scripture that there was another hedde giuen vnto the chirch beside Christ If they can do that lett them haue the victorie but I am sure they ar neuer hable to do hit For if such a hedde shold be giuē to hit then the chirch shold be A monster with two heddes ¶ Also vpon the. 10. chap. of the. 2. of the Kinges Iehu brought to passe that the temple of Baal shold be ouerthrown so that it shold not be any more occupied as hit was before Wherfore mānie thought that it was not wel done that Christians after that they had embraced the gospel of the sonne of God shold yet still kepe vndestroyed the instrumentes of the Pope after a māner And they do much better promote godlines which did bring to passe that all Images standing Images and others and that all ornamentes of the Popes deuise shold be vtterly destroyed at once For as we reade in the Ecclesiasticall Histories when Constantine the greate became A Christian man he commaunded that the Idolles temples shold be shutt vp But because they remained so vn put doune it was an easy matter for Iulian the Apostata who came after to open them againe and to bringe in the Idolles of thold superstition to be worshipped in the same places The which thing the nobel Prince Theodosius perceaueng commanded them so to be put down that they shold no more be restored againe After this manner did Iehu because the Idolles shold not be restored againe Ioannes Epinus abovvte the yeare of oure Lord. 1549 in the preface set before the boke of Matthias Flacius Illyricus called De veris falsis adiaphoris THe Diuel could not haue found or deuised any thing more crafty or subtill to destroy the trew worshipping of God to ouerthrowe the trew chirch of Christ then the chaunging and bringing in of thinges called indifferent He hath profited more there with then if he shold haue gone abowte with cruelnes and tyrannie for there is such strenght in this poyson of indifferent thinges that hit can make men that were before in other matters talkatiue and most fullest of wordes vtterly doume and speachles and other that were eloquent to be now stutters somme that were honestly and rightly brought vp to be doubtful wauering some that were shepeherdes to become wolues and some that were Christians to be Epicures that is to say godles and of no religion and only giuing them selues and studieng to get and hold the commodities and ritches of this world That transformation and chaunge that is written by Homere to haue ben wrought by sorcerous charmes and cuppes of the famous witch Circe is nothing to be compared to this new chaunge which is brought to passe by the sorcery of thinges indifferent This is the best councell of all that godly Doctors and Teachers of the Chirch ioyne there mindes together there studies there labors prayers and there confession that they maye defende the doctrine and learninge of Christ and trew worshippinges of there Chirches with one consent with the sword of God his worde and the bearing of Christes crosse The Prophetes Apostells following this coūcel ouercame the whole world and did purge and skoure the chirch from vngodlines and Idolatry There cānot be any better councell found then God him self hath giuen It belongeth to vs to do oure dewtie and to committe with oure prayers vnto the Lord the successe and prosperous end of the matter ¶ Matthias Flacius aboue named in his ovvne vvorke De Adiaphoris FIrst for asmuch as I entend to write of thinges indifferent as they ar named and some ar so in deede it is best to tell what this word indifferent meaneth Indifferent is called in the Greke Adiaphoron and in Latine Indifferens and in Duytch eine mittelding And hit signifieth a thing wherof is made no matter whether a man kepe hit or do not kepe hit or whether hit be handeled after this manner or that manner There ar in the Chirch certaine thinges which ar indifferent and that there is such in the chirch of God it may easely be proued by Paul as in the former to the Corinthians the 7.8.10 and 14. chapiters also to the Romanes in the. 14. chapiter may appere Of which sort ar to liue maried or vn maried so that hit be don in Chastitie to eate meates or to abstaine therfro to kepe daies or not to kepe daies withowte superstition to take wagis of them to whome a mā preacheth to or to take none at all to vse a prescribed māner of teaching in the Temple to heare or to singe If any man wold call back againe and restore the garmentes or vestementes of Ethnish or Popish sacrifices and bring thē into the chirches after the vse of them were once put downe he shold do contrary to that which is semely and comenly It lieth not in the power of any man to ordaine any worshippings of God withowte the commaundement of God Al thinges that ar indifferent ar so far indifferent as they serue for the glorie of God and the profit of the Chirch But if they passe beyond those bondes they ar not indifferent but ar vngodlines and abhominations and by all meanes of all men to be eschewed Whatsoeuer Antechrist doth thesame he doth