The Practice of Prelates, Title page – Preface
The Practyse of Prelates. Compyled by the faythfull and Godly learned man / Wyllyam Tyndale.
IMPRINTED at London, by Anthony Scoloker And Willyam Seres. Dwillynge wythout Temple-barre in the Sauoy rentes. Anno. 1548.
¶Cum priuilegio ad Imprimendum solum.
WHen the old scrybes and pharisees had darkenid the scripture wt their tradi…ions, false interpretations & wicked persuasions of …, and shutte vp the kingdome of heauen (wc is Gods word that the peeple coulde not entre in, into the knowledge of ye true waye, as Chryst complayneth in the Gospell. Math xxiii then they sate in the hartes of men, wt their false doctryne in the steade of God & his worde, and slewe the soules of the People, to deuour theyr bodyes, ād to rebuke thē of theyr worldly substaūce. But whē chr…st and Iohn the baptyst had restored the scripture agayne vntounto the true vnderstandinge… and had vttered their falsshead and improued their tradicions, and confounded their false interpretacions wyth the cleare and euident Textes, and wyth power of the holy ghoost and had brought all their iugglinge and hipocrisye to lyghtpunc; ther they g…tte thē vntounto the elders of the People, and persuaded them, saying: this man is surely of the Deuell, and his myracles be of the Deuell no doubte. And these good workes whych he dothe in healyng the people, yea and hys preaching against our couetousnes / are but …cloke to bringe him vntounto his purpose / that when he hath got…en hī Disciples ynough he maye rise against the emperoure & make him selfe Kinge, and then shall the romaynes come and take our Lande from …s and carye awaye oure people and put other nacions in oure realme, and so shall we lose al that we hauehave / and the most parte of vsus / our lyues therto. Take heade therfore betimes whyle there is remedye, yet he go so farre yt ye be not able to resyst hym.
The elders of ye peple which were rich and welthy / though before they in a maner fauoured Christ, or at the lest way were indifferent not greatly caring whether God or the deuell reygned / so they might bide in aucthoritie / feared immediatly (as Herode did of the losse of his Kingdome when the Wyse menne axed where the newe borne Kinge of Iewes was) and conspired with the scribes and pharisees against Christe & toke him and brought him vntounto Pilate / saiyng: We hauehave found this fellow peruertīg the people and forbiddinge to paye trybute vntounto Cesar, and saying that he is a kynge & mouing the people from Galylie vntounto this place: Thē Pilate (though he likewise was before indifferēt / but now in feare of ye losse of his office thorow such persuasiōs) slewe innocent Chryste. And in very dede as the scribes and pharyseys were all their lyues before blynde gydes vntounto ye destruction of their soules / euē so wer they at their last ende blinde prophetes vntounto ye destructiō of their bodies. For after that they had slay… Christ & diuerse of his apostles, & ꝑsecuted those poore wretches that beleued on hym / God, to aduenge the poore innocēt bloud ye bare witnesse vntounto his truthe / poured his wrath amōg thē, that they thē selues rose against ye Emperour. And ye Romains came (accordinge as they blīdlye prophecied) and slewe the moste part of thē and caryed the reste captyue into all nacions / and put other nacions in the Realme. But whose faute was that insurrectiō agaīst ye Emperour, & mischefe that folowed? Christes & his apostles whō they falsely accused before hāde? No, Chryst taught that they shuld gyue Cesar that wc perteyned vntounto Cesar / & god yt wc belōged to God: Euē that they shuld geue Cesar their lawful bodely seruice, & god the harte, & that they shuld louelove gods lawe, & repēt of theyr euell, & come & receaue mercy, & let the wrath of God be taken from thē ▪ And the apostles taught y• all soules shuld obey the hyer powers or tē porall rulers: But their obstinate malyce y• so hardened their hartes yt they coulde not repēt / and their rayling vppon the open ād manifest trueth which they coud not improue, & resysting the holy gost, and sleynge of y• preachers of rightuousnes, brought the wrath of God vponupon them, ād was cause of their destruction.
