Surely this was but apoore Lord Bishop that went in such a graye coate as M. Martine his frend might be ashamed to weare it yet was he the principall preacher of the gospell in all the kingdome of Bohemia and a true and christian Bishop but how farre unlike he was unto the Lordbishops in our time every man may see even as far as a coate of course russet cloth is frō a coate of fine black velvet and yet he lived not so miserably as our Parish Ministers commonly doe for it is evident by his request that he had an honest servant or twaine And heere it is also worth the noting that the Minister should haue his whit coate which was not a surplice but a coate to be ordinarily worne as was likewise his gray coate Wherby we may evidently see that a white coloured garment was at that time amonge them a graue couler and meete for a Minister as it is a mong us stage like and meete for a player specially when a white coate is put upon a blacke gowne But this Preacher of the gospell excellent Bishop Iohn Husse in his poore estate more profited the Church of God in his time then a carte loade of the Lord Bishops in our time with all their great livings sumptuous estate And God so blessed his labours that almost the whole kingdome of Bohemia receaved the gospell and God for the mayntenance thereof sent unto them the invincible captaine Zisca Who if he now lived it is very like he should be called a Puritane for so precise he was as saith his history that he would not suffer any image or Idoll to be in the Churches Zisca Acts Mo. to pag 766. neither thought it to be borne withall that Priests should Minister with Copes or vestiments for the which cause he was much more envied amongst the States of Bohemia And a litle after upon his Tombe in his Epitaph it is thus written Eleaven times in ioyning battaile I went victor out of the feild I seemed worthily to haue defended the cause of the miserable and hungrie against the delicate fatt and glottonous Priests and for that cause to haue received helpe at the hand of God This cause is worthy to be noted for the which Zisca thought himselfe to be defended of God And after Zisca God for the maintenance of his gospell raysed up another who like a victorious Prince was called for his noble acts Procopius Magnus which feared not himselfe to come to the generall Counsell of Basill Procopius Magnus and there boldly and openly mainteyned the Gospell professed by him and his Bohemians so that it being objected against them as a great crime that they had taught the invention of the begging Fryers to be Diabolicall Acts Mo. to 1. edit 2 pag 779 Then Procopius rising up sayd It is not untrue For if neither Moses neither before him the Patriarks nether after him the Prophets neither in the new law Christ nor his Apostles did institute that order who doth doubt but that it was an invention of the Devill and a worke of darknes This rule and maxime of Divinitie being true and out of all doubt as the noble Procopius affirmeth then whēce commeth Pope Cardinall Patriarke Legate and likewise Metropolitanes Primats Archbishops Diocesanes Archdeacons Deanes Commissaries Officialls and such like but out of darknes and from the Devill for neither Moses nor the Patriarks before him nor the Prophets after him neither Christ nor his Apostles after him appoynted or instituted any such orders to be in the Church And in the fruitfull exhortation which the Bohemians wrote to all Kings Princes they all likewise say And if ye knew them as we know thē ye would as diligently destroy them as we doe Acts Mo. to 1. edit 1570 pag 775. For Christ our Lord did not ordayne any such order and therfore it must needs come to passe that shortly it shall be destroyed as our Lord saith in the Gospell of S. Mathew the 15 chapter Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shal be rooted up And a non after they say As long as they haue such goods they will never cease to be at strife with Lords Citties neither will they begin to teach you the true foundation of truth For they doe as a dogge which as long as he holdeth a bone in his mouth and knaweth it so long he holdeth his peace and cannot barke Even so as long as they haue this bone of pleasant riches they will never preach the Gospell truely Thus much of these Angells Messengers of God and bright starres sent of him into Bohemia to lighten the world with all which although through the iniquitie of the time they tollerated many corruptions yet they all agreed that the Lordly estate of the Prelats was the cause of all mischeife in the Church and according to the saying of M. Fox before noted pag 5◠by the geeat encrease of regiment and riches of Bishops there ensued agayne