The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 14
¶A compendious rehersall of that which goeth before.
I Have described vntounto you the obedience of childerne servantes / wives ād subiectes. Thes iiij. orders are of Gods makynge and the rules therof are Gods worde. He that kepeth them shalbe blessed: yee is blessed all ready and he that breaketh them shalbe cursed. Yf any person of impaciency or of a stoburne and rebellious mynde withdraw him selfe from any of these / and gete him to any other order: let him not thinke therby to avoyd the vengeaunce of god in obeyenge rules and tradicions of mans imaginacion. Yf thou polledst thine heed in the worshepe of thy father and breakest his commaundmentes / shuldest thou so es…ape? Or yf thou payntedst thy masters image on a wall ād stekedst vp a candle before it / shuldest thou there with make satisfaction / for the breakinge of his commaundmentes. Or if thou wareste a blew rote in the worshepe of the kynge and brakest his lawes shuldest thou so go quyte? Let a mans wife make hir selfe a sister of the charterhouse and answere hir husband whē he byddeth hir holde hir peace / my brethern kepe sylence for me / ād se whether she shall so escape. And be thou sure God is moare gelouse over his commaundmentes thē mā is over his or thē any mā is over his wife.
Because we be blynde / God hath apoynted in the scripture how we shulde serve him and please him. As perteyninge vntounto his awne person he is abundantly pleased when we beleve his promyses and holy testamente which he hath made vntounto vsus in Christe / ād for the mercy which he there shewed …s / love his commaundmentes. All bodyly service must be done to man in gods stede. We must geve obedience / honoure / tolle / tribute / custome / and rente vntounto whom they belonge. Then if thou have ought moare to bestowe / geve vntounto the pore which are left here in Christes stede that we shew mercy on them. Yf we kepe the commaundmentes of love then are we sure that we fulfull the law in the syghte of God and that oure blessinge shal be everlastinge lyfe. Now whē we obeye paciently and without grudginge evell princes that oppresse vsus and persecute vsus and be kynde and mercyfull to them that are mercylesse to vsus and doo the worst they can to vsus and so take all fortune paciently and kysse what so ever crosse God layeth on oure backes: thē are we sure that we kepe the commaundmente of love.
I declared that God hath taken all vengeaunce in to his awne handes / and will avenge all onryght himselfe: ether by the powers or officers which are appoynted there to or else / yf they be negligente / he will sende his curses apon the transgressours and destroye them with his secret iudgementes. I shewed also that whosoever avengeth him selfe is damned in the deade doinge and falleth in to the handes of the temperall swerde / because he taketh the office of God apon hym and robbeth God of his most hie honoure in that he will not paciently abyde his iudgemente. I shewed you of the auctorite of princes / how they are in Gods stede and how they maye not be resisted do they never so evell / they must be resarved vntounto the wrath of God. Never the later yf they commaunde to doo evell we must then disobey and saye we are other wise commaundet of God: but not to ryse agenste them. They will kyll vsus then sayest thou. Therefore / I saye is a christen called / to sofre even the bitter deeth for his hopes sake and because he will doo no evyll. I shewed also that the kynges and rulers be they never so evell are yet a great gyfte of the goodnes of god / and defende vsus frō a thousande thinges that we se not.
I proved also that all men without excepcion are vnderunder the temperall swerde / what so ever names they geve them selves. Because the prest is chosen out of the laye men / to teach this obedience / is that a lawfull cause for hym to disobeye? Because he preacheth that ye laye mā shulde not stele / is it therfore lawfull for hī to stele vnpunished? Because thou teachest me that I maye not kyll / or yf I doo the kynge must kyll me agayne / is it therfore lawfull for the to kyll ād goo free? Other whether is it rather mete that thou which art my gyde to teach me the righte waye shuldest walke therin before me? The prestes of the olde law with their hye Bisshope Aaron and all his successours / though they were annoynted by Gods commaundmente and appoynted to serve God in his temple and exempte frō all offices and ministeringe of wordly matters / were yet never the lesse vnderunder the temporall swerde / yf they brake the lawes. Christe saith to Peter / all that take the swerde / shall perish by the swerde. Here is none exception. Paul saith all soules must obeye. Here is none excepcion. Paul hym selfe is here not exēpte. God saith Gene. ix. Who so ever shedeth mās bloude / by mā shal his bloude be shede agayne. Here is none excepcion.