Euen so our scribes ād phariseys / nowe that their hipocrisye is disclosed, and theyr falshed so brought to lyght that it can no lē ger be hyd, get them vntounto the elders of the people, the lordes, gentylmen / and tēporall officers, and to all that louelove this world as they do, & vntounto who soeuer is greate wyth the king, ād vntounto the kinges grace him selfe, and after the same ensample and with ye same persuasions, cast thē into lyke feare of losing of their worldely dominions, ād rore vntounto them / sayeng, ye be neglygent and care nothing at all, but hauehave a good spor…e that the heretikes rayle on vsus. But geue them space a whyle tyl they be growē vntounto a multitude, and then ye shall se them preach as fast against you, and moue the peple aginst you, ād do there best to thrust you …me also, and shall c…y havocke and make all comen. O generacion of serpentes how wel declare ye that ye be the right sonnes of the father of all lies? for they which ye call heretikes, preache nothyng, saue that which oure sauioure Iesus Chryste preached and hys Apostles, adding nought th…e to, nor plucking ought therfro / as the scripture commaundeth, and teache all men repentaunce to God and hys holye lawe, and fayth vntounto our sauiour Iesus Chryst, and the Promyses of Mercye made in hym / and obedyence vntounto all that GOD commaūdeth to obey. Nether teach we so much as to resyst your most cruell tyranny with bodelye violence, saue with Goddes worde onelyonly: intendinge nothyng but to dryue you out of the temple of Chryst, the hartes / consciences & soules of men (wherin with youre false heade ye syt) ād to restore agayn Iesus oure sauioure vntounto hys possessyon and inheritaunce bought wyth his bloude, whē ce ye hauehave Dryuen hym wyth youre Manyfold wyles and subtylti…s.
Take hede therfore wicked prelates blinde leaders of the blinde, indurat… and obstinate hipocrites take hede. For if the pharises for their resisting the holy ghost (that is to saye, persecutyng the open ād manyfest truth and slaing the preachers therof) … not the wrath and vengeaunce of god: how shall ye escape, wc are farre worse then the pharysees? for though the pharisees had shut vp the Scrypture & set vp their owne professions, yet they kepte theyr owne professions for the moost parte. But ye wylbe the chefest in Christs flocke, and ye will not kepe one iote of the right way of his doctrine. Ye hauehave therto sett vp wonderfull professions to be more holy therby then ye thinke that Chrystes doctryne is able to make …ou, and yet kepe as lytle therof (except it be▪ with dispensations) in so moch that if a mā axe you, what your meruelous fasshyoned▪ playing coates and youre other popystrye, meane, and what your disfigured Heades▪ and al your appes play meane, ye know not / and yet are they but Sygnes of thynges, whych ye hauehave professed. Thyrdely, ye will be papistes and holde of the Pope, and yet loke in the popes law, and ye kepe therof a…l moost nought at all, but what soeuer so…ndeth to make for your bellyes and to mainteyne youre honour / whether in the scrypture or in your owne tradiciōs or in the popes lawe that ye compell the laye people to obserue vyolentlye threteninge them wyth your excomunycatyons & curses that they shalbe dampned both body and soule, if they kepe them not. And if that helpe you not▪ then ye murther them mercylesly wyth the swerd of the temporall powers, whome ye hauehave made so blynd, that they be ready to sle whom ye commaunde, and wyll not yet heare hys cause exam…ned, nor geue hī roume to answere for hym selfe.
And yeelders of the people, feare ye god also. For as ye elders of the Iewes, which were partakers wyth th… scrybes and pharisees in resisting the holy goost, and in persecuting the open truthe, and sleing the witnesses therof, and in prouokyng the wrath of God, had their part with them also in y• …ay of wrath and sharpe vengeaūce which shortly after fell vppon them, as the nature of the synne, againste the holy ghooste is to hauehave her dampna…ion, not onelyonly in ye world to come / but also in thys lyfe according vntounto all the ensamples of the byble and auctentike storyes sens the worlde began / euen lykewyse ye, if ye wyll wincke in so open and cleare lyght and let youre selues be led blind fold and hauehave your parte wyth the ypocrytes in lyke synne and myscheue / be sure, ye shall hauehave youre parte wythe them in lyke wrath and vengaunce / that is lyke shortlye …o fall vponupon them.
