The Practice of Prelates, Part 2
¶ How the gospell punissheth trespasers and how by the Gospell we ought to go to lawe with oure aduersaryes.
THough yt they of Chrystes congregacion be all wyl…ing: yet because yt the moost part is always weake & because also that the occasions of the world be euer many and greate, in so muche that Chryst, which wys…e all thing beforehande, sayth Mathew xviij. Wo be vntounto ye world by reason of occasions of Euell, and saythe also that it can not be auoyded but that occasyons shall come, therfore it can not be chosen but that many shal ouerfaule, when a weake Brother hath trespassed, by what law shal he be punisshed? verely by the law of louelove / whose properties thou readest in ye xiii. of the first to the Corinthians. If the louelove of God / which is my professiō / be written in myne hart, it wyll not let me hate my weake brother when he hath offended me▪ no more then naturall louelove wyll let a Mother hate her chyld when it trespasseth against her. My weak brother hath offēded me, he is fallē, his weaknes hath ouertrowne hī: it is not ryght by the lawe of louelove yt I shuld now faule vpō hī, & treade hī downe in ye myre and destroy him vtterly: but it is ryght by the law of louelove, yt I runne to hym & helpe him vp agayne. ¶By what ꝓcesse we shuld go to law wt our trespacers / christ teacheth vsus Math. xviij. Tell hī hys faute betwene hī & the with all mekenesse, remē bryng y• thou arte a man & mayst fall also: Yf ye repet, & thou louelove hī / ye shall sone agre / & thē forgeue hī. And whē thou forgeuest thy neyghbour, thē thou arte sure that god forgeueth the thy trespaces by his holy promysse Math. vi. If he heare y• not / thē take a neyghboure or two. If he heare thē not, thē tell the cōgregaciō wher thou art: & let ye preacher pronoūce gods law agaīst hī & let ye sad & discret mē rebuke hī & exhort hī vntounto repētaūce, if he repēt, & y• also louelove him accordyng to ye professyon, ye shall sone agre. If he heare not ye cōgregaciō, then let him be taken as an hethē. Yf he yt is offē ded be weake also / thē let them yt be strong …o betwene & helpe thē. And in lyke maner if any sine agaīst ye doctrine of Chryst & ye professiō of a christē mā so that he be a dronkard, & ā horekeper, or whatsoeuer opē sinne he do, or if he teach false learnīg: then let such be rebuked opēly befor ye cōgregaciō & by ye auctoritie of ye scripture. And if they repēt not, let thē be put out of ye cōgregaciō as he thē people, if they thē be not a shamed … we hauehave no remedye but paciently to abyde what god wil do & to pray in ye meane time ye god wyll opē their hartes & giuegive them repentaunce. Other law then this, Chrystes gospell knoweth not, nor ye officers therof. It is manifest therfore, that ye kingdom of christ is a spirituall kingdom wc no man cā mynyster well, & a tēporall kingdō to, as it is sufficiently proued: because y• no mā whiche putteth his hand to ye plow, & loketh backe / is apt for ye kingdō of heauē, as Chryst answered Luke. ix. vntounto hī y• wold hauehave folowed hī, but wolde first hauehave take leaue of his housholde. If a man put hys hād to y• plow of gods word, to preach it / & loke also vntounto worldly busines / his plow wyll surely go a wry. And therfore sayth Christ vntounto ā other y• wold likewise folow hī, but desyred first to go ād bury his father. Let ye dead bury ye deade, but come thou ād shewe or preach yt kingdom of god. As who shuld say, he y• wyll preache the kingdom of God (which is Chrystes gospell) truly, must hauehave his harte no where else.