not foure or fiue thowsand pounds by the yeare nor made him a Lords grace nor an Archprophet but let him liue in-such a meane estate as hath been before declared and as the Prophet thought meetest for himselfe to continew in And not unfitly heerevnto may be joyned the history of Constantin the great and his singular loue and favour towardes the Ministers and Preachers of the word of God in his time that we may see together what was the estate both of the Prophets in the old Testament and of the Preachers of the word of God in the New And how Kings Princes maintayned thē which most dearly loved them In the life of Constantine thus it is written Dei vero administros ad se accersitos semper honore praecipuo dignos censebat et omni officio prosequebatur Vit. Const apud Euseb nihil circa devotos addictosque numini benignitatis aut humanitatis omittebat Homines quidem de vultu ornatuque tenues alia tamen apud eum nota convictores erant haud asseclae The Ministers of God being called unto him he ever thought them most worthy of speciall honor and did reverence them withall duetifulnes and he omitted nothing towards them who were devoute and dedicated to God which pertained to loving kindnes or curtesie yet they were men indeede in countenance and garnishment but poore but in another note they were familiar companions with him and not waiting servants I neede not to amplifie this matter ye see as I haue saide the estate of the Ministers of Gods word both in the old Testament and in the New vnder those Kings and Princes which so highly favoured honored and so dearely loved them And yet never made thē Lords nor Archlords nor maintayned them in any pompous or lordly estate And heere I will ad the example of Athanasius who must needs haue been extolled and lifted up unto a Lordly dignitie by that great and mightie Emperour Constantine if he had not thought it vtterly unlawfull so to exalt any Bishop in the world Being the onely man aboue all the rest among all the three hundred Bishops in the Counsell of Nice which confuted and confounded the horrible heresie of Arius which then was readie to overrunne the Church of God in so much that he was called Oculus mundi the eye of the world And whose Confession is set up and received even to this day in all christian Churches and called Athanasius Creed yet when he was accused to haue turned the corne which the Emperour sent unto the Citie to other uses then the Emperour had appoynted The Synod of Alexandria in their Apologie for Athanasius maketh this answer Synod Alexan. Apol 2. Quid Athanasio remotius a crimine qui si vel in ipsa Alexandria fuisset quid tamen ipsi cum negotiis prefecti What could be further of from fault then Athanasius Which if he had ben at that time even in the Citie of Alexandria yet what had he to doe with the affaires of the Magiistrate And further they say Nec fieri posse vt homo privatus et pauper tantum virium haberet Neither could it be possible that such a private and poore man should be able to doe it Heere you see the estate that Athanasius the most famous Bishop in the world at that time was in and how the Bishops themselues and the most godly Princes and Emperours thought fit for thē to liue in All these things being considered I conclude that the Pastor or Preacher of the word of God ought to be so maintayned that being freed from all other busines he might haue one man at all times to waite upon him Whereunto a convenient proportion of living as the state and rate of thinges stand at this day in England cannot be lesse then one hundred pounds by the yeare considering that he may not attend upon any other occupying affayres or busines but onely and continually upon prayer and administration of the word Wherefore I say at the least one hundred by the yeare for so the sound judgment of reason requyreth Howbeit if some one be aboue other charged with many children or other wayes A reasonable proportion for a Pastors maintenance or in speciall sorte with excellencie of guifts be found worthy to be preferred before other the living unto such may ought to be encreased yet so that none exceede the revenues of two hundred or there about Which thinge agreeeth well with the words of his Majestie in his second booke of his Basilicon Doron where he saith As some will deserue to be preferred before other pa. 44. so chaine them with such bonds as may preserue that estate from creeping to corruption And surely a foule and shamefull corruption it is that any Ecclesiasticall person should be maintained upon and by any Ecclesiasticall lyving exceeding the reasonable estate and proportion before named For so he is both corrupted himselfe and also robbeth other of that which