for the Diuelles sake whose vicar he is and of whome he is stirred vp to play his part And whatsoeuer vnchristian Princes do in Religion they do hit for Antechristis sake and his seates sake as the letters of the Pope vnto the Bishops and the Bishops letters sent to Popishe Princes to diuers chirches beare witnes And further whatsoeuer the Popishe Princes and vnchristian courtes do in these matters and chaunges they do hit for the pleasure fauor of the supreame gouernors Also whatsoeuer thold diuines do in these matters they do hit to gratifie the Court and the inferior Princes At the last whatsoeuer the younger diuines do either to set forth or not to hindre this mischieff of indifferent matters they do hit for the pleasure of there old Masters Wherfore from the first to the last they serue all Antechrist and the Diuell and committ whoredome with the greate whore and drinck of her cup as hit is prophicied in th'apocalips not wit-owt a cause of the last times We nede not to care for that which some do ofte time rehers that the chirch hath allwaies ben in somme bondage for although hit hath ben allwaies in politick bondage yet she neuer did tempre her self or fashiō her to the Religion of vngodly mē neither wold God that she shold be subdued vnto any spiritual bondage But rather that she shold stedfastly defend her liberty and not to be made the bond woman of men seing that she is redemed with the precious blood of Christe Wherfore seing that these Rites ar thrust vppon the chirch whether she will or no and that of the greatest and most openly knowen ennemies of Christ that is of the Pope and both of learned
it is commaunded rather then man And here let all godly men consider the difference betwene the politique Kingdome and the euerlasting wherin the Sonne of God calleth vs vnto euerlasting Rytches and gyueth forgeuenes of sinnes vnto vs and lyfe euerlastinge And these Kingdomes ought not to be confounded Cōfounding of authoritie and myngled one wyth an other as the Pope vnder the pretēce of the mynisterye wylbe the Kyng of the worlde VVickednes of Pope Lorde ouer Kinges And after another manner the povvers and myngled togeyther vvhyleste the Emperor and Princes vvyll set oute a nevv doctrine vnto the Chirches For they haue made the Interim and wyll stablish in the Chirch the Masse How lay Princes ar made Popes and Inuocatiō of Sainctes and such other lyke thinges and they wylbe Docters and Pastours when as they do not vnderstand the doctrine but are open enemies against it this is not to be allowed but let there be difference made betwene one office and another and let euery man labor faythfully in his office Pylate commaundeth Christ to be scourged and to be crowned wyth a Crowne of thornes Pylate graunteth that Iesus is innocent faulties and yet for all that he vexeth him wyth reproches and punishment euen as some now a dayes do whychkyll not Iesus and vtterly take not away thē that preache ryghtly because they cannot yet by manye signes they declare theyr hatred agaynst them for they despise the poore Preachers and suffer them many wayes to be trow bled the Pope all his Byshopes do scorge Christ whē as they set vp theyr Kyngdome they crowne Christ wyth thornes and put a purple garmēte vpon him that is to say they do worke much sorowe to Christe and to his trew Chirch by that false and wycked lordship whych they atrogantly take vnto them selues agaynst the wyll of God and the health of the Chirch Afterward Pylate is perswaded euen to kyll Christ when he hearde once these wordes sayde vnto hym thow arte not the Emperours frend yf thou do not crucifie him Euen such men are they which play wyth the wycked for although in the beginyng they are not most cruell of all other Yet by lytle and lytle they wax worsse and worsse Therfore men had nede to take hede at the beginnyng according vnto the sayng of the Scripture what fellow ship hath Christ wyth Beliall c. ¶ LET VS THINKE OF THESE HORRIBLE EXAMPLES AND LET vs flee such tryfling playeng and hearyng vvith out Enemies And let vs openlye confesse that vve do differ from them in doctrine And let vs not consent and agree vvyth them vvhen as they makethen compositions IHon Alasco a Baron of Poleland by byrth in Kynge Edwardes dayes was called into Englād by the Prince at Master Cranmers the Archebishop of Cāterburies cō mendatiō councell vnknowen to the most parte of his contymen vnto whom was comitted by the King the chardg of the straungers Churches here whych the forenamed worthie Kynge Edward by his letters patentes in the fowrth yeare of his reign erected in London makyng this Ihon Alasco superintendet thereof and appoinctyng therto such other ministers as the sayd Ihon Alasco who was an earnest suter on the behalfe of the strangers thought mete for that rome he takyng this chardge vppon him so vsed him self therein vntyll the death of Kyng Edward that all the godly straungers and sondrye others had much ioye and cōfort of him the whole realme had a singuler treasure of him and the