And cōcernīg y• the hipocrytes put you in feare of ye risīg of your comens against you / I answere: If ye feare your comēs, to …estify yea agaīst your selues yt ye are tiraū tes. For if your conscience accused you not of euell doing, what neade ye to feare your comens? What comēs was euer so euell that they rose against their heades for well …oynge? Moreouer ye witnesse agaīst youre selues also that ye hauehave no trust in God. For he hath promised ye temporall officers assistence, if they minister their offices truelye, and to care for the …epinge of them, as much as they care for to kepe his lawes.
The hipocrites happely byd you take an ensample of the vplandish people of Almany which they lye that Marten Luther starred vp. For first what one sētēce in all the wryting of Marten Luther fynd they that teacheth a man to resist his superiour? Moreouer if Marten Luther ād the preachers had st…rred vp the comen People of Germanye, howe happened it that Marten Luther and other lyke preachers had not p…risshed lyke wise wyth them, whiche …IUED Longe after? Ye wyll aske me who sturred them vp then? I axe yo… Who sturred vp the comonnes of the / Iewes to resyst the Emperour, after that the scribes and Pharasees with the elders of the People had slayne Christe and his Apostles? Uerely the wrath of God. And euen so here the wrath of God sturred thē vp / partelye to destroye the enemyes and persecutours of the trueth, and partelye to take vengeaunce on those carnall beastes / which abused the Gospell of Chryst to make a cloke of it to defende their fleshly libertie / and not to obey it and to saue their soules therby.
If Kynges, Lordes, and great men▪ therfore feare the losse of thys worlde: Let them feare God also. For in fearyng God▪ shall they prolonge their dayes vppon the earth, and not with fyghtyng against God. The earth is Goddes onelyonly, ād his fauour and mercy doth prolonge the dayes of kinges in their estate, ād not their owne power and myght.
And let all men (be they neuer so greate) harken vntounto this, and let this be an answere vntounto them. Wicked kinge Achab sayde vntounto the prophet Elias, Arte thou he that troublest Israel? And Elias answered, it …s not I that trouble Israell, but thou and thy fathers housholde, in that ye hauehave forsaken the commaundementis of the lord & follow Idolles. Euen so the preachers of the truth, which rebuke sīne, are not ye troublers of royalmes and comen welthes / but they that do wickedly, and namely hygh prelates ād mighty princes which walke with out the Feare of God and lyue abhomynably corrupting the comen pe…ple with their Ensample. They be they that bringe the wrath of God in all royalmes and trouble all commen welthes, wyth Warre / dearth pouertie: pistilence euell lurke and all mysfortune.
And vntounto all subiectes be it sayde / if they oppresse the lawe of God and faith of the lord Iesus / & wylbe Christes discipl…s then let them remembre that there was neuer man so greate a subiect as Christ was: there was neuer Creature that suffred so greate vnryght, so paciently and so mekely as he / Therfore what soeuer they hauehave bene in times paste / let them nowe thinke that it is their partes to be subiecte in the lowest kynde of subiection, and to suffer all things paciently. Yf the hygh powers be cruell vntounto you with naturall crueltie / then with softenesse and pacience, ye shall eyther … thē or mitigate their fyercenes. If they ioyne them vntounto the pope / and persecut you for youre faythe and hope, which ye hauehave in the Lord Iesus: then call to mynde that ye be chosen to suffer here wyth Chryste, that ye maye ioye with him in the lyfe to com with ioye euerlastīg that shal i…finitly passe this yo…re shorte payne here. If they commaū de that God forbiddeth / o… forbidde ye God cōmaundeth / then answere as the Apostles dyd A…tes. v. ye God muste be obeyed more then man, if they compell you to suffer vnright / then Christ shall helpe you to beare, & his spirite shall conforte you. But onelyonly see that neyther they put you from Gods worde nor yet resyst them with bodely violence But abyde paciently a whyle tyll the hypocresy of hipocrites be slayne with the swerde of Gods woorde / and vntyll the woorde be openlye Publysshed and witnessed vntounto the Powers of the world, that theyr blindnesse may be without excuse.