a monstrous regiment For within short time after although there remained in Bohemia certaine sparks raked up in the Ashes of those blessed Martyrs Wicliffe Husse Ierome of Prage that monstrous regiment of the Church grew to be far worse then it was before And the great Antichrist with his spouse the great whore of Babell both in glorious reigning cruell sheeding of bloud in all the parts of Christendom made all Kings and Princes his slaues and buchers and his spirituall Lords and Archlords as his owne creaturs devised and instituted by himselfe alwayes to be the Lords of his privie Counsell to the effectuall working of all his abominations For the time was not yet come appoynted by the high providence of God Revel 16 when the viale of the wrath of God should be powered out upon the throne of the beast But after one hundered yeares according to the Prophesie of Iohn Husse Ierome of Prage God raysed up Luther in the yeare of our Lord 1516. Luther being just one hūdred yeares after the burning of the sayd Iohn Ierome in the Counsell of Constance which was in the yeare 1416. Then according to their prophesie as it is writtē great Babilon came in remembrance before God to giue unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenes of his wrath Revelat 16 But before this great worke of God should be wrought it pleased him to giue unto her three notable preparatiues wherby her purging following might be so violent that even her bowels liver lungs heart life should at the last by continuall purging depart from her By these preparatiues I meane first the battaile between three Popes continuing almost fortie yeares fighting for the glorious throne of the Popedome whereby the whole world began to see that they were some of them knaves all And the very Counsell of Constance doth plainely affirme the same de heere S Peter prescribeth namely unto whom
vpon the Church of Sardis as a theife in the night and that they should not knowe vvhat hower he vvould come vpon them And to conclude that he vvould spue the luke warme Laodicians out of his mouth All vvhich greuous plagues in a short time fell vpon thos Churches of Asia And shall vvee escape if now in this great light of the Gospell vve retaine and maintayne any filthines of corruption in our Churches No God is not partiall neither vvith him is any variablenes neither shadowing by turnning Besides heer also it is vvorthly to be noted that among these seaven Churches of Asia representing all other thereis not one word spoken of an Archangel Archbishop or Lord Bishop that might over rule or governe all the rest vvhich in these our times are some of the greatest and most noisome corruptions vvhich doe overflowe all To vvhich purpose I heere set downe the vvords of M. Fox speaking of the first Primitiue Churches his vvords are these Act Mon. p 36 It is evident saith he to all men that haue eyes in their head c. that there was not then any one Mother Church aboue other Churches One Vniversall Church Militāt Invisible but the whole vniversall Church was the mother Church under which uniuersall Church in generall were comprehended all other particular Churches in speciall as sister Churches together not one greater then another but all in like equalitie c. But this ring of equalitie being broken all flewe in peeces Howbeit of this more shall be spoken God vvilling hereafter There remaineth now to speake of the third generall thing vvhich Christ heere commaundeth his servant Iohn to vvrite of namely Revel 1.19 the things that should come to passe cōcerning the Churches of God after the Apostles time to the end of the vvorld And how the Synagogue of Sathan and the vvhore of Babilon by litle and litle should creepe in and vvith her filthines endeavour to envenime the Churches till at the last she should become that glorious vvhore described in the 17. chapter clothed in scarlet and purple guilded vvith gold pretious stones and pearles and having a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations filthines of her fornication sitting upon the scarlet coullered Beast having seavē heads ten hornes and by her glorious power should banish the true Churches of God and make make them flie into the wildernes that is into secret places hidden and vnknowne vnto men But leaving the high estate of the Babilonish whore vvhich is the great Cittie that in Iohns time reigned over the Kings of the earth vvhich all men know vvas the Citie of Rome and now calleth her selfe the Catholique Church Leaving her as I haue said in her magnificence I vvill shew how by litle and litle she crept in and so at the last got vp vnto that her high estate Now this beginnyng of corruption both in doctrine