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
Bishop Because so the order prescribed by Gods word in the ordination of such persons is omitted and violated as it may most plainly appeare Even because all the right and voyce giving both of the Ecclesiasticall Senat and of the christian people is most wretchedly taken away from them by this meanes in this kind of Ecclesiasticall callings and with great tyrannie and abuse translated to one certayne man the Bishop The Lord God of his great mercy amend these corruptions which are yet and are defended in his Churches which surely will at length draw 〈…〉 great ruine of Gods Church and will make the holy Ministery of Gods words either mercenary or altogether contemned and base Which God turne away D. 〈◊〉 Answer to the Count. Laval quest 3. After him we will ad D. Tilenus his iudgment unto the Earle of Lavall in France Who demanding whether the calling to the Ministery be necessary and from whom Calvin had his calling Tilenus answeren First that it is necessary And then that Calvin had his calling from the Church of Geneva and from Farell his predecessor who had also his from the people of Geneva who had right and authoritie to institute and depose Ministers For so declareth S. Cyprian saying that the people obeying to the commandements of God should seperat themselues from a wicked guid Câ—pr epist 〈…〉 and not to meddle with the sacrifices of any Sacrilegious Priest considering that the sayd people haue chiefe authoritie to make choyse of worthy persons and to reiect the vnworthy This was so practised by the people of Geneva and in divers other parts of Evrope where in these latter times they did forsake those sacrilegious Priests and sacrifices of the Pope for to establish faithfull Ministers and proclamers of the Gospell To be short the Reformed Churches had their calling and sending partly from God and partly from the people and partly froÌ„ the Church of Rome From God as the chiefe cause from the people as by lawfull instruments from the Church of Rome as by a corrupt instrument God gaue the essence and the forme interior to this sending the reformed Church gaue testimonies and approbations and the exterior forme the Church of Rome hath added thereto abuses and corruptions which our suceeeding Ministers haue renounced There resteth now for further proofe of these matters before spoken of to rehearse the judgment and words of divers of our owne English writers and blessed Martirs which agree with those Fathers and lights of the Gospell in other Countries before cited And first having sufficiently spoken alreadie of Wicklife that first light of the gospell set up with us in the middest of the Antichristian darknes L. Cobham Fox pa 669 edit 1570 I will begin with the noble Martir the Lord Cobham who in defence of the sayd Wickliffe saith As for that vertuous man Wickliffe whose iugdments ye so highly disdayne I shall say heere for my part both before God and man that before I knew that despised doctrin of his I never abstained from sinne But since I learned therein to feare my Lord God it hath otherwise I trust been with me somuch grace could I never find in all your instructions And what the doctrine of Wickliffe was and how like a Lordly Prelat he lived I referre the reader to that which hath been before spoken of him pag 57. But the Lord Cobham beyng charged with the decrees of holie Church answerd I know none holier then Christ and his Apostles And as for that determination I wote it is none of theirs for it standeth not with the scriptures but manifestly against theÌ„ If it be the Churches as you say it is It hath been hers onely since she receaved the great poyson of worldly possessions not afore And a non after agayne he saith For since the venime of Iudas was shed into the Church ye never followed Christ neither haue ye stand in the perfection of Gods law Then the Archbishop asked him what he meÌ„t by that venime The Lord Cobham said your possessions and Lordships For then cried an Angell in the aire as your owne chronicles mention woe woe woe this day is venime shed into the Church of God Heere you see plainely by this noble Martirs iudgment that the Lordship of Bishops and their possessions was the very curse of God vpon the Church and the very poyson that turned her froÌ„ And in his Practise of Popish Prelats Prelats appoynted to preach Christ Pract. of prelats pa 342 may not leaue Gods word and Minister temporall offices but ought to teach the lay people the right way and to let them alone with all temporall busines And aftherward he saith They that haue the oversight of Christs flocke