Moare over Christe became pore to make other men riche / and bonde to make other fre. He left also with his disciples the law of love. Now love seketh not hir awne profitte: but hyr neybours: love seketh not hyr awne fredome / but becometh suertye ād bonde to make hir neyboure fre.The pope hath a law that none of his sprites maye be suerty. Damned therfore are the spiritualte by all the lawes of God / which thorow falshed and disgised ypocrisy have soughte so great profite / so great riches / so greate auctorite and so greate liberties / and have so bedgerd the laye and so broughte them in subieccion and bondage and so despice them / that they have set vp frauncheses in all townes and villages for whosoever robbeth / morthereth or sleyeth them / ād even for traytours vntounto the kynges person also.
I proved also that no kynge hath power to graunte them soch libertie: but are as well dāned for their gevinge / as they for their false purchasinge. For as God geveth the father power over his childern: even so geveth he hym a commaundmente to execute it / and not to sofre them to doo wekedly vnpunished but vntounto his damnacion / as thou maist se by Hely the hye prest &c. And as the master hath auctorite over his servauntes: even so hath he a commaundmente to governe them. And as the husbande ys heed over his wife: even so hath he commaundmente to rule hyr appetites and is damned yf he sofre hyr to be an whore ād a misse lyver / or submit hymselfe to hyr and make hir his heed. And evē in lyke maner as god maketh ye kīge heed over his realme evē so geveth he hym cōmaūdment to execute the lawes apon all men indifferently. For the law is Gods and not the kinges. The kynge is but a servaunte to execute the law of god ād not to rule after his awne imaginacion.
I shewed also that the law and the kynge are to be feared / as thinges that were geven in fyre and in thōder and lyghtenynge and terreble signes. I shewed the cause why rulers are evell ād by what meanes we myght obtayne better. I shewed also how wholsome those bitter medicines evyll princes are to ryghte Christen men.
I declared how they which God hath made governers in ye worlde oughte to rule yf they be christē. They ought to remēbre ye they are heedes & armes / to defende ye body to mynister peace health & wealth ād evē to save ye body / ād yt they have receaved their offices of god to mynister & to doo service vntounto their brethern. Kīge subiecte / Master servaūte / are names in ye worlde: but not in christe. In Christe we are all one & evē brethern No mā is his awne but we are all christes servaūtes bought with christes bloude. Therfore oughte no mā to seke hym selfe or his awne profite: but Christe and his will. In Christe no man ruleth as a kynge his subiectes or a master his servauntes: but serveth as one hande doeth to a nother and as the handes doo vntounto the fete and the fete to the handes / as thou seist .j. Cori. xij. We also serve not as servaūtes vntounto masters: but as they which are bought with Christes bloude serve Christe hym selfe. We be here all servauntes vntounto Christe. For what so ever we doo one to a nother in Christes name that doo we vntounto Christe / and the rewarde of that shal we receave of Christe. The kynge counteth his comens Christe hym selfe and therfore doeth them service willingly sekynge no moare of them then is sufficiente to mayntene peace and vnite and to defende the Realme. And they obeye agayne willingly & lovingly as vntounto Christ. And of Christe every man seketh his rewarde.
I warned the iudges that they take not an ensample how to minister their offices / of oure spiritualte / which are bought ād solde to do the will of Sathan: but of the scripture whēce they have their auctorite. Let that which is secret abyde secret tyll God opē it / which is ye iudge of secretes. For it is moare then a cruell thinge to breake vp in to a mans hert and to compell hym to put ether soul or body in ieoperdy or to shame hym selfe. Yf Peter ye great piller for feare of deeth forsoke his master / ought we not to spare weke consciences?