by right belongeth unto them while the one is lifted up to a Lordship and the other kept under in a beggerly estate Now to goe forwarde with the proceeding and growing up of Antichrist and his Babilonish whore When the Bishops had taken a degree aboue the rest of the Pastors and had the name of Papa as it were written one their foreheads and usually given them in their titles and their regiment creaping up to whole Cities Diocesses So that some of them began to maintaine themselues as Lords and to claime a Lordly estate The godly learned Fathers not seeing the mischeifes that were alreadie by a generall and common consent crept in whereby it was imposible to keepe out the foule corruptions following not onely tollerated the foule abuses brought in but also they themselues in their simplicitie with a zeale of God though not accordyng to knowledge brought in many bald Ceremonies and corruptions which for brevityes sake I will passe over and onely set downe the words of our English Father George Alley Bishop of Exeter of the corruptions in the Sacrament of Baptisme brought in by the auncient Fathers Alley Whereby we may see the weaknes even of the first times and former ages Tertullian writeth saith he that when we come to the water we stay somewhat before in the Church vnder the hand of the Preist and doe protest that we will renounce the Devill his pompe and all his Angels After that we be thrise dipped in the water de coron militi◠answering no more then the Lord hath determined in his gospell And then being taken out we tast of milke and hony And from that day we abstaine from being washed by the space of a whole weeke Here you may see saith our Bishop of Exeter by the words of Tertullian what rites were added unto Baptisme as abrenunctions three immersions tasting of milke and hony abstinence from washing lib. 15. in Esa In his first booke against Martion he maketh mention also
Mary layd such violent handes upon the graft that she pulled it clean out of the stock cast it into the fire Our late gratious Queene Elizabeth receaved frō heaven a graft agayne and set it into the stock which by the blessing of God grew flourished but the boughes and sients which King Edward left shee suffered still to grow As the pompous estate of Bishops with the abominations of pluralities and Nonresidencies and such like with divers bad and beggerly Ceremonies which all remaine to this day O that our Prelats of England would lift up their eyes to heaven and behold the wrath of God which as Gualter saith hangeth over our heads for these reliques of Antichrist and other our sinfull wickednes then would they surely be so farr from mainteinyng the same or perswading his Majestie to let them continue that humblie one their knees they would beseech him though all their wealth and pompe should perish yet with his mightie hand to rent of the crabb tree scients and with the sharp sword to cut of the boughes that grow upon the stocke whereby the blessed graft of Gods word might liuely grow and flourish which exceept it be donne can never prosper nor as the Apostle speaketh can never haue free pastage be glorified And it is worthy to be noted that to his great honor it is written Iosiah also tooke away them that had familiar spirits and the Soothsayers and the Images 2 Kings 2 ◠24. and the Idols and all the abominations that were espied in the land of Iudah and Ierusalem to performe the words of the law which were written in the booke that Hilkiah the Priest found in the house of the Lord. But this is to be observed in his most excellent reformation that the text sayth he tooke away all the abominations that were espied in the land of Iudah and Ierusalem For where very great defection and falling away from true religion is established by publicke authoritie it is a merveilous difficult matter for a Prince that would make reformation therof to espie whatsoever ought to be reformed So that if there be not daylie more and more amended the sients of the crabb tree stock being suffered will out grow the graft and spoyle the tree as we see in this most excellent reformation which Iosiah made which yet is so bitterly taxed not only by Zephaniah the Prophet but also by Ieremia as you may read in the third chapter where he sayth The Lord sayd also unto me Ier. 3.6.7.8 in the dayes of Iosiah the King hast thou seene what this rebell Israell hath done For shee hath gone up upon every high mountaine and under every greene tree and there playd the harlot And I said when shee had done all this Turne thou unto me but shee returned not as her rebellious sister Iudah saw When I saw that by all occasions rebellious Israell had playd the harlot I cast her away and