull iudgemēte of God ād a cruell wrath y^t the very prelates and sheperdes of oure soules which were wōte to fede Christes flocke with Christes doctrine and to walke before them in lyvinge there after / and to geve their lyves for them / to their ensample and edifienge / and to strength their weake faythes / are now so sore chaūged that if they smell that one of their flocke (as they now call them and no lenger Christes) do but once longe or desyre for the true knowleage of Christe / they will sley hī / burninge hī with fyre most cruelly? Why the prelates are so weked.What is the cause of this / and that they also teach false doctrine confirminge it with lyes? veryly it is the hande of God to avenge the wekednes of them that have no love ner lust vntounto the trueth of God / when it is preached: but reioyse in vnryghteousnes. As thou maist se in the seconde pistle of Paul to the Tessolonians. Where he speaketh of y^e commynge of Antychriste. Whose comynge shalbe (saith he) by the workynge of Satan with all miracles signes and wonders which are but lyes / and in all deceavable vnreghteousnes amonge thē that perish / because they receaved not any love to the trueth to have bē saved. The cause of false miracles is: that we have no lust vntounto the truth….Therfore shall God sende them stronge delusion / to beleve lyes. Marke how God to avenge his trouth / sendeth to the vnthāckfull false doctrine & false miracles to cōfirme thē and to hardē y^e hertes in y^e false waye / y^t afterwarde it shall not be possible for thē to admitte p. xlvithe trouth. As thou seist in Exodi. vij. and viij. how God sofered false myracles to be shewed in the sight of Pharao to hardē his herte / that he shulde not beleve the trou…h / form as moch as his sorcerars turned their roddes in to serpentes and turned water in to bloude and made frogges by their inchauntmēt / so thought he that Moyses did all his myracles by the same craft and not by the power of God / And abode therfore in vnbelefe and pereshed in resistinge God·

Lett vsus receave all thinges of God whether it be good or badde:The righte waye to come of bondage. lett vsus humble oure selves vnderunder his myghtie hande and submitte oure selves vntounto his nurtoure and chastisinge & not withdrawe oure selves frō his correcciō (reade Hebr. xij. For thy consorte) and lat vsus not take the stafe by the ende or …eke to avēge oure selves on his rodde which is the evill rulers.☜ The childe as lōge as he seketh to avēge hī selfe apō y^e rodde hath ā evill herte. For he thīketh not y^t the correcciō is righte or y^t he hath deserved it / nether repenteth / but reioyseth in his wekednes. And so longe shall he never be without a rodde: ye so longe shall the rodde be made sherper and sharper. Yf he knowleage his faute and take the correccion mekely and evē kysse the rodde and amende him selfe with the lerninge and nurtoure of his father ād mother thē is the rodde take awaye ād brunte

So if we resiste evill rulers sekinge to sett oure selves at libertie / we shall no doute brī ge oure selves in to moare cruell bondage and wrappe oure selves in moch moare misery and wrechednes. For if y^e heddes overcome / thē laye they moare weyghte on their backes ād make their yoeke sorer & tye thē shorter. If they over come their evyll rulers thē make they waye for a moare cruell naciō or for some tyraūte of their awne naciō which hath no righte vntounto the croune. If we submitte oure selves vntounto y^e chastysinge of god & mekely knowleage oure sinnes for which we are scorged / and kysse the rodde / ād amē de oure livinge: thē will God take the rodde awaye / that is / he will geve the rulers a bettter herte. Or yf they cōtinue their malice ād persecute you for well doinge ād because ye put youre trust in God / thē will God delyver you out of their tyranny for his trouthes sake. It is the same god now that was in the olde tyme and delyvered the fathers ād the prophetes / the apostles ād other holy sayntes.God is al waye one all waye true a ways mercifull and excludeth noman from his promises. And what so ever he sware to thē he hath sworne to vsus. And as he delyvered them out of all temptaciō cōbraunce and adversite / because they cōsented ād submitted them selves vntounto his will and trusted in his goodnes and trueth: evē so will he do vsus if we do lyke wise.