and Discipline made no long delaye after the Apostles time Eusebius Hist Eccle For as Evsebius in his Ecclesiasticall History lib 3. cap 32. saith Vt vero et Apostolorum chorus c. As soone as the company of the Apostles and all that age which had received the hearing of the Lords owne liuely voyce was departed out of this world then as it were into an emptie house the wicked error of false doctrine thrust in and plunged her selfe Which thing also is euident by all Ecclesiasticall Histories as the heresie of Cerinthus sheweth about the yeare of our Lord 70. Which taught that the vvorld vvas not made of God but of Angells and that Circumcision vvas necessary to be observed and that the kingdome of Christ after the resurrection should be vpon the earth And likewise the heresy of the Ebionites about the yeare 85. Which taught that Christ vvas very man both by Father and Mother and that Moses law vvas necessary to be observed Thus daily many heresies and foule corruptions crept in so that by the time that Augustine and Epiphanius lived they vvrote speciall books against heresies to the number of an hundred severall heresies of note cōtayning all of them great corruptions some in doctrine and manners some in Discipline and orders of the Church Which corruption in Church-Discipline was often times the cause of the hereticall doctrine And heerin I purpose God assisting me cheifly at this time to insist shewing what the auncient Fathers of the Primitiue Church did practise teach in these pointes of religion now controversied among vs and likwise what the lightes of the gospell the blessed Martyrs of God from age to age since even vnto this day haue also practised and taught touching the same And this I doe the rather because many excellent men haue alreadie by manifold reasons grounded and taken out of the word of God proved that there ought to be a full reformation both in Doctrine and Discipline according to that order in the Church which Christ and his Apostles left Which must be acknowledged to be the onely sure ground of proofe for all pointes of controversie in the Church of God But because the enimyes of ful true Reformation of religion doe yet after the old fashion rest vpon custome antiquitie and auncient Fathers I haue thought good to follow this course before named that it might be plainely seene both how the cheife of the auncient Fathers and also of the principall lights set vp by the Lord in the deapth of the darknes of Antichrist with one voyce agrement taught practised and proved the same both by the scriptures and manifold reasons grounded thereon touching the matters of reformation now desired And heerin I thinke good for example before I enter into the rest to set downe out of Epiphanius the heresie of Audianus which heretickes were afterward called Anthropomorphits who being thrust out of the Church as simple men in time lacking learned teachers fell into a perswasiō and beleife that God was like vnto a man whereof they tooke the name of their heresie Erat autem vir a Mesopotamia oriundus clarus in patria sua c. Epiphanius de Heres Audianus saith Epiphanius was a man by birth of Mesopotamia a famous man in his owne Countrie for the sinceritie of his life and of faith and Zeale towards God which often beholding the things that were done in the Churches he did oppose himselfe against such evills even to the face of the Bishops and Elders and did reproue them saying These things ought not to be soe done these thinges ought not to be soe handled as a man studious of the veritie and of such thinges as are spoken by men which lead a most exacte life and are vsually spoken for loue of the truth Wherefore Audianus seeing such thinges as I haue said in the Churches he was driven to speake and confute it and kept not silence For if he saw any of the Cleargie to seeke after filthy luker whether he were Bishop or
that thou alwayes be mindfull of vs. August epist â—â— Likewise Ierome writing to Augustine saith Domino vere sancto et beatissimo Papae Augustino Hierenimus in Domino salutem To the right holie and most blessed Pope Augustine Ierome wisheth health in the Lord. The very same words also are vsed vnto Augustine in his epistle 21. And so likewise in the rest Neither doe I speake these things to condemne those excellent auncient Fathers who otherwise many yeares were singular instruments profited greatly the Church of God but to shew how great a buses crept in duringe the most pure times like as hath been before said even in the time of the Apostles themselues and after more more vnto the full setting up of Antichrist the Pope that great Papa the Bishop of Rome who alone gat this naÌ„e Papa Pope at the