may be no Emperours Kings Duks Lords Knights temporall Iudges or any temporall officer or under false names haue any such dominion And a none after he saith Mathew the 20. Christ called his Disciples unto him and said Ye know that the Lords of the heathen people haue dominion over them and they that be great doe exercise power over them howbeit it shall not be so among you But whosoever wil be great among you shall be your Minister and he that will be chiefe shall be your servant even as the Sonne of man came not that meÌ„ should Minister unto him but for to Minister giue his life for the redemption of many Wherefore the officers in Christs kingdom may haue no temporall dominion or iurisdiction nor execute any temporall authoritie or law of violence nor haue any like manner among them And in his booke of Obedience he saith Let Kings take their dutie of their subiects and that necessary unto the defence of the Realme Obed. of achr pa 124. let them rule the realmes themselues with the heelp of lay men that are sage wise learned and expert Is it not a shame aboue all shames and a monstrous thing that no man should be found able to governe in a worldly kingdom saue Bishops and Prelats that haue forsaken the world and are taked out of the world and appoynted to preach the kingdome of God Christ saith that his kingdom is not of this world Ioh. 18. Lvke 12. Vnto the young man that desired him to bid his brother to giue him part of the inheritance he answered who made me a judge a devider among you No man that layeth his hand to the plough and looketh backe is apt for the kingdom of heaven Luke 9. No man can serue two Masters but he must despise the one Mat 6. To Preach Gods word is to much for halfe a man And to Minister a temporall kingdome is to much for halfe a man also Either other requyreth an whole man One therefore cannot do both well And after in the same booke he saith An other sort of the Prelats are of the Kings secret Counsell 16 pag 152. Woe unto the Realmes where they are of the Counsell as profitable are
him Tell me saith Harpsfield were not the Apostles Bishops Brad No except you will make a new definition of a Bishop that is giue him no certaine place Harps Indeede the Apostles office was not the Bishops office for it was vniuersall But yet Christ instituted Bishops in the Church as Paul saith He hath giuen Pastors Prophets c. so that I trow it be proved by the scripturs the succession of Bishops to be an essentiall poynt Brad The ministery of Gods word and ministers be an essentiall point But to translate this to the Bishops and their succession is a plaine subtiltie And therefore that it may be plaine I will aske you a question Tell me whether that the scriptures know any difference betwene Bishops Ministers which ye call priests Harpsfield No. Brad Well then goe on forwards and let vs see what ye shall get now by the succession of Bishops that is of Ministers which cannot be understood of such Bishops as Minister not but Lord it Wherein every Reader may obserue these things First that the Apostles were not Bishops for that a Bishop must haue a certaine place and a flocke to feede wherein he must be resident And not like an Apostle or Evangelist to travell from flocke to flocke from place to place Secondly by the scripture there is no difference between a Bishop and a Minister which is so cleere and manifest that the very Papist himselfe is driven to coÌ„fesse it Thirdly that it being true which the most rankest Papist for shame cannot denie that by the scripture Bishops Ministers differ not Then the glorious succession of the Pope and all his Diocesan and Lordbishops are utterly overthrowne For as M. Bradford saith What Lordly estate can any Bishop get when he ought not to differ from the poore and meane estate of a Minister Fourthly that they are Papists which will haue a Minister of the Gospell to be called a Priest for tell me saith Bradford whether the scripture know any difference between a Bishop and a Minister which you call a Priest Heereunto I will annexe some few sayings out of M. Iohn Bale Bale who being in Germanie wrote divers bookes and sent them hither wherby England receaved great light knowledg and was of such name note in Germanie that Pantalio that learned Germaine in his Ecclesiasticall Chronicles setteth him downe among the three speciall Englishmen which together with Bucer Peter Martyr preached the Gospell in England during King Edwards time To whom Queene Elizabeth in her very young dayes when she had translated a booke of French into English sent â—omilies Yet will I hereunto adde one place out of our owne English Homilies appoynted to be read publikely in our Churches at this day Our Saviour Christ saith our English Homilie against wilfull rebellion teaching by his doctrine that his kingdome was not of this world did by example in flieing from those that would haue made him King confirme the same expresly also forbidding his Apostles and by them the whole Cleargie of all princelie dominion over people and Nations and he with his Apostles likewise namely Peter Paule did forbid unto all Ecclesiasticall Ministers dominion over the Church of Christ which words are there referred to these places of scripture Math. 20. d 25. Mar. 10. f 42. Luk. 22. e 25. Math 23 a 8. Luke 9 f 46. 