I declared how ye Kynge oughte to rydde his realme frō the wily tyrany of ye ypocrites & to bringe ye ypocrites vnderunder his lawes: yee & how he oughte to be lerned & to heare & to loke apō ye causes hī selfe which he will punysh & not to beleve ye ypocrites ād to geve them hys swerde to kyll whom they will
The kynge oughte to count what he hath spent in the Popes quarell sens he was kynge. The fyrst viage cost apon .xiiij. hundred thousande poundes. Reken sens what hath be spent by see and londe betwene vsus and french mē and scottes and then in tryhumphes and in Ambasiasies and what hath bene sent out of the Realme secretly and all to mayntene oure holy father / and I doute not but that will surmounte the some of .xl. or .l. hundred thousande poundes. For we had no cause to spende one peny but for oure holy father. The kynge therfore oughte to make them paye thys money every farthinge / and fette it out of their myters / croses / shrines and all maner treasure of the church / and paye it to his comens agayne not that only which the Cardinall and his Bysshopes compelled the comens to lende and made them swere with soch an ensample of tyranny as was never before thought on: but also all that he hath gadered of thē. Or else by the consente of the comens to kepe it in store for the defence of the Realme. Yee the kynge oughte to loke in the cronicles what the popes have done to kynges in tyme past and make them restore it also / And ought to take awaye from them their londes which they have goten with their false prayers and restore it vntounto the ryght heyres agayne or with consente and advisemente turne them vntounto the mayntenynge of the pore and bringynge vp of youth vertuously and to mayntene necessary officers and ministers for to defende the comen welth.
Yf he will not doo it: thē oughte the comens to take pacience & to take it for Gods scorge and to thinke that God hath blynded the kynge for their synnes sake & committe their cause to God: And then shall God make a scorge for thē & dryve thē out of his temple after his wōderfull iudgemente.
ON the other syde I have also vttered the wekednes of ye spiritualte / ye falsheed of the bysshopes & tuggulīge of the Pope / & how they have disgysed thē selves / borowīge some of their pōpe of ye Iewes & some of ye gētyles / & have with sotyll wyles turned ye obediēce that shuld be gevē to Gods ordinaunce vntounto them selves. And how they have put out Gods testamēte ād Gods trueth and sette vp their awne tradicions and lyes / in which they have taught the people to beleve & there by sitte in their consciences as God / and have by that meanes robbed the world of londes and goodes / of peace and vnite / and of all temporall auctorite / and have broughte the people in to the ignoraunce of God and have heped the wrath of God apon all realmes and namely apon the kynges. Whom they have robed (I speake not of worldly thynges only) but even of their very naturall wittes. They make them beleve that they are most Christen / when the lyve most abhominably and will sofre no man in their Realmes that beleveth on Christ / and that they are defenders of the fayth / when the burne the Gospell and promyses of God / out of which all fayth springeth.
I showed how they have mynistred Christe / kynge and Emperoure out of their rowmes / and how they have made them a severell kyngdome which the gote at the fyrst in deceavynge of princes / and now perverte the whole scripture to prove that they have soch auctoryte of God. And lest the laye men shuld se how falsely the allege the places of the scripture / is the greatest cause of this persecucion.