gaue her a bill of divorcement yet her rebellious sister Iudah was not affraid but she went also and playd the harlot And afterward in the 10 and 11 verses he sheweth how high the abominations of Iudah even in the time of Iosiah were growne Neverthelesse saith Ieremiah for all this her from them as well as of Monks Thirdly that many that doe professe the Gospell handle the matter as ill as the Monks and Popish Bishops In that they restore not agayne to the Church and Congregation the libertie of choosing their Ministers which by tyrannie they tooke from them ruling the matter by their Lordly estate as they list themselues Fourthly that this evill also shortly if it be not amended will bring into the Churches that professe the Gospell both Symonie the utter confusion of Discipline And after in the same Homilie he saith Whosoever would haue in the Church the auncient authority of Discipline and the boldnes of the Prophets Apostles in the Ministery and to be short the old integritie and soundnes of the whole Church let him labour to recover and call agayne this auncient order of choosing Ministers shewed to us by the Apostles Note Obserue christian reader that whosoever wisheth to haue the old integritie and soūdnes of the whole Church ought to labor in his degree asmuch as in him lyeth to recover and call agayne this auncient order of choosing Ministers shewed us by the Apostles in Acts 15 22. Homilie 104. that is with the Churches free consent But in another Homilie he sayth Through the covetousnes and ambition of Bishops it is come to passe that the libertie of the Church is troden under foote and choosing of Ministers dependeth upon them O wicked wretchednes of those Biships which doe not onely heerein through their covetousnes and ambition offend Christ and rob his Churches of their right but also with great crueltie and bould faces maintayne the same to be well done and purpose to continue therein to their liues end And of the choosing of Deacons likewise upon the sixt chapter Hom. 41. he saith Therefore the chosing of Deacons to whom the administration of the Church goods is committed belongeth to all the Church But afterward upon the 15 chapter he saith Hom. 104. Now where the ambition of Prelats hath disturbed and broken this order who contrary to the commandement of Peter the Apostle haue challenged unto them a Lordship over the inheritance or Church of Christ the Congregations are every day molested with new contentions and there appeareth no end either of errors or most bitter debates I think verely M. Gualter in these words poynted with his finger specially to England for no Nation of christendom that is called a reformed Church or had the Gospel once shinyng in at the windowe hath had or is like to haue such endless contention and continuall errors only through the Lordship and magnificent estate of Lord Bishops Hom. 86 which no reformed Church in all Europe hath retained but England And upon the 13 chapter he sayth We must iudge them called of God that are furnished with necessary gifts of the holy Ghost and chosen by the voyce of the lawfull Congregation for that the Church hath heerein her voice election appeareth plainely by this place And likewise in the 1 chapter Homelie the 9. he sayth And the holy Ghost would haue all this historie so dilligently described for that a sure rule and president might be left to them that came after whereby to rule the election of Ministers And touching the dignitie and superioritie of Ministers one over an other he sayth in Acts 20 Hom. 133 Although the dignitie of all Ministers in the Church is a like and none ought to challenge power or authoritie over other yet an order is necessary in the Church which can never be kept and mainteyned except Ministers will obserue modestie and humilitie among themselues And in the 8 Homelie about the chosing of Mathias he saith First Peter will
the Philippians Episcopos igitur intelligit quicunque verbo et gubernatio ni praeerant puta pastores Doctores et presbyteros c. Haec igitur olim erat episcoporum appellatio donec qui politiae causa reliquis fratribus in caetû praeerat c. Peculiariter dici episcopus caepit Hinc caepit Diabolus prima tyrannidis fundamenta iacere in Dei Ecclesia c. En quanti sit momenti a Dei verbo vel latum vnguem deflectere The Apostle saith M. Beza meaneth by Bishops all those which were appointed to rule in the word and goverment of the Church namely the Pastors Teachers Elders This was of old time the denomination of Bishops vntill he which for pollicy sake was preferred in the assemblie before the rest of the brethren began only or peculiarly to be called Bishop heerof the Devill began to lay the first foundation