2 Cor 1. d 24. 1 Pet 5.1.2.3.4.5 Seeing therefore Christ and his Apostles both by their example practise course of their whole life and also by their doctrine and all the cheifest of the auncient Fathers in the Primitiue Church likewise by their doctrine practise of life And seeing all the principall lights of the Gospell which God hath set up from time to time in the deepe darknes of Antichrist together with all the godlie Martyrs lights of the Gospell both in other Nations and specially in this our owne Realme of England do so vehemently set forth the deformitie and require reformation of those abuses in this treatise mentioned and spoken of yet in our Churches in England remayning unreformed Doe my Lords the Bishops trow you which stand so fircely in defence of those shamefull enormities against such a cloud and multitude of witnesses being the most learned holy men and Martyrs Doe they yet I say expect till the beasts of the feild the foules of the ayre and the very stones of the streete should crie for reformation What is it possible to thinke that they themselues doe not see and know that the Pluralitie of benefices Nonresidencies the horrible abuse of excommunication and such like are untollerable thinges in a Christian Churche Yet not one of these they list to amend I will hereunto joyne the prayer of that excellent learned man Doctor Fulke in his Sermon at Hampton Court Fulk in Queene Elizabeths time printed dedicated to the Earle of Warwike in which having proved most learnedly the Pope to be the very Antichrist spoken of by the Apostle and Rome to be undoubtedly the whore of Babilon spoken of in the Revelation concludeth his sermon with this prayer saying Let us therefore pray unto Almightie God instantly that all men in their vocation may seeke the utter overthrow and destruction of Babilon that Princes and Magistrats may according to the Prophesies of them hate her with a perfect hatred and utterly abolish whatsoever belongeth to her that they may reward her as she hath rewarded us and giue her double punishmeÌ„t according to her workes and in the cup of affliction that she hath powered forth for us they may power forth double as much to her And looke how much she hath glorified her selfe and lived in wantonnes which was without measure so much they may bestow upon her of sorrow and torments That Preachers and Ministers of Gods word may playnlie and without dissimulation or halting discover her wickednes and earnestly to vrge whatsoever hath need of perfect reformation that all subiects may continue in holy obedience first to God and then to their Prince to the advancing of the honor glorie of God through Iesus Christ c. And surely all men without exception which wil be saved by Christ must in their vocation and degree not coldly but fircely fight against Antichrist And specially now when the first Angell hath powred out his Viall upon the throne of the beast so that his kingdom waxeth darke Rev. 16.10 Even now all men ought to seeke the overthrow and the utter destruction of Babilon and not to be weried with the tediousnes of time nor to giue over for the pleasures worldly profitts of this life And not to say as the wicked did in the dayes of the Prophet Malachi What profit is it that we haue kept his commandement Mal. 3 14 15 16.17 and that we walked humblie before the Lord of hosts Therfore we count the proud blessed even they that worke wickednes are set up and they that