enemie had nothiug that he could iustly chardge hym wyth all Brieselye to say his singuler trauaile in the Lordes haruest in preaching and wryting both here and a broade his profound and depe knowledge of thynges his syncere iudgment in all poynctes of religion and hartye affection to the maintenaunce of Christes Kingdome against open enemyes and counterfait gospelers corruptyng the simplicitie of chrystian religion besides his vprightnes of lyfe godlye conuersation and other qualeties mete for such a personage causeth much lamentation for the lacke of him in the Church of Christ through out christendom at these dayes And wyll procute a continuall remembraunce of him wyth honor amōgest est the godlye vnto the worldes ende This testimonye hath Kyng Edward of famous memorie vnder the greate seale of England giuen of him whych is inprint at this daye extant in laten to besene of all the world IHON ALASCO BORNE in Poleland a very famous and notable man both for his honest vpryghtnes and innocēcie of lyfe and behauiour and also for his rare and singular knowledge in learning c. ¶ The iudgement of Maister Ihon Alasco of remouing the vse of singular apparell in the Chirch ministerie vvrytten the 20. daye of September in the 5 yere of the rargne of Kynge Edvvard the sixth vvhich vvas as follovveth FYrst of all I affirme that in the Chirch of Christ there are some thinges to be obserued continually some thinges are indifferent and free other some thinges are by no meanes tollerable Such thynges as ought continually to remaine in the Church are the pure doctrine of the Prophetes Aposteies whych for the sustenaunce of the soule are to be diligētly proponed to the shepe of Christ by the Ministers of God where vnto are adioyned the sacramentes of baptisme and the Lordes supper ministred accordyng to the Apostolik order set forth in the writinges of the Euangelistes and Apostles to the which may very fytlie be annexed Ecclesiasticall discipline I call those thynges ffree whatsoeuer they be that serue profitablye and commodiouslye to the ministerye of the worde and Sacramentes so they haue theyr originall ground in the Scriptures haue no commaundement against them cōtaine a manifest commoditie to the Chirch and 〈…〉 mens coniciences Of this sort are these to assemble to geither in the Church thys hower or that howre this daye or that daye to vse in the administration of the Sacramentes this kynde of prayer or that kynd the seuerall tymes in the yere to celebrate the supper of the Lord but ones or oftenar These thynges that are vttarly to be remoued from the church are of two sortes some haue so manifest impietie annexed to them that they cānot disceyue those that are but meanelye instructed in gods worde as are worshipping of Images worshipping of breade and wyne prophanaciō of the Lordes Supper through the Masse praying to Sainctes prayng for the dead and infinit such other mōsters which Antechrist hath brought into the church of Christ there ar other thynges brought in by the same Antechrist whych are much contrarye to christian libertye obscure Christ encrease hypocrisie and bringe in pryde and sweilyng into the church and yet in the meane whyle haue a certaine shew of profit comlines of this sort are the apointed fasting days choise of meates muche singynge in the church and such as is not vnderstanded organe playing and vse of church apparell in administracion of the Sacramentes Now what great incommodities
THE EXPOSITION OF certain partes of Scripture according to the mindes of the chieffe Doctors that in our time were in reformed chirches also of some old doctors wherin thow shalt se the trew doctrine of indifferent things of garments and of th'auctoritie that Princes Prelates haue to set owt rites and ceremonies Saincte Ambrose Byshop of Millane vppon the vij of the former Epistell of Sainct Paul to the Corinthians YEar bought vvith a priced be ye not made the bondmen of men It is trewe because we ar bought with so deare a price that we could not haue ben bought againe of any but only of Christ who is ritche in all thinges Therfore he that is bought with a price ought more to serue or to do his dewtie in th' office of a bondman that he may after a manner make recompence to his byer Thei ar bōd men that subdue thē selues to mens superstitions Therefore those that ar bought of God that is of Christe ought not to be boundmen of men But such ar bondmen of men that subdue them selues or obey mens superstitions THEOPHILAGTVS Archebyshop of Bulgaria vppō the vij chapiter of the former Epistel of Sainct Paul to the Corinthians and vppon thesame vvordes TH'apostel reasoneth not these matters only to slaues or bondmē but he speaketh them to those that ar free To execute euel cōmaūdements for mans sake is to become mans servant or he rather doth enstruct all sortes yea the Christians them selues that they do not any thing for mans sake or pleasure and that they do not execute or fulfill those commaundementes of men whiche ar naught for that were