of tyranny in the Church of God Behold saith M. Beza of how great waight or moment it is to decline from the word of God yea though but a hairs breadth Here is also to be noted how Ierome many yeares after often times putteth the Bishops in remembrance of their originall estate and titles even when long custome had established the same As in his epistle ad Evagrium and in his Commentarie upon the Epistle to Titus and divers other places you may read Ierom. ad Evag. and in Tit. Let Bishops know saith he that rather by custome then by any truth of the Lords appoyntment they are become greater then the Elders or Ministers and the Church ought to be ruled in common And this 〈◊〉 Augustine also acknowledgeth in his Epistle to Ierome whom 〈◊〉 himself was a Bishop and a man in that degre of the highest note in the world saying to Ierome who was then but a poore Minister nor never would be other Quanquam secundum vocabulum August epist 19 quod vsus obtinuit Episcopus maior est presbytero Hieromimus tamen in multis maior est Augustino Although though saith Augustine according to the terme which vse hath brought in a Bishop is greater than an Elder yet Ierome in very many thinges is greater then Augustine And this former saying of Ierome is commonly alleadged and allowed by all the excellent writers in the defence of the gospell to the same effect as you may reade in the Harmonie of Confessions Con. Helve 2. sect 11. Tit. Of the Ministers of the Church Wher their words be these So the Bishops must know that they are aboue Priests rather by custome than by the prescript rule of Gods truth and they should haue the goverment of Gods Church in common with them Thus far Ierome Now therfore no man can forbid by any right but that we should returne to the old apoyntment of God and rather receaue that then the custome devised by men And this conclusion in the Harmonie of Confessions every man may see is plainely grounded vpon the confession of the holy Apostles Peter and Iohn saying Acts 4 9 whether it be right in the sight of God to obey you rather than God iudge ye A man would thinke it impossible that any Christian should deny that we ought rather to receaue the appointment of God then the custome devised by men Which custom as M. Musculus saith we may thank for the pride wealth and tyrannie of our Princely and riding Bishops and for all other corruptions of the Churches as shall more plainely appeare heerafter Heere the Prophet Isaiah saith of them that fought against Sion staye your selues and wonder they are blinde Isai 15 9 10 and make you blind they are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not by stronge drinke For the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber and hath shut up your eyes the Prophets and your cheife Seers hath he covered And before I proceed any further I will say with Isaiah the Prophet stay your selues and wonder at an admirable worke of God For as soone as this first foundation of tyrranie as M. Beza calleth it was laide in the Church of God and that the name of Bishop which God had given to all the Ministers of his word in common was transferred to one alone among many the rest being robbed and spoyled thereof even quickly after was written upon the forhead of this Bishop a mystery a strange and vnknowne name even the very name of Antichrist that is to say Papa a-Pope For straight way in generall all the Bishops were called by the name of Papa or Pope taken as some learned men suppose of the Greeke Syracusane word Pappas signifiyng a Father The Papists themselues seeking for the Etymologie of this word are soe astonished therein that some of them say it was taken from Papé the interjection of wonder Howsoever a word it is fecht out of the bottomles pit of hell that it might be a marke to make difference between a Minister and a Bishop and betweene a Pastor and a-Pope as the word Missa was devised by the Devill to disguise the Communion withall and to supersubstantiat the blessed bread of the Lords Supper into the cursed Idoll of the Popes masse And from hence arose at last that one Pope of Rome overall of whom they say in their glose Papa stupor mundi the Pope is the wonder and the admiration of the world neither God nor man but a thing between both Some haue thought it might be taken of Pappa which some say the latine children vsed to call their Fathers by as our children call Dadd othersome haue imagined it should be taken from these two words Pater Patriae which the Romaines used to write by way of abreviation thus Pa. with a pricke and Pa. with another pricke So that the prickes in the middest being left out there remained Papa Such far fecht follies and ridiculous dotages