Whē so ever the childern of Israel fell frō p. xlvijy^e waye which God cōmaūded thē to walke in he gave them vp vnderunder one tyraunte or a nother. As sone as they came to the knowleage of them selves and repented cryenge for mercy ād leninge vntounto the trouth of his promyses he sende one to delyver them / as the histories of the byble make mencion.

A Christen mā in respecte of God is but a passive thinge / a thinge that sofereth ōly ād doeth nought / as the sycke in respecte of the surgen or phisiciō doth but suffer only.A christē mā doeth but sofre only. The surgē launceth and cutteth out the deed flesh shercheth the woundes / thrusteth in tentes / sereth / burneth / soweth or sticheth and leyeth to corsies to drawe out the corrupcion / and last of all leyeth to helinge playsters and maketh whole. The phisicion lyke wise geveth …urgacions ād drinkes to dryve out the disease and then with restauratives brī geth helth.☜ Now if the sicke resiste the raser the sherchinge yeron ād so forth / doeth he not resiste his awne helth ād is cause of his awne deeth. So lyke wise is it of vsus / yf we resiste evill rulers which are the Euell rula…s are wholeso…medicinesrodde ād scorge where with God chastiseth vsus / the instrumētes where with God shercheth oure woūdes and bitter drinckes to dryve out the sinne and to make it appere / and corsies to drawe out by the rotes y^e core of the poxe of the soule that freteth inwarde.A christen mā receavith A Christen man therfore receaveth all thinge of y^e hā de of God both good and bad / both swete and sowre / both welth and wo. Yf any person do me good / whether it be father mother ād so forth / that receave I of God ād to God geve thankes. For he gave where with / & gave a cōmaundemente / ād moved his herte so to doo. Adversite also receave I of the honde of God as an wholsome medicine / though it be some what bitter. Tēptacion How profitable adversite is.and adversite doo both kyll sinne and also vtter it. For though a christen man knowith every thinge how to lyve: yet is the flesh so weake / that he can never take vp his crosse him selfe to kyll ād mortifie the flesh. He must have a nother to ley it on his backe. In many also sinne lyeth hidde within and festerth and rotteth inwarde and is not sene: so that they thinke how they are good and perfecte and kepe the … ▪ As the younge man. Mathe. xix. said he had observed all of a chylde and yet lyed falsly in his herte / as y^e texte folowinge well declareth. When all is at peace and no man trobleth vsus / we thinke that we are paciente and love oure neybours as oure selves: but let oure neyboure hurte vsus in worde or deade ād thē finde we it other wise. Then fume we ād rage and sett vp the bristels and bend oure selves to take vengeaunce. Yf we loved with godly love for Christes kyndnes sake / we shulde desire no vengeaunce / but pitie him p. xlviijand desyre God to forgeve and amend him knowinge well that no flesh can doo other wise then sinne / excepte that God preserve him. Thou wilt saye what good doeth soch persecuciō and tyrāny vntounto the righteous? Fyrst it maketh them feale the workinge of Gods sprite in them and that their fayth is vnfayned.The greatest synner is righteous in …se and the promises. And the perfectest and holyest is a synner ī the lawe and the flesh. Secōdaryly I saye that no man is so greate a synner / yf he repent and beleve / but that he is righteous in Christe and in the promises: yet yf thou loke on the flesh and vntounto the lawe there is no man so perfect that is not founde a synner. Ner any man so pure / that hath not some what to be yet purged. This shall suffice at this tyme as cocernynge obedience.

BE cause that God excludeth no degre from his mercye. But who soever repenteth and beleveth his promises (of what soever degre he be of) the same shalbe partaker of his grace: therfore as I have described the obedience of them that are vnderunder power & rule / even so will … I with gods helpe (as my dutie is) declare how the rulers which God shall vouchsafe to call vntounto the knowleage of the trouth ought to rule.