last to be peculiar proper to himselfe Thus growing vp by little and litle from the first beginnyng of the petie Papa vntill he and all his cleargie with him came vp vnto their full perfection and papisticall dignitie Which time when it drew neere errours and most enormous and shamefull abuses crept not in by litle and litle but were throwne in by shouelles full and cart loads And further I noted it to set forth the wonderfull providence of God without which nothing is done in heaveÌ„ earth or hell To set such manifest charecters and markes vpon the first beginnings of mischeife which although it could hardlie be discerned in the beginnings thereof yet in the event and full high estate wherevnto they grew a very child might vnderstand perceaue and see it So that at the lenght when the new light of the gospell should shine even the old and first originall errors might therby the better be corrected For in Prophecies mysteries it must alwayes be obserued which that most auncient Father Ireneus saith in his 4. booke 43. chapter Omnis enim prophetia priusquam habet efficaciaÌ„ c. All prophecies saith he before they haue the effect be as it were riddles ambiguities vnto men but when the time is come and that is come to passe which is prophesied then the prophesies haue a cleare and vndoubted exposition So we see in this mysterie of Papa or Pope when it first began it was such an aenigma as was almost vnpossible to vnderstand wherevnto the old Serpent ment to bring it But now the event thereof being come and the Angell betweene heaven and earth preaching the everlastinge Gospell and setting up the new light thereof in many Nations and Churches every man that wincketh not may see it Now therefore to proceede as Augustine saith in his 18. booke and Second chapter of the Cittie of God That it may the better appeare how Babilon the first Rome keepeth her course with the Citie of God whom shee maketh a pilgrime or stranger in this world When the name of Pope had thus possessed the Bishops whereof many were both godly and learned yet they never drempt of the mischeif that followed nor of the great Papa the Pope that man of sinne even the sonne of perdition that exalteth himselfe against all that is called God and sitteth in the temple of God sheewing himselfe that he is God The mystery of which iniquity began to worke even in the Apostle Pauls time How be it the godly Fathers as I said little suspecting any such matter laboured tooth and nayle to keepe under the Pompe pride and ambition of the Bishops Pastors of the Church which they saw now began to grow both in riches and regiment and which after their time grew in few yeares beyond all measure But because I shall haue occasion to use the examples and doctrine of the auntient learned and godly Fathers against the poÌ„pe pride and lordly estate of Bishops A sufficient maiÌ„tenance is due to the ministery And what it may be least I should seeme to be injurous and prejudiciall to the sufficiencie of honor living and maintenance which both by the word of God and by the iudgment of the auncient Fathers doth of right belong vnto all Pastors Bishops or ministers of the word and which the authority of all christian Magistrats Princes ought to provide for theÌ„ I will adventure to set downe a proportion of such estate and living as I am fully perswaded doth of right and by the law of God appertaine vnto them and ought by Princes and Magistrats to be appoynted and provided for them Wherein I cannot but obserue the most excellent and honorable advice and charge which the Kings Majestie in his owne booke giveth vnto his Sonne our Noble Prince As first in his preface he saith I exhort my Sonne to be benificiall vnto the ministrie Basilicon doâ—oÌ„ praysing God that there is presently a sufficient number of good men of them in this kingdome of Scotland and yet are they all knowne to be against the forme of the English Church And in his second booke his Majestie chargeth him that he should see all the Churches within his Dominions planted with good Pastors the Scholes the Seminarie of the Church maintained the doctrine and Discipline preserved in puritie according to Gods word and sufficient provision for their sustentation It perteineth therefore to the duety of Princes to see that there be a sufficient provision for the sustentation and maintenance of their Pastors and suerly Gods law doth expresly requier it And as the law of God doth evidently forbid them a Lordly estate so it doth vtterly condemne the beggerly and miserable estate of the Pastors and preachers of his word Wherefore the law saith Beware that thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou shalt be vpon the