the Papisticall crue are faine to seeke for to find their holy Father Papa the Pope But this is certaine and evident that as soone as it was agreed vpon that one onely among many Ministers of the word of God should be called a Bishop and the rest should be robbed of that name which the holy scripture hath geiven them this singular and peculiar Bishop set up as it were with a higher degree and name then the rest was straightwaye called in a speciall sort Papa As Cyprian one of the most auncient Fathers was vsually termed Cypt. Epist 2.7 The Elders Deacons of Rome writing to him doe set downe the superscription of their Epistle in these words Cipriano Papae presbyteri et Diaconi Romae consistentes salutem To Pope Cyprian the Elders and Deacons of Rome wish health And in the latter end and conclusion of the Epistle they say vnto him Optamus te beatissime ac gloriosissime Papa in Domino sēper bene valere et nostri meminisse We wish thee most blessed most glorious Pope ever good health in the Lord and
soever the office vocation and charge of preaching of the word is allotted let him speake as the words of God which caveat and lesson ought most carefully to be taken heed unto that no man presume to Preach and teach any thing wherto he hath not expresse word of God for his warrant and except he be most certaine that the same be directly to be avouched out of the sacreed scriptures Which being so what may be thought of the Pope and his dirtie dreggs and traditions Here you see M. Luthers judgment that all traditions which haue not the expresse warrant of the word of God are but dirtie dreggs and Popish traditions And marke it well that what traditions soever is brought into the Church which hath not the expresse word of God for it the same is to be nombred among the Popes dirtie dreggs I say except the same be most certaine and directly to be a vouched out of the sacred scriptures And anon after he saith againe A Prelate or Bishop ought to doe nothing in the Church vnlesse he be certaine and sure of the warrantise thereof by Gods word For God cannot abide to haue his service umbled and mingled at pleasure with every foolish gewgawe and light trumpery You see how this beginnyng of the day light whereby God shewed himselfe agayne unto the world doth cōstantly affirme that a Bishop ought to doe nothing in the Church unlesse he be certaine and sure of the warrantise thereof by Gods word no not to bring in a ceremonie nor a light guegawe for God saith M. Luther cannot abide it nor suffer it to be used in his service And yet not so content he goeth farther saying And therefore we are straightly forbidden not to relie unto nor to allow whatsoever decree or constitution the Bishop list to obtrud and enioyne unlesse they stand upon a sure groūd that the things which they doe are allowed of God yea don of God himselfe and unlesse the be able to say doe this for it is the will and Commandement of God and we haue his expresse word and commandement for our warrant If they be not able to say thus they ought to be accounted as lyers deceavers much lesse ought any Christian to yeelde unto them therein any obedience or subscription No Christian saith M Luther ought to subscribe nor obey to any of the Bishops Canons Subscriptiō unlesse they be able to say do this for it is the will cōmandement of God and we haue his expresse word and commandement for our warrant Thus doth this Angell or messenger of God write who having a liuely faith by this faith he being dead with Abell yet speaketh this unto all the world and even unto England in playne English whereby yee may perceaue he was no sleeping Sardian Angell nor rich luke warme Laodician but like the Angell of Ephesus could not forbeare them which were evill and was himselfe poore with the Angell of the Smirnians and far from the pompe and pride of the Laodician Angell which lived like a Lord and rejoyced he was encreased in riches and had need of nothing But if this excellent messenger of God were now in England and would refuse to subscribe to a number of Canons and many light guegawes which are neither commanded of God nor haue the expresse warrant of the word of God he should surely be turned both out of his preaching and out of his living though many hundred sleeping Sardian Priests and blind unpreaching Ministers should keep their place But let us go forward with M. Luther upon the fift chapter of the same epistle thus he saith When S. Peter or any other of the Apostles came into any Cittie wherein Christians were 1. Peter 5. they ordeyned some one or other of them such as lived honestly and unblameablie and had wife and children and also skilfull in the Scriptures of God to to haue the