a holy Senat of Elders which dilligently warned theÌ„ that transgressed in the Church corrected them sharply yea and excluded them out of the Ecclesiassticall fellowship namely if they perccaved that there was no hope of a mendment to be looked for in them But in the latter times the Popes Bishops tyrannically taking that kind of punishment into their hands and excercising it sacrilegiously contrary to the first institution haue turned an wholsome medicine into an hurtfull poyson making it abominable both to the good and bad Behold what fruit this alteratioÌ„ of Gods order ordinaÌ„ce in the Church hath brought by taking away the Eldership from the Church or Congregation and committing it unto the Bishops who by their Lordly authority tyrannically saith M. Bullinger tooke it from the Church into their owne handes and that even in some places where the light of the Gospell is set upon the golden candlesticks thereof whereby they haue turned an wholsome medicine into an hurtfull poyson making it abominable both to the good and bad as in all Queene Elizabeths time we might see heere in England that by their Lordly power oftentimes for such a trifling matter as an honest Magistrat would haue been a shamed to laye a man by the heeles they were not a shamed to commit a christian to the Devill And shewing what the Elders were he sayth Wherefore the Elders in the Church of Christ are either Bishops or otherwise prudent learned men added to Bishops that they may the more easily beare the burden layd upon them Decad 5 sermon 3 and that the Church of God may the better and more conveniently be governed For Paule saith The Elders that rule well let them be counted worthy of double honor most specially they which labour in the word and doctrine 1 Tim â— There were therefore certaine other in the Ecclesiasticall function who albeit they did not teach by and by as did the Bishops yet were they present with them that taught in all businesses Perhaps they are called of the same Apostle elsewhere Govenours 1. Cor. 1 â—â— that is to say which are set in authority concernyng discipline and other affayres of the Church And in this poynt with Bullinger M. Peter Martyr most playnely agreeth He that ruleth well etc. Martyr in Rom. 1 2 This me thinketh saith M. Martyr is most fitlie to be understood of Elders not in very deed of them which had charge of the word and of doctrine But of those which were appoynted as assistants unto the Pastors they as being the discreter sorte indeed with a greater zeale godlines were chosen out from among the laitie Their office was cheifly to attend unto Discipline c. And touching the Lordship of Bishops where it is objected against theÌ„ that think Bishops should be no Lords that they would mainteine the Anabaptisticall opinion which deny Magistracie and the authoritie of Kings and Princes M. Bullinger confuteth the Anabaptists with the selfe same reason and scripture whereby he proveth that Bishops should be no Lords Decad 2 sermon 9 And unlesse that Christians saith Bullinger when they are once made Kings should continue in their office and governe kingdoms according to the rule and lawes of Christ how I beseech you should Christ be called King of Kings Lord of Lords Therfore when he said Kings of nations haue dominion over them but so shall not ye be He spake to his Apostles who stroue among themselues for the cheife and highest dignitie As if he should haue sayd Princes which haue dominion in the world are not by my doctrine displaced of their seates nor put besids their thrones for the Magistrats authority is of force still in the world and in the Church also The King or Magistrate shall reigne but so shall not yee ye shall not reigne ye shall not be Princes but teachers of the world and Ministers of the Churches Thus breifely saith he I haue answered to the Anabaptists obiections And againe upon the very same matter in like sort in the 5 Decade and 2 sermon citing the lik place of Peter Not as though ye were Lords over Gods heritage saith he Peter speaketh not of any Empire and Lordship yea by expresse words he forbids Lordly dignitie For even as he is appoynted of the Lord a Minister and an Elder not a Prince and a Pope so also he appoynted no Princes in the Church but Ministers and Elders who with the word of Christ should feed Christs flocke And upon that place of Luke the 22 The Kings of the Gentiles raigne over theÌ„ they that beare rule over theÌ„ are called gratious Lords c. Decad 3 sermon 3 This simple and playne truth saith M. Bullinger shall coÌ„tinue invincible against all the disputations of these Harpyes The most holy Apostles of our Lord Christ will not be Lords over any man under pretence of religion yea S. Peter in playne words forbiddeth Lordship over Gods heritage and commandeth Bishops to be examples to the flocke Marke how M. Bullinger applyeth this place of scripture and how bitterly he speaketh agaiÌ„st the Lordship of Bishops calling them Harpyes that is monstrous birds having maiden visages and talens of a mischevous and marveilous capacitie But before in the same sermon he sayth In the order of