to serue men euen by such as ar raunsomed for a price And a littel after he hauing spoken of this vvordly and spiritual bondage vvriteth thus Therfore the Apostle hath prouided very well in bothe cases to wete first least vnder the pretence of God his seruice seruantes shold depart from there masters in whose power there bodies ar Secondly To please the bodely Master further then they ought is to becomē bōdmen least they shold fall from God when as they will serue there bodily Masters further thē becōmeth or that they ought to do ERASMVS ROTERODAMVS in his boke of annotations vppon the fift chapiter of the former Epistel of sainct Peter NEque ceu Deminium exercentes aduersus Cleros c. Neither shall ye be as exercisers of Lordsship against the people or parishes For he vnderstandeth by this worde Cleros not Dyacons or Elders but the flock which fell to euery man by chaunce B. ought as little to vse Lordship ouer the common people asouer there fellowe Elders to be gouerned least any man shold iudge that Byshops vvere forbidden to exercise any Lordship ouer clerkes but that hit vvas graunted them to be Lordes ouer others And here he calleth Elders Bishops for as yet there was not so huge a nombre of priestes but as many Elders as there were so many byshops there were This commaundemet of the Prince of the Apostells shold haue ben written in golden letters and set vp in all palaces of the Byshops Feade saith he the flock oppresse hit not pill hit not and do this not vnwillingly but of a sincere desier and mind as fathers neither for silthie lucres sake as though he had seen before that there vppon shold rise a plage or pestilence to the chirch To conclude not plaing Lordes after the māner of Kinges but fede with example and ouercome with goode deades Now a daies the cōmon sort of Byshops heareth nothing of there learned flatterers but Lordships Dominions Swordes Kayes and Powers Whervppon riseth in somme of them Some B. at pompous as Princes some more cruell then Tyrauntz more pompouse Pride then some Kings vse and more cruelnes then some Tyrauntes occupie Also in thesame vvork vppon xi chapiter of Sainct Mathevves Gospel SVrely Sainct Peter in thactes of th'apostelles doth opēly call the lawe of Moses which was laied for a time vppon the rebellious people of the Iewes an hard and a heauy burthen which neither we not oure fathers were liable to beare neyther can any mā doubt but that it is trueth which the trueth hath pronounced The yooke of Christ is in very dede pleasaūt and his burthen is light so that no mens traditions be laied vpon mens sholders beside or more then that thinge which he hath alredy appoincted and he hath commaunded nothing els but that one shold loue another and there is nothing so bitter but that Charitie will seasone make hit swete Whatsoeuer is according to Nature it may easely be born but there is nothing that agreeth more with Mannes Nature then Christes Philosophie which goeth abowt to do no other thing almost then to restore oure Nature that is fallen to her innocēcie and sinceritie againe But euen as the ordinances of men did make heauie the lawe being by hit self greuous enough for the Iewes The lawe of Man may make heauy the light yoke of Christ. Euen so must vve diligently take hede that the additions ordinaunces and doctrines of mē make not the lavve of Christ vvhich of hit self is pleasaunt and light heauy and hard to beare Which ordinaūces so at the first crept in as though they were small and ought not to be cared for or regarded or els they being commended with the shewe of Godlines be gladly receaued of them that ar more simple thē foresighted Those that ar once receaued by pecemele do growe and en crease vnto a huge quantitie do presse downe ouerthrowe mē whither they wil or no either by the help of custome whose violence is a certaine tyrannie or els Teinstrumentes of spirituall bondage by the aucthoritie of Princes which hold stistly hit that is rashely receaued abusing hit for there profit and gaines And a little after There ar some that knitt together either a cold sillogisme of a pece of scripture which they do not vnderstand or els make an article of faith of a mannes ordinaunce and of such men ar we iudged to be Christians or no Christiās which appertaine nothing attall to Christian Religion And a littel after The burthē of Mās ordinaunces and traditions What auaileth it to speak of the burthen of Man his institutions when as many yeares ago Saint Augustine in a certaine epistel to Iāuarius he is angry and be waileth th' estate of Christes chirche so to be burthened that the cōdition of the Iewes was almost more tollerable then the condition of the Christians what if he sawe the fre people of Christ snared with so many lawes and ceremonies and not only oppressed with a single tyrannie of prophane Princes but also of Byshops Cardinalles Popes Not only prophane princes But also B. ar oppressors of the chirch and most of all of there seruauntes who being disguysed with the visure of Religion go busily aboute the busines of there bellies The Iewes had no