earth Vpon which place M. Calvine saith Deut 12 Moses addeth That the people should beware in any wise that they defrauded them not of their right And not without cause For as I haue told you before saith M. Calvine God had appoynted them of purpose to serue him Calvin and the greater parte of them also to teach his people that his law might be knowne Seeing it was so it was good reason that they should haue wherewith to finde and maintaine them For in very deede aparte of the inheritaunce belonged to them because they were descended of the linage of Abraham But God put them from it to the end they should not be troubled neither with tilling of the ground nor with any other businesses but onely giue them selues wholly to the doeing of their office And it is not without cause that Moses plainly exhorteth the people to doe their duety in this behalfe for wee see the vnthankfulnes of the world They Idolaters can finde in their hearts to mainteine their Preists and they spare for no cost but as for them that serue God purely there is commonly no account made of them as hath been seene in all times And further he saith And if it were in the worlds
choice it had alwayes lever to maintaine a whole Covent of Munks and Canons to houle out with full gorge than to find one Preacher that would speake as he ought to doe And surely it is plainely seene at this day in the Popery and in such places where such reliques of Popery are left that they had rather maintaine their Lord Bishops all though they be unpreaching Prelats with many thowsand pounds of yearely revenues then good Pastors and diligent Preachers with a hundred or twaine Prov. 30.6 But to this purpose the words of Agur in the 30 of the Proverbes are worthy to be noted Where he saith Every word of God is pure he is a sheild to those that trust in him Put nothing vnto his words least he reproue thee and thou be found a lyer Two things haue I requyred of thee denie me them not before I dye Remoue far from me vanity and lyes Giue me not povertie nor riches feed me with foode convenient for me least I be full and denie thee and say who is the Lord Or least I be poore steale and take the name of God in vaine And marke that he saith deny me not them before I dye that is grant me these two things not for a day or a time or for a yeare or two But that I may enioye them Lavater in Proverbs and obserue them all the dayes of my life Which thinge Lavater in his Commentarie upon those wordes rightly understandeth Saying Nec tantum postulavit ad diem c. Neither doe the Prophete to this purpose make this request for a day or for a Moneth or for a yeare or two but for all the time of his life For this it signifieth which he saith denie me not vntill I dye that is to say as long as ever I shall liue In which words it is manifest that Agur in his Prophecie speaking as he was mooved by the holy Ghost setteth downe himselfe as a patterne for all the Prophets Pastors and Teachers of the word of God What manner of state and living they ought to desire and of right ought to be given vnto them Namely a meane estate betweene poverty and riches neither to set them vp like Lords nor to tread them downe like beggers neither to pamper them with the abundance of many thowsands nor to abase them with lesse then one hundred And this the Apostle Paule doth plainely confirme in his Epistle to the Corinthians where he saith Doe ye not knowe that they which minister about the holy things â— Cor 9 13 14. eate of the things of the Temple And they which waite at the Alter are partakers with the Alter So also hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell Vppon which place saith M. Musculus and with him to the same effecte all the best Commentaries both of the Protestants late writers Musc in 1. Cor. and also of the auncient Fathers Vivant inquit Victus necessitas vivendi verbo expressa est vt intelligas tantum victus deberi ex evangelio Christi ministro quantum ad necesiariam vitae sustentationem sufficere potest non quantum delitiae et luxus exigunt Should liue saith he the necessitie of foode sustentation is expressed by the word liue that thou shouldest vnderstand that such a lyving is due for the preaching of the Gospell vnto the Minister of Christ as may suffice to the necessary sustentation of life and not such a living as delicacie requiers And old Barnard upon the same place Bernard which though according to the proverbe he saw not all yet saw he so much that he saith Vivat de altari iuxta Apostulum alimenta et quibus tegatur habens his contentus sit vivat non superbiat non luxurietur denique non ditetur nec ex clericatu ditior fiat He ought to liue of the Alter as the Apostle saith