Bishops and Elders from the beginnyng there was singular humilitie charitie and concord no contention or strife for prerogatiue or titles or dignity For all acknowledg themselues to be the Ministers of one Master coequall in all thinges touching office or charge He made them unequall not in office but in gifts by the excellencie of gifts And therfore in the first Decad second sermon he saith Did not Christ himselfe refuse a crowne upon earth And did not he that is Lord of all minister Doth not he himselfe disallow that any Minister should seeke any prerogatiue no not in respect of Eldership He that is greatest among you saith he let him be as the youÌ„ger He therefore commandeth an equallitie amongst them all And therefore S. Ierom iudgeth rightly saying that by the custom of man and not by the authoritie of God some one of the Elders should be placed over the rest and called a Bishop wheras of old time an Elder or Minister Bishop were of equall honor power and dignitie And it is to be observed that S. Ierom speaketh not of the Romish Monarchie but of every Bishop placed in every Citie aboue the rest of the ministers And to answer the objection which is made in defence of the Lordbishops that they take not upon them civill offices and Lordly dignities but by their Princes Magistrats it is layd upon them and given them he saith Shall we beleiue that Peter would haue receaved secular power with imperiall goverment if the Emperour Nero had profered it him No in no wise for this word of the Lord tooke deepe roote in his inward bowels But it shall not be so
they verily unto the Realmes with their Counsell as the Wolues unto the sheepe or the Foxes unto the geese And therefore in another place of that booke he saith As thou Canst heale no disease except thou begin at the roote 16 pag 114 even so canst thou Preach against no mischeife except thou begin at the Bishops Which saying of M. Tindale agreeth well with that the Prophet Ieremie saith From the Prophets of Ierusalem is wickednes gon foorth into all the land Iere 23 25. From the false Prophets before Christ as from the fountaine wickednes went forth over all the land and so from the false Bishops of the new Testamēt as from the roote wickednes groweth over all the Churches And speaking of these false Bishops M. Tindall saith They say that Peter was cheife of the Apostles verily as Appelles was called cheife of the Painters for his exeellent conning aboue other Pract. of prelats pa. 343. even so Peter may be called cheife of the Apostles for his activitie and boldnes aboue the other but that Peter had any authority or rule over his brethren and fellow Apostles is false and contrary to the scripture Christ forbad it in the last even before his passion and divers times before and taught alwayes the contrary as I haue rehearsed But saith M. Tindall the Popes kingdome is of this world For there one sort are your Grace your Holines your Fatherhood another my Lordbishop my Lord Abbot my Lord Prior c And in his defence of the English translation against that famous Papist More speaking of the names of Bishops Elders and Priest he saith All that were called Elders or Priests if they so will were called Bishops also though they haue devided the names now which thing thou maist evidently see by the first chapter of Titus and Acts 20. other places moe And when he layeth Timothie unto my charge how he was young then he weneth that he hath won his guilden spurres But I will pray him to shew me where he readeth that Paul called him Presbyteros Preist or Elder I durst not then call him Episcopus properly as he doth For these Overseers which we now call Bishops after the Greeke word were alwayes byding in one place to governe the Congregation there And touching unpreaching Ministers thus he writeth In what case stand they then expo Mat. 5 that haue benefices preach not Verely though they stand at the Altar yet are they excommunicate cast out of the living Church of Allmightie God And againe he saith Bishops and Preists that preach not are none of Christs nor non of his anoynting Obedi of achr pag 135 expo Mat 5 but servants of the beast whose marke they beare And touching the Election of Ministers he sayth Every man then may be a common preacher thou wilt say and preach every where by his owne authoritie Nay verely No man may yet be a common Preacher saue he that is called and chosen therto by the common ordinance of the Congregation And for Pluralities thus he speaketh even to the King and his Lords Now I appeale to the consciences of the Kings grace Pract. of prelats pa. 374. and his Lords what answer they will giue