superintendencie and charge over the rest And them they called Seniors or Elders whom afterward both Saint Peter and also S. Paule called Bishops whereby we may note that Bishops were none others then the very same that were Elders Touching this purpose we read in the Historie of S. Martine how a certaine man came into a place in Aphrica and there in a poore Cottage found an elderlie man whom they thought to haue been some playne Countriman Within a while they saw many people come flocking to him to whom he preached and expounded the word of God wherby they perceaved that he was their Pastor or Bishop For in those dayes there was no difference either in apparrell or manners betweene the Bishops and the residue of Christians In which saying of M Luther these three things are to be observed First that there was no differēce in the word of God and by the doctrine of the Apostles between a Bishop and an Elder or Minister or as he is now called a Parish Priest in the latin word taken out of the Greeke Presbyter for in the new Testament as you haue heard before he is never called Sacerdos that is to say a Priest as in all the old Testament it is ever englished But heer you see plainly by the judgmēt of M. Luther that a Bishop by the word of God and doctrine of the Apostles is nothing else but the Minister of a Parish And you heard before how precisly and violently he rejected whatsoever ordinance in the Church hath not the expresse word of God and commandement for it And therefore he saith touching all constitutions of Bishops without this expresse warrant we ought to take them for lyers deceavers and by no meanes to subscrib unto them Seeing this he speaketh not onely of Ceremonies and other traditions but even of the goverment orders of the Church as in the same place within a few words he plainly and vehemently expresseth For saith he there is nothing so pernicious nothing so monstrous 1 Pet 4.11 nothing so beastly as to goe about to governe the Church of God without the warrant of Gods owne word and worke And therefore S. Peter saw great reason to ad this much thereby to teach how the Church ought to be governed And in the fift chapter he doth in a mannner repeate the same againe for taking occasion from the care and diligence that every Bishop and Pastor ought to haue of every particular within his owne flocke In chap 5 Heereby saith he we may well perceiue and know that a Bishop is even the same that is here ment by an Elder And therefore it is not true which some say that a Bishoprick is a dignitie and a Bishop onely he that weareth a forked Miter Episcopacie is not a name of dignitie but of Office Which thing he also affirmeth in divers places as in his booke contra Papatum he saith Bishops wheresoever they be in all the world are equall to our Bishops or Parish Ministers and Preachers Of none can it be said one is
Non a minoritis sed a maioritis incipiendum est For where the Counsell pretēded to make a reformatiō in the Church one stood up and sayd the reformation must begin at the Fryer Minorits that is at the litle ones no sayd the Emperour not at the litle on s but at the great ones meanyng that they ought to begin not at the beggerly Fryer Minors but at the pompous and proud Prelats and Popes And Ieremiah the Prophet speaking of the beggerly sort and great men saith Ierem. 5.45 Therefore I sayd surely they are poore they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the iudgment of their God I will get me unto the great men and will speake vnto them for they haue knowne the way of the Lord and the iudgdment of their God but these haue altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds And in the 23 chapter he sayth speaking of the Prophets which were the cheifest and in highest degree of all Ecclesiasticall persons in that time Chro. 23 15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the Prophets behold I will feed them with wormwood and make them drinke the water of gall for from the Prophets of Ierusalem is wickednes gon forth into all the land Now let us heare what M. Bucer saith touching the great livings of the Lord Bishops and the poore estat of the parish Ministers First to the Lord Bishops he saith in his second booke of the kingdom of Christ Agnoscant igitur tādem gravissimam suam culpam Episcopi quod ecclesias tam diu iam tamque horrende non tam neglexerunt quam vastaverunt Let the Bishops at the last acknowledg their most grevous fault that now so long time they haue not onely neglected but violently robbed the Churches And in the 13 chapter he toucheth againe the restoring unto the poore Parishes that which the Bishops by injurie and rob berie had taken from them Si vero parochiis