And then will God awake as a firce lyon against those cruel wolues which deuoure hys lambes, and will playe with the hypocrites, and compasse them in their owne wyles, & send them a dasyng in the heade, & … swemyng in their braynes, and destroye them wyth their owne counsell. And then those malycious ād wylfull blynde persecuters, which refusing mercy when they were called therto, chose rather to hauehave theyr parte with hipocrites in sheadinge af innocent bloude▪ shalbe partakers wyth them also in hauing their owne bloude shedde agayne, God geuynge an occasyon that one wycked shall destroy an other.
And as for wyckednes whence it springyth, and who is the cause of all insurrectyon, and of the faule of princes, and the shortenyng of their dayes vponupon the earth / thou shalt se in the glasse folowing, which I hauehave set before thine eyes, not to resyst the hypocrites wyth vyolence (which vengeaunce perteyneth vntounto God) but that thou myghtest se their wicked wayes and abhominable pathes, to wythdrawe thy selfe from them / and to come agayne to Chryste and walke in his lyght, and to followe hys steppes and to commyt the kepyng both of thy body and soule also vntounto him and vntounto the father thorow him, whose name be glorious for euer. Amen.
page missing …xed who shulde be greatest in the king… of heauen, Chryst called a yong chyld vntounto him / and set him in the middes among thē ▪ sayeng: Excepte ye turne backe and become as chyldrē, ye shall not enter in the kingdome of heauen. Nowe yong chyldren beare no rule one over an other / but all is fellowshype among them. And he sayd more ouer: Who soever humbleth him selfe after the ensample of this Chylde, he is greatest in the kingdome of heauen, that is, to be (as concerning ambicion and worldely desyre) so chyldish▪ y• y• couldest not heyue thy selfe aboue thy brother / is the very bearing of rule and to be greate in Chrysts kingdome. And to describe the very …a…ion of the greatenesse of his kingdome / he sayde: He that receyueth one such chylde in my name receaueth me. What is that to receaue a chyld in Chrystes name? Uerely to subm… to meke and to humble thy selfe and to cast thy selfe vnderunder all men and to consider all mennes infirmities and weakenesses / & to helpe to heale their dyseases wyth ye word of trueth / and to lyue purely that they se no contrarye ensample in the to what soever thou teachest them in Christ that thou put no stumbling blocke before them, to make them falle whyle they be yet Younge and weake in the fayth: But that thou abstayne as Paule teacheth .i. Thessalo. v. Ab omni specie mala, from all that myght seme euyll or whereof a man might surmyse amysse, & that thou so louelove them / that whatsoeuer gifte of god in the is / thou thynk the same, theirs and their fode and for their sakes geuē vntounto the as the Truthe is, and that all the infyrmytyes be thyne, and that thou feale them and that thyne hart mourne for them and that wyth all thy powre thou helpe to amende them, and cease not to crye to God for them neither daye nor nyghte: and that thou let nothyng be founde in the / that any man maye rebuke, but whatsoeuer thou teachest them, thou that be: And that thou be not a wolf in a Lambes skynne as our holye father the Pope is, whych cometh vntounto vsus in Name of hypocrysye and in the tytle of cursed Cham or Ham callyng hym selfe Seruus seruorum / the seruante of all seruantes / and is yet founde tyrannus tyrannorum of all tyraūtes moste cruell. Thys is to receaue yonge chyldern in chrystes name, and to recaue yong chyldern in Chrystes name, is to beare rule in ye kyngdō of christ. Thus ye maye se that Chrystes kyngdome …s alltogether spirituall, and the bearynge of rule in it is cleane contrary vntounto the bearing of rule temporallye. Wherfore none that beareth rule in it maye hauehave any temporall iurisdiction or ministre any temporal office that requyreth Uyolence to compell with all.