that is having foode and rayment let him there with be content he should liue of the Gospell saith Barnard and not to be puft up and not liue delicatly not be made rich of the gospell to conclude by his Ecclesiasticall office he should be made never the richer And here I thinke good likewise to set downe touching the same matter the words of our blessed Martir and reverent Father Doctor Barnes answeryng them that sayd they sold not the word of God but receaved the reward of their labours Barnes pag 265 Tell me saith D. Barnes ye that be without shame if you doe sell but your labours Is it not a soare and vnlawfull price to sell it so deare what Bishop can deserue by his labour a thowsand poundes by the yeare and yet some of them haue a great deale more and labour nothing at all How deare would these men sell their labours if they should be Tanker bearers they would make water dearer then wine Yea tell me what labour there is within the Realme that is halfe so deare sould as their idlnes is But O you bellie gods did not Christs Apostles take paines and labour about the ministration of the word And in fulfilling of their office more in one day then you doe in all your liues and yet was it not lawfull for them more to receiue then a living For our M. Christ said the worke man is worthy of his meate so that our Master would that they should receaue noe more but that was necessary Also S. Paule saith Our Lord did ordaine that they which preach the gospell should liue on the gospell Now which of you all doth preach the gospell Not one and yet will you enioye those innumerable possessions S. Ierome saith one this same text Chrys in â— Tit. 9 You must liue of the Gospell but not be rich Also Chrisostome saith I say bouldy that the Bishops and Prelats of the Church may haue nothinge but meate and drinke and clothinge least they should set their affections uppon those thinges Heere haue you plainely saith Doctor Barnes that if you did labour faithfully and truely in the gospell you could haue but a living thereon and no Lordly possessions And thus far D. Barnes one of our owne English Ecclesiasticall reverend Fathers and blessed Martir of God Now the Apostle in the same chapter proueth that the Preachers of the Gospell ought to haue not onely a bare living but also maintenance when he saith 1 Cor. 9.3 4 5 6 My defence to them that examine me is this Haue we not power to eate and drinke Or haue we not power to leade about a wife being a sister as well as the rest of the Apostles and as the brethren of the Lord Cephas Or I onely and Barnabas haue not we power not to worke By these words it is most manifestly and cleerly proved that the Preachers of the Gospell with their wiues and houshoulds should haue such a sufficiency of lyving as might maintaine them in good sorte with out
to the institution of Christ and his Apostles If he haue bread wine a table and a faire table cloth let him not be solicitous nor carefull for the rest seeing they be not thinges brought in by Christ but by Popes unto whom if the Kings Maiestie and honorable Counsell haue good conscience they must be restored agayne And great shame it is for a Noble King Emperour or Magistrat contrary to Gods word to detaine and keepe from the Divell or his minster any of their goods or treasure As the Candles vestiments crosses Altars for if they be kept in the Church as thinges indifferent at length they wil be mainteyned as things necessary If a Preacher now I will not say before a King but before a Lord Bishop should so plainely affirme that vestiments surplices and crossing are of the Divell he should be sure himselfe with his wife children not only to be turned out of doores like dogs but also from preaching of the Gospell of Christ As many excellent Preachers haue been of late yeares though many hundred dumme dogges haue and doe keepe their place within this Realme of England And of the Ceremony of kneeling at the Communion he saith ib. post The outward behaviour and gesture of the receiver should want all kind of Superstition shew or inclination of Idolatrie Wherefore seeing kneeling is a shew and external signe of the honoring worshiping and heretofore hath grevous and damnable Idolatrie ben committed by the honoring of the Sacraments I could wish it were commanded by the Magistrates that the communicators receavers should do it standing or sitting but sitting in my opinion were best And afterward he proveth the same by the example of Christ who together with his Apostles receaved it sitting And agayne in his third Sermon before the King Sermon 3 he saith Yet doe I much marvail that in the same booke it is appoynted that he that will be admitted to the