hath iurisdiction ouer all Princes becaus Christ did say what soeuer thow shalt bind on earthe shal be bound in heauē c. And to make the matter more plaine he alledgeth oute of Ieremie these wordes Behold I haue ordained the aboue kinges and nations that thow shouldest pull in peces and destroye and that thow shouldest byld and plant But as these arguments ar full of Pride and swelling So ar they most ful of vanitie for first to begin withal Paul doth not speak here of the degrees of powers distincted or disseuered amongest them selues for he only saieth thus that all powers what soeuer they be ar ordained of God and I do not denie but the Ecclesiasticall power or the power that Ecclesiasticall persons haue is in spirituall matters for hit is occupied in the Ministerie of the word of God and therefore we graunt that that power is the gretest because the vvord of God ought to commaund and rule all men But this power maketh men to bring to subiectiō all vnderstanding and to bring downe or destroy the highnes of all mens reasons Let these excellent greate lordes do these thinges let them preache the word of God and let them leaue there inuentiōs of men and then if there be any that will not heare them We do not doubt but that they condemne them iustely whether they be Princes Kings Monarches or Emperors yet for all that it shall not folowe that they ar not subiect vnto the politicke power in things pertaining to this bodily lyffe to possessions and lādes howsen and Maners Nay rather as cōcerning the Princes office they ought to be subiect to a godly and Religeous Magistrate not because vve thinck that the vvord of God or Sacramentes ought to be subiect or subdued to man his lavves but that it is thoffice of a Magistrate to ponish or displace chirch Ministers if they behaue them selues ill in there office or Iugle with the trueth or deface it or do falsly minister the Sacramentes Let them binde and lose that is to say by the word and preaching let thē declare who be bounden and who be losed yet for all this they ought not to exempt them selues frō the ciuill Magistrate For euen as a king though he excell in his excellent dignity is bound to obey the vvord pronounced by the Ministers of the chirch Euen so an ecclesiasticall man although he be set in an excellent place and office is not exempted or discharged from the obedience or subiection of the Magistrate ¶ Also in the same vvorke pag. 609 on these vvordes De minister est vltor ad Iram the vvriteth thus Euen as he is the officer of God vnto thy good and profite if thow do well Euenso is he thofficer of God vnto wrath that is to say to reuenge and ponish if that thow behaue thy self naughtely Neither ought he to whome the sword is committed to be ignorant that he is the keper not only of the latter but also of the former table wherfore he ought diligētly to take heed that Religiō be ministered out of the vvord of God And let him not thinck as many Princes now adaies beare them selues in hand that that charge appertaineth nothing vnto them for they vvill in deede deale ovvte benifces and Byshoprickes to whome soeuer they list but they care not whether they whome they haue promoted to such dignities do there dewties or no. ¶ Also vpon these vvordes of Paul to the Corinth in the first Epistell the 7. chap. Nolite fieri serui hominum THere ar other bondages of Men whiche ought also to be eschewed that for the getting and purchassing of Ritches we shold not be Parasites flatterers or men pleasers or we shold not be to muche affraied and for these causes shold be turned to Idol seruice and euell Kindes of worshipping They ar greued vvith this kind of bondage vvhich obey the naughty vvill of there vngody Masters or Lordes and set more by them then by God It appereth by these thinges that the Corinthians cam to this opinion that such as cam to Christ shold chaung and ouertourn all thinges And with this kind of folishnes ar the Religious men nowe a dayes sicke which will haue there garmentes there manners and the owtward cōdition of there liffe newe in so much as they must chaunge there old names also where with they were named before But Paul denieth that we shold do so he doth determine that those ar to be holden that ar not contrary vnto the word of God ¶ Also vpon the 13 to the Rom. SVrely the state of christendome was neuer in worse case then since the Byshops did vsurp and take vnto them the sword for euery man doth se that these two offices that is the Temporall and Ecclesiasticall do so hinder one another that he that occupieth the one cannot exercise the other for there is not any man that can be found so prompt and diligent that he is hable to excute either of both of them rightly and in ordre ¶ Also vpon the 8. chapiter of the Iudges MOreouer the Bishop of Rome did boast that he was made hedde of the chirch vvhich thing cannot in any vvise appertainge vnto any man For both mouing and the fiue wittes called sences flowe