Confession▪They have fayned confession for the same purpose to stablysh their kyngdome with all. All secreates know they therby. The Bysshope knoweth the confession of whom he lusteth thorow out all hys dioses. Ye and hys chaunceler commaundeth the gostly father to delyver it written. The Pope / his Cardinals and Bisshopes know the confession of the Emperour kynges and of all lordes. And by confessiō they know all their captives. Yf any beleve in Christe / by confession they know hym. Shrive thy selfe where thou wilt / whether at sion charterhousse or at the observauntes thy confesson is knowen well ynough. And thou / yf thou beleve in Christe / arte wayted apon. Wonderfull are the thinges that therby are wrought. The wife is feared and cō pelled to vtter not hir awne only but also the secrettes of hir husbande and the servaunte the secretes of his master. Besydes that thorow confession the quench the fayth of all the promises of God and take awaye the effecte & vertue of all ye sacramētes of Christe
They have also corrupte the sayntes lyves with lyes and fayned myracles and have put many thinges out of the sentence or great curse / as reysinge of rente and fines & hyringe men out of their houses / and what soever wekednes they them selves doo and have put a greate parte of the stories and cronycles out of ye waye lest their falsheed shulde besene. For there is no myscheve or disorder / whether it be in the temperall regimēte or else in the spirituall where of they are not the chefe causes and even the very founteyne & springes & as we saye / the well heed so that it is impossible to preach agēste any mischeve excepte thou begynne at them or to sette any reformacion in the worlde excepte thou reforme them fyrst. Now are they indurate & tough as Pharao & will not bow vntounto any ryghte waie or ordre. And therfore persecute they Gods worde and the preachers therof / and on the other syde lye awayte vntounto all princes and stere vp all misheve in the worlde and sende them to warre and occupie their myndes there with or with other voluptuosnes / lest they shuld have leyser to heare the worde of God and to sette an order in their realmes.
By thē is all thynge ministerd and by thē are all kynges ruled: yee in every kynges cō science sit they yer he be kynge and persuade every kynge what they lust and make thē both to beleve what they will & to doo what they will. Nether can any kynge or any realme have rest for their busynesses. Beholde kynge Henry the fyft whom they sente out for soch a purpose as they sente out oure kynke that now is. Se how the Realme is inhabited. Axe where the goodly townes and their walles and the people that was wonte to be in thē are become & where the bloud ryall of the realme is become also. Turne thyne eyes whither thow wilte & thou shalt se no thinge prosperous but their sotle pollynge. With that it is flowinge water: yee & I trust it wilbe shortly a full see.
In all their doinges though they pretēde outwardly ye honoure of God or a comē wealth / their entente and secret councell is only to brynge all vnderunder their power ād to take out of the waye whosoever letteth them or is to myghty for them. As when they sende the princes to Hierusalem to conquere the holy londe and to fyghte agenst the Turkes. What so ever they pretende outwardly their secret entēte is / while the princes there conquere them moare bysshoperikes / to conquere their landes in the meane season with their false ypocresy and to bringe all vnderunder them / which thou maist easely perceave by that they will not let vsus know the sayth of Christe. And whē they are ones on hye / then are they tyrauntes a bove all tyrauntes / whether they be turkes or saracenes. How minister they provinge of testamētes? How causes of wedlocke? or yf any man dye intestate? Yf a pore mā dye and leave his wife and halfe a dosen younge childern and but one cow to fynde them / that will they have for a mortuary mercylesse: let come of wife and childern what will. Yee let any thinge be done agenst their pleasure and they w…ll interdite the whole Realme sparinge no person.
Reade the cronycles of Englōde (out of which yet they have put a greate parte of their wekednisse) and thou shalt fynde them all wayes both tebellious & disobediente to the kynges & also churlysh & vnthākefull / so that / whē all ye realme gave the kynge some what to mayntene hym in his ryghte / they wolde not geve a myte. Cōsidre the story of kynge Iohn / where I doute not but they have put the best and fayrest for thē selves and the worst of kīge Iohn / For I suppose they make the cronycles them selves. Compare the doinges there of holy church (as they ever call it) vntounto the lernynge of Christe and of his Apostles. Did not the legate of Rome assoyle all the lordes of the realme of their due obedience which they oughte to the kynge by the ordinaunce of God? wolde he not have cursed the kynge with his solemne pompe / because he wolde have done that office which God commaundeth every kynge to doo and wherfore God hath put the swerde in every kynges hande? that is to wete / because kynge Iohn wolde have punished a weked clerke that had coynned false money The laye mē that had not done halfe so greate fautes must dye / but the clerke must goo scapfre. Sēt not the Pope also vntounto the kynge of France remission of his synnes to goo and cōquere kynge Ihons realme. So now remission of synnes cometh not by fayth in the testamēte yt God hath made in Christes bloude: but by fyghtinge & murtheringe for the popes pleasure. Last of all was not kinge Iohn fayne to delyver his crowne vntounto the legate & to yeld vp his realme vntounto ye Pope / wherfore we paye Peter pēce. They myght be called ye pollinge pēce of false prophetes well ynough. They care not by what myscheve the come by their purpose. Warre ād conqueringe of lādes is their hervest. The wekeder the people are the moare they have the ypocrites in reverēce / the moare they feare thē and the moare they beleve in thē. And they that conquere other mens lādes / whē they dye / make thē their heyres / to be prayed fore for ever. Let there come one cōquest moare in the realme / and thou shalt se thē gete yet as moch moare as they have (yf they can kepe downe Gods worde that their iuggulinge come not to lyghte) yee thou shalt se them take the realme hole in to their handes and crowne one of thē selves kynge thereof. And veryly I se no other lykelyhode / but that the lond shalbe shortly conquered. The starres of the scripture promyse vsus none other fortune / in as moch as we denye Christ with the weked Iewes and will not have hym regne over vsus: but wilbe styll childern of darknes vnderunder Antichrist ād Antichristes possession / burnynge the Gospell of Christ and defēdynge a fayth that may not stond with his holy testament.