ministerie of Gods word or his Sacrments must com in white vestimēts which seemeth to repugne plainely with the former doctrine that confessed the onely word of God to be sufficient And certainely I am sure they haue not in the word of God that thus a Minister should be apparelled nor yet in the Primitiue best Church And in his first Sermon upon Ionas Sermon 1 he saith This is the note and marke to know the Bishops and Ministers of God from the Ministers of the Divel by the preaching tongue of the Gospell and not by the shining clipping vestiments and outward apparell And in his Epistle to the Kings Majestie Epistle to King Edw. he saith And a thowsand times the rather shall your Maiestie restore agayne the true ministerie of the Church in case ye remoue and take away all the monuments tokens and leavings of papistrie For as long as any of them remaine there remaineth also occasion of relapse unto the abolished superstition of Antichrist And to the poynt matter of Excommunication in his Apologie against them that accused him to be a mainteiner of such as cursed Q. Mary which Apologie was set forth and allowed according to the order appoynted in Queene Elizabeths Injūctions 1562. If they knew Gods lawes saith M. Hooper as they doe not indeed they should see and finde that no ordinary excommunication should be used by the Bishop alone but by the Bishop and all the whole parish c. Also when the incestious man was excommunicated S. Paul alone did not excommunicat him but Saint Paules consent and the whole Church with him A declara of the 8 com And to the Lordships of Bishops upon the eight commandement these be his words They know that the Primitiue Church had no such Bishops as be now a dayes as examples testifie untill the time of Silvester the first A litle and a litle riches crept so into the Church that men sought more her then the wealth of the people And so increased within few yeares that Bishops were made Prinees and Princes were made servants So that they haue set them up with their almes and liberalitie in so high honor that they cannot pluck them down agayne with all the force they haue what blindnes is there be fall in the world that cannot see this palpallie that our Mother the holy Church had at the beginning such Bishops as did preach many godly sermons in less time then our Bishops horses be a brideling c The Magistrats that suffer the abuse of these goods be culpable of the fault And anō after he saith They should be reasonably provided for and the rest and over plus taken from them and put to some other godly use Looke upon the Apostles cheifly and upon all their successors for the space of 400. yeares And then thou shalt see good Bishops and such as diligently applyed that painfull office of a Bishop to the glory of God and honor of the Realmes they dwelt in Though they had not so much upon their heads as our Bishops haue yet had they more within their heads as the Scriptures and histories testifie for they applyed all the wit they had unto the vocation and ministery of the Church wherunto they were called Our Bishops haue so much wit that they can rule and serue as they say in both states viz. In the Church and also in the civill pollicie when one of them is more then one is able to satisfie let him doe alwayes his best diligence If he be so necessary for the Court that in civill causes amd giving of good counsell he cannot be spared Pope and all the Popish apparell before his death And first in his letter to M. Grindall he saith We Pastors many of us were to cold and bare to much alas with the wicked world Ridley Acts Mo pag 1902. edit 1570. our Magistrats did abuse to their owne worldly gayne both Gods Gospell and the Ministers of the same And anon after hc sheweth how earnestly he maketh his prayer for them that were banished for the word of God for all those Churches which haue forsaken the kingdome of Antichrist professed openly the puritie of the Gospell of Iesus Christ Where marke that he prayeth for them that professe not onely the Gospell but even the puritie of the Gospell In his Epistle to M. Hooper himselfe Epistle Rid. to Hooper he acknowledgeth his former fault with these wordes Howsoever in times past in smaler matters and circumstances of religion your wisedome and my simplicitie I confesse haue in some things varied c. Now I say c. I loue you and the truth for the truth sake which abideth in us But most plainely he acknowledgeth his fault when it pleased God to draw him neerer unto himself by scourging him with the same whippe wherewith he had whipped his fellow Elder M. Hooper Act. Mon pag 1677 edit 1570 as he himselfe calleth him in his Epistle For when M. Ridley was commanded to