when they come before Christ in the last iudgment for their robbing of so many parishes of Gods word with holding every man so many chaplines in their houses with Pluralities of Benefices Obed. of achristi man pag 122. Now furthermore let us heare what this excellent light of the Gospell saith of the Oath yet in our spirituall Courts called the Oath Ex officio his words are these Let them iudge and condemne the trespasser under lawfull witnesses and not breake up into the consciences of men after the example of Antichrists Disciples and compell them either to forswere themselues by the Allmightie God and by the holy Gospell of his mercifull promise or to testifie against themselues Which abomination our Prelats learned of Caiaphas Math. 26. saying to Christ I adjure or charge thee in the name of the lyving God that thou tell us whether thou be Christ the Sonne of God Let that which is secret to God onely whereof no proofe can be made nor lawfull witnes brought abide unto the comming of the Lord which shall open all secreats If any malice breake forth that let them iudge onely for further authoritie God hath not given them And agayne in the same booke he saith I warned the Iudges that they take not an ensample how to Minister their offices pag 178 of our spiritualty which are bought and sold to do the will of Satan but of the Scripture whence they haue their authoritie Let that which is secret abide secret till God open it which is the iudge of all secreats For it is more thē a cruell thing to breake up into a mans heart and to compell him to put either soule or body in ierperdie or to shame himselfe If Peter that great piller for feare af death by forswering forsooke his Master ought we not to spare weake consciences And heerein I cannot but presently joyne the wordes of our booke of Martyrs where M. Fox with M. Tindall soūdeth the trumpet of most vehement words against the abomination of this Oath Ex officio where he saith Fox pa 625. edit 1570 The like law and statute in the time of Dioclesian and Maximinus was attempted as before appeareth pag 117 And for the more strength was written also in Tables of brasse to the intent that the name of Christ should utterly be extincted forever And yet the name of Christ remaineth where that brasen law written in brasse although it differ in manner and forme from this statute Ex officio yet to the end and crueltie to spill the bloud of Saints there is no difference betweene the one and the other Neither is there any diversitie touching the first originall doer and worker of them both For the same Satan which then wrought his uttermost against Christ before he was bound up the same also now after his loosing out doth what he can though not after the same way yet in the same intent For then with outward violence as an open enimy he did what he could Now by amore covert way under the title of the Church he impugneth the Church of Christ ussing a more subtile way to deceaue under gay pretended titles but no lesse pernitious in the end whereto he shooteth as well appeareth by his bloudie statute Ex officio But to returne to M. Tindall one thing more I will set downe of his and so goe forward vn to other lights of the Gospell set up among the golden Candlestickes of England where he discourseth of the words Church and Congregation used in the translation of the new Testament saying An answ to Sir Thomas More Dial p 250 col 2 Wherefore in as much as the Clergie as the nature of those hard and indurat Adamantstones is
same slauerie still and the third kind of men doe sticke to neither part But haue fallen either to Epicurisme or Atheisme Unto D. Fulke I will heere adde also the breife note upon the margent in our Bible of the Geneva translation where you shall find this annotation upon the margent cap. 16. 19. Meaning the whole number of them that shall call themselues persevere without corruption For true doctrine without true discipline and gouernement is like good corne sowed amonge the thornes that choke it Now if the Lordbisshopes sometime preach which is but seldome yet being Lords ouer Gods heritage rather then ensamples to the flocke what profite cometh thereof eyther to them selues or to their hearers Therfore even the Apostle him selfe sayth I therefore soe runne not as vncertainely so fight I 1. Cor. 9.26 27. not as one that beateth the ayer But I beate doune my body bringe it into subiection least by any meanes after I haue preached to other I my selfe should be reproued For a right good preacher leading a lewd life is like the Angell of Sardis who hauing a name that he lived yet was he dead himselfe and