Yf any man shede bloud in the church / it shalbe interdited / tyll he have payd for the halowīge. Yf he be not able the parysh must paye or else shal it stonde all wayes interdited. They wilbe avenged on them that never offended. Full wel prophesied of them Paul in ye secōde pistle to Timothe. iij. Some man will saye / woldest thou that mē shulde fight in the chruch vnpunished? Nay but let the kinge ordeyne a punishmente for them / as he doeth for them that fyght in his palace and let not all the parish be troubled for ons faute. And as for their halowīge is the iuggelinge of Antichrist. A Christē mā is the temple of God and of the holy goost / and halowed in Christes bloud. A Christen mā is holy in him selfe by reason of the sprite that dwelleth in hym and the place wherein he is / is holy be reason of hym / whether he be in ye felde or towne. A christē husbande sanctifieth an vnchristen wife and a christen wife an vnchristen husbande (as concernynge the vse of matrimony) sayth Paul to the Corinthians. Yf now whyle we seke to be halowed in Christ / we are founde vnwholy ād must be halowed by the grounde or place or walles / then died Christ in vayne. How be it Antychrist must have where with to sitte in mens consciences ād to make them feare where is no feare and to robbe them of their fayth and to make them trust in that can not helpe them / and to seke holynes of that which is not holy in it selfe.
After that the olde kynge of ffraunce was brought downe out of Italy / marke what pageauntes have be played and what are yet a playenge to seperate vsus from the Emperoure (lest by the helpe or ayde of vsus he shulde be able to recover his ryght of the Pope) and to couple vsus to the French men whose myght the Pope ever abvseth to kepe the Emperoure from Italy. What prevayleth it for any kynge to mary his doughter or hys sonne or to make any peace or good ordinaunce for the wealth of his Realme? For it shall no lenger last then it is profitable to them. Their treason is so secret that the worlde can not perceave it. They dissimill those thinges which they are only cause of and simyll discorde amonge them selves when they are most agreed. One shall holde this and a nother shal dispute the contrary: But the conclusion shalbe that most maynteyneth their falsheed / though Gods worde be never so contrary. What have they wrought in oure dayes / ye and what worke the yet / to the perpetuall dishonoure of the kinge and rebuke of the Realme ād shame of all the nacion in what so ever Realmes they goo?
I vttered vntounto you partly the malicious blindnes of the Bisshope of Rochester / his iuggelinge his conveyenge / his foxy wilenes / his bo…epe / his wrestynge / rentinge and shamfull abvsinge of the scripture / his oratory and alleginge of heretikes and how he wolde make the Apostles auctours of blynde cerimonies without significacion cōtrary to their awne doctrine / & have set him for an ensample to iudge all other by. What so ever thou art that readest this. I exorte the in Christ / to cōpare his sermō and that which I have written and the scripture together & iudge. There shalte thou fynde of oure holy fathers auctorite / ād what it is to be greate ād how to know the greatest.