non sit tam multum reliquum vt inde prospici queat fidelibus earum ministris tum certe vti et supra diximus ab Episcopis et ditioribus sacerdotiis petendum erit unde et his despoliatis parochiis consulatur Hic communio sanctorum exercenda erit vt egentibus ecclesiis succurratur ab iis quae abundant If there be not saith M. Bucer so much left unto the Parishes as therof there may be made a sufficient provision for their faithfull Ministers then certainly as we haue sayd before there must be taken from the Bishops and richer benefices where with these parishes that haue been so spoyled may be sufficiētly provided for For heerein the Communion of Saints ought to be exercised that the Churches which stand in need may be helped by them that doe abound And a non after he sayth Valeat itaque Domini lex dignus est opera rius cibo suo et mercede Item duplici honore digni sunt presbyteri qui bene praesunt ecclesiis maxime qui laborant in verbo et doctrina Debent autem hi et suo docere exemplo reliquos Christianos ut cum eis datur quibus alantar et tegantur his sint contenti valeat et lex spiritus sancti vestra abundātia sublevet illorum inopiam et illorum abundantia sublevet vestram inopiam quo sit inter vos aequalitas Therfore let the law of the Lord take his force which sayth the worke man is worthy of his meate and his wages and also the Elders which rule the Churches well are worthy double honor cheiflie those which labour in the word and doctrine And these also ought to teach all other Christians by their example and when there is given unto them foode and rayment with that let them be content And also let the law of the holy Ghost stand in his full force let your abundance vp hold their need that there may be equalitie I neede not to put the reader in any remēbrance what to obserue in these wordes they are playne enough that the Lordly livings of Bishops should be taken from them and they thēselues should not liue like Lords but in a meane estate as well as the rest of the Ministers Bucer in mathew 18.7 And touching the rest of the popish reliques he sayth vndoubtedly as there is no agreement at all between Christ and Beliall so sinceare and unfeined christians can by no meanes suffer themselues to be clogged with any whit of Antichrists trash and trumperie c. Wherfore so soone as true godlines and the right worship of God hath been preached and professed of many Antichrists Ceremonies and rites ought by and by to be abrogated and the reformation therof may not be prolonged c. These are indeed saith he over mild and to soft and sober Christians which can beare with such Antichristian trash like unto them who at Corinth knowing that an Idoll was nothing did eat thinges offered unto Idols and boasted as these our men doe in this wise In outward matters we are free What is that to me that another useth those thinges naughtily I will use them well c. Thus do they for sooth provide goodly for the weake ones yea they serue their owne bellies seeking to gratifie such as are either Christs enimyes or else backsliders for no man besids these will earnestly contend for Superstitious Ceremonies this is their modest bearing and delaying whereby they are so far from furthering of the Gospell that by litle and litle they do utterly abolish it Thus you heare M. Bucers judgment that noble light set up by God in Germanie and by King Edward brought into England and made the divinity Lecturer in Cambridg both for the establishing of the Discipline set downe by Christ and his Apostles in the first Churches for the taking away of the Lordly estate of Bishops and for the utter abolishing of all our vayne and beggerly Ceremonies which he calleth Antichristian trash Unto him I will joyn Peter Martyr his combresbyter or fellow Elder P. Martyr brought into England also by King Edward and made the Divinitie Lecturer in Oxford Whose departing from Argentine in Germanie was greatly lamented he was saith Sleidan a man there exceedingly beloved for his sincere judgmēt his great mildnes and modestie and for his incomporable learning In his Epistle to the Lords of Polonia professors of the Gospell and Ministers of the Church there when they began to make the reformatiō of religion in the rite of administring the Sacraments saith M. Martyr That manner is most to be imbraced which shall be most playne and most removed from the Papisticall trifles and Ceremonies and which shall come neerest to the purenes which Christ used with his Apostles Christian minds ought not to be occupied much in outward rites Ceremonies but to be fed by the word to be instructed by the Sacraments to be inflamed unto prayers to be confirmed in good works and excellent examples of life