downe from the hedde through the sinnewes into the mēbers as Paul doth very truly teache in his Epistels both to Thephesians and Collossians but there is no mā that is hable to performe that as of him self by ioinctes and tosettinges to quicken the mēbers of the chirch with the spirite of God It belongeth onely vnto Christ to deale owte vnto his members spirituall motions the litghtening of the mind and euerlasting lyfte In deed Kinges and Magistrates may be called the heddes of the people because the ciuill gouernement is exercised by them and we may loke to haue from them good lawes and ciuill motions But in the chirch it is not entreated of the ciuill lyffe but of the spirituall and euerlasting which we cānot loke for of any but only of God neither is there any mortall man that can quicken the membres of the chirch I do iudge that the Kinges and Magistrates that ar godly ought to be set or counted in the chirch in the formest or highest place or dignitie and that hit belongeth to there office if that Religiō be euell handeled to correct the defaultes for they beare the sword for that ende that they may defend the honor of God but they cannot be the heddes of the chirches Paul to the Romaines and Corinthians where he maketh cōparacions betwene the members of the chirch maketh some of thē to be eyes some to be nosthrilles eares hand and feete but he vouchsaueth not to deck any member with the dignitie of the hedde And yet thesame Paul writing to the Ephes saieth of Christ that God gaue him to be hedde of the body of the chirch Therefore let the Papistes shewe where hit is saied in holy
truth but for the truth And edefiyng is to build the faythfull vppon Christ in fayth hope charytie and innocēcie of lyffe cōtendyng alwayes to more perfection but the garmentes promote or helpe forth none of these thynges but rayther obscure Christes face bryng in a certayne agrement wyth Antechristes pristhod or rayther a backesliding to the shadowes of Aarō from the bodye of Christ The truth is it for the whych Apostolike men and christian Magistrates ought to trauell and Christ is content wyth the ordinaunce whych he him self hath left neyther doth he any longar require shadowes wherfore they must and wyll labore for it not against it by reuokynge those thynges whych Christ hath destroyed and abolished Furthermore Paule simplie admittith nothing into the Church but that which may edefie that is to say encrease godlines peculiar garmentes in the ministerie edifie not therfore are they not to be borne those thinges that minister a certaine counterfait or fantasticall occason to godlines do not by and by edefie but they must nedes giue Christians a necessarie prouocation vnto godlines But garmentes contrarie wyse partlie encrease hautines and pride in them that vse them partlie hypocrisie partlye both twain And to minister occasion to hypocrisie it is verye readie for them yea it must nedes be For yf that vertew be in thee which thow imaginest to be signified by the apparell why by shewing of it doest thou take the reware of men but yf it be not art not thow a plaine Hypocrite beinge indeed an other maner of man then thow pretendest to bee And thow canste not escape by sayeng these priuat garmentes signifie no vertew in vs but admonish vs as it were of our dutie and office what then I pray yow admonished the Apostles of their dutie and office attire or the spirit of the Lord the loue of the Chirch and Christ doe they then forget their dutie as often as they put these garmentes of why rather meditate they not in the word of the Lord day and night and therby mend their wayes for that it Pearceth the ground of the hart when apparell can moue enelye the owtward mā What thing dothe Christ three scuerall times require of Peter to be admonished of his office in feading his sheeppe suarly nothyng but loue Againe it is to be feared lest it brede an opinion of merite or some such other sollye that the dignitie of the Minister or Sacramentes or preachinge the word is dimmished vnlesse these vnprofitable and pernicious garmētes be vsed this feare of mans merite alone should moue vs that vestimentes ought to be shutt out of the Temple with other ceremonies deuised by men It is vngodly to giue such occasion of offence or falling to the weake for whom Christ dyed How casie a matter it is to put considence in these thynges experiēce hath taught vs so that he that wayeth these thinges and hath no consideration therof may seme not to be free from the suspicion of vngodlines neither can they excuse them selues that it is known to all men that there lyeth no good nor hurt in the garmentes for though we graunt this this knowledge was in these dayes whē they were first brought in of the Byshops we are borne not for our selues onelye but wee serue the Chirch and our posteritie also to whō to leaue Christes religion verie pure can not but be verie acceptable vnto god No more whan he dyeth wyllynglie leauith his children a Testament or wyll vnlesse it be throughlie perfect that all occasion of striue maye be cut of why shew we not lyke diligence and fidelitie in gods Testament I know that some men bragg that the holie ministerie is adorned and bewtysied bye garmētes but it is indede much obscured and darckned therbye For the apparell affecting and occupiēg mennes eies do stay and hynder theyr myndes from the consideration of such spirituall thynges as are don in the sacramētes and drawe thē to delyghtes and pleasures of the Senses Holy simplicitye commendeth and setteth forth gods ordenaunces Examples make of our side both of Christ and the Apostles and also the primitiue Church which it is more safe more holye and more profitable to follow then to alter and chaunge or bye doing otherwise to condempne christ Here farther add I that which Paule hath noted of mennes doctrines that outwardly they haue a spice and shew of wysdome through supersticion and humblenes of the mind and hurtinge of the bodie Coll. 2. and not by any honor thereof to the satissieng or filling of the fleshe At the length tyrannie is brought in and the garment is put vppon men will they nill they And this tyrannie suerly makith that if a thinge be of his own nature free and indifferét it nowe ceaseth to be indifferent Paulle in falt and plaine wordes forbiddeth Christians to submit them selues to suche superstitious tyrannie Collo 2. 1. Cor. 7. If therefore ye be dead from the ordenaunces of the wo lde c. and againe become not the seruantes of men Is it not a verie hard bondage and mere slauerye to be driuen to a certaine kind of garment in the Church that sauoreth ether gentilitye or heathnishnes or Araons priesthode or els Antechrit stianisme and poperie that is so many wayes hurfull and no way profitable But what maketh vs to delyght so to defyle our selues with popish filthines whie geue we not that honor to Iesus Christs priesthode which popish Priestes giue to Antechristes priest hode There is nothing so small or light by hym prescribed although it diffent or varie from Christ which his obserue not verye superstitiously and precisely to the vttermost Whye do not we agayne lykewise in all thynges obey Christ contenting our selues with his naked and simple trueth To conclude 1. thess 5. seing that Paule iudgeth it mete to abstaine frō all shew and aperaunce of euill and we haue shewed that to prescribe garmentes in the administracion of holye thynges is in dede euill for that it is deuyse of men they be partes or members of the Aaronicall or popysh priesthode they edifie nothing at all they brede hautines and pride hipocrine and opinion of merit or deseruynge what christian is he that wyll not iudge them mete to be eschewed and shounnid There are obiected somme thinges of the fautors and patrons of these garmentes vvhich it shall suffice breiflie and in fevv vvordes to note and touch for that they ouerthrovve not our reasones before Alleadged IN indifferent thynges we must haue regard to the weakenes of our bretherne First obiect after the example of the Apostles A man may deny those thinges to be indifferent which obscure Christes pristhode Aunswere and of them selues engédre stire vp and cause nothinge els but hipocrisie sectes and pride in the Chirch hauing no originall or ground in the scriptures and yet are commaunded with tyrannie vnsemelie for Christianes The Apostles are neuar readde to haue done such thynges as these are
old testament reproued in false shepherdes whyche playd the Lordes to cruelly ouer his slocke A trew Shepherd seketh his shepe that strayeth away when he hath found it he layth it vppon his shoulders least it shuld perishe But a false Shepherd kylleth and destroyeth so our Lordes of chirches do not instruct and teache those that they iudge to erre in the Chirche because they can not nay because they care not but wyth commaundement constreyne them to deny the truthe that wyth theyr violence they may bryng to passe what they wyll and wyth tormentes cōpell them to recant and cruelly kylll them that wyll not Is not this to be Lordes ouer oure fayth in the Churche of Christe For vvhat other thynge is it to play the Lordes then not by the lavv and lavvfull povver Haue Lord ship inspiritual matters is not for the profit of the Subiectes to command those thinges that arryght and lavvfull but euē at theyr commandement for theyr owne lust and pleasure to exercise lordshippe ouer theyr Subiectes and to shew the preminence of theyr superioritie to a poinct whatsoeuer they lyst to be beleued and done and that with high lookes and great pride and wyth cruell threaninges to exhort in all thynges obeydience of all men euē most seruile and fullest of slauerye and require the same to be performed against the cōsciences of the faithfull people If the Lordes of the Chirches be free from this kynd of lord shippe let thē restore the free cōsciences of faithfull mē againe from the yoke of mans auctoritie and let them abyde in the christen libertye wherby they are not the bond men of mē but his of whom they were bought agayne with a greate price or ransom Musculus vpon the xxij chapiter of sainct Mathevv WE see here how men sho'd obey Magistrates and what difference they ought to put betwene God and the Emperor for all though he be the officer of God there is one thinge that is dew vnto him and an other that is dew vnto GOD Therfore we ar taught hete ij thinges The first is that the seruantes of God not only may but ought to obey the Magistrate the Apostles did teach this Roma 13 and 1. Pet. 3. The second thinge is VVhat de◠to God what to Princes that there is one thinge dew to the Emperor and an other dew to God It that is erthlye udevv to the Emperor and it that belongeth vnto religion is devv vnto God in erthly thinges we haue the Image of the Emperor in A coyne which teacheth what we owe vnto the Emperor Againe we bere in our soule by the sealinge of Christ and his holie spirit beinge signed or coyned through baptisme and haue therebye the inscription of the name of Christ whereby we are taught what we owe vnto God God forbiddeth not vs to giue vnto the Emperor it that is dew vnto him The were it not great wickednes and vngodlines yf that the Emperor wold not suffer it that is dew vnto God to be giuen vnto him but will take it vnto his owne selfe Musculus in his comune places in the chapter of Magistrates BY consideryng of these thinges it appeareth plainlie The ciuill Magistrat can do nothing without the word of God although the care and chardge of christen relgion belonge vnto Christien Magistrates yet for all that it belongeth not vnto them without the word of God to ordeine any thinge Musculus in his comuneplaces in the title of the Ministers of the word IT is therfore otu of all doubt that it was ordeined by the Apostles in the first and apostolick Church that the elders of the Church Episiopountes that is to say they that haue the chardge of the Lordes flocke shold exercise the ministery of teaching and gouerning by their comune labor and that they shold be as a man wolde say akephaloi that is to say subiect to no hed and President of which sort euen at this time some Ministers of the word ar found in some Chirches emongest whome none is found superiot or hygher then ar other in office and in power although one be more excelent then an other in learninge in the gifte of eloquence or wisedom But after the times of the Apostelles as Sainct I erom saith when there rose emongest the elders of the chirch dissentiones and schismes or sectes and as I do iudge when as that temptation of superioritie or hygher auctoritie entred into the mindes of the elders Shepherdes and Teachers litle by litle some one of the number of the elders began to be chosen which was made president aboue the rest and he beinge set in a higher degree was named a Bishoppe and so he alone toke that name vnto him which before other had comune with him But wheather that cowncell did profit the Church of Christ or no that such Byshoppes shold be made which rather by the coustome thē by the trueth of gods ordinance should be brought in and be of greater auctoritie then Elders it was better declared in times folowinge Howe Bishops rise vp then it was sithence vvhen this custome at the frrst vvas brought in for wee may blame that custome for all the hygh pride ritches tyrannie and corruption of all Chirches of Christ vvhich these princely and knightlie Bushoppes haue and do novv exercise Which thynge if Ieremie had sene doubtles he vvold haue knovvledged this councell to haue bene not of the holy ghost to take avvay diuision as was pretended but Sathans councell to destroy and to waste the old Ministers of feading of Christes flocke whereby it might be also brought to passe that the Chirch sholde not haue trew Pastors Docters Elders and Bishoppes but vnderneth the visers of those names idle bellies myghtie Princes whych not onelye wyll not preach thē selues and feade the people of the Lord wyth holsom doctrine but wyll not suffer the flocke to be fed by any other whych thynge they do by great violence Musculus also in the same place vpon the same matter intreatinge of the povver of Mynisters THis mater hath bene wonderfullie tossed with a continuall contētion through them which hath more aspired for preeminence and gaped for the supreme power then haue gon about the lawfull exercisinge of the ministerie for they desired rather to be Lordes in the chirch then to serue it And at this present time the most part of them which castinge away the tyrannie of the Byshoppe of Rome will seme to haue brought the Chirches ageine into the libertie which was purchassed by Christ ar assaulted with this temptation These beinge otherwayes good men and exercisinge faithfully and diligently the office of teachinge O postillick B. that wold be woth proucl Lordes and humble Apolie suppose that by this mcanes they shall profit the Churches if they deliuer the Ministry of the vvord from contempt and despicinge which hit suffereth now in all places and vvolde restore it to the old honor againe But on