Thē foloweth ye cause why laye mē cā not rule temperall offices which is the falsheed of the Bisshopes. There shalt thou fynde of miracles and cerimonyes without significacion / of false annoyntynge and lyenge signes and false names ād how the spiritualte are disgised in falsheed / and how they rowle the people in darknes & do all thinge in the latine tōge ād of their pety pyllage / Their pollinge is like a sokynge consumciō where in a mā complayneth of feblenes ād of fayntynes and wotteth not whence his discease cometh: it is lyke a pocke that freateth inwarde and consumeth the very mary of the bones.
There seyst thou the cause why it is impossible for kynges to come to the knowleage of the trouth. For the sprites laye awayte for them and serve their appetites at all poyntes and thorow confession by and sell and betraye both them / and all their true frendes and laye beytes for them and never leve them tyll they have blynded them with their sophistry and have broughte them in to their nettes. And then when the kynge is captive they compell all the rest with violence of his swerde. For yf any mā will not obeye them be it ryght or wronge they cyte hym / suspende him and curse or excomunicate hym. Yf he then obey not they delyver him to Pilate / that is to saye / vntounto the temporall officers to destroye him. Last of all there fyndest thou the very cause of all persecucion / which is the preachinge agenst ypocrisy.
Then come we to the sacramentes / where thou seyst that the worke of the sacramente saveth not / but the fayth in the promyse which the sacramente signyfieth iustifieth vsus only. There hast thou that a prest is but a servaunte to teach only and what so ever he taketh apon hym moare then to preach and to mynister the sacramentes of Christ (which is also preachinge) is falsheed.
Then cometh how they iuggle thorow dome ceremonyes and how they make marchaundice with fayned wordes / penaunce / a pena et a culpa / satisfaccion / attricion / character / purgatory pyckepurse and how thorow cōfession they make the sacramētes and all the promise of none effecte or valve. There seist thou yt absoluinge is but preachinge the promises ād cursinge or excommunicatinge preachinge the law / and of their power / and of their keyes / of false miracles and of prayenge to sayntes. There seist thou that cerimonies did not the miracles but fayth: evē as it was not Moses rodde that did the miracles but Moses fayth in the promise of God. Thou seist also that to have a fayth where God hath not a promyse is ydolatrye. And there also seist thou how the Pope exalteth him selfe above God ād commaundeth him to obeye his tyranny. Last of all thou hast there that no man ought to preach but he that is called.
Then foloweth the bely brotherheed of monkes and freres. For Christ hath deserved nought with them. For his sake gettest thou no favoure. Thou must offer vntounto their belyes and then the praye bitterly for the. There seist thou that Christ is the only cause: yee ād all the cause why God doeth ought for vsus and heareth oure complaynte. And there hast thou doctrine how to know and to be sure that thou arte electe & hast Gods sprite in the. And hast there lernynge to trye the doctrine of oure spirites.
Thē folow the foure senses of the scripture of which thre are no senses ād the fourth that is to wete the literall sence which is the very sence hath the Pope taken to hym selfe. It maye have no other meanynge then as it pleaseth his fatherhode. We must abyde his interpretaciō. And as his belles tynke so must we thinke / though it be impos…ible to gather any soch meanynge of the scripture. Then hast thou the very vse of allegoryes and how they are nothinge but ensamples borowed of the scripture to expresse a texte or an open conclusion of the scripture & as it were to paynte it before thyne eyes / that thou maist feale the meaninge and the power of the scripture in thine herte. Then cometh the vse of worldly similitudes / and how they are false prophetes which bringe a worldly similitude for any other purpose / save to expresse moare playnly that which is cōteyned in an opē texte. And so are they also which draw the scripture cōtrary to the open places and contrary to the ensample lyvinge ād practisinge of Christ / the Apostles and of the holy Prophetes. And then finally hast thou of oure holy fathers power and of his keyes and of his byndinge and excomunicatinge and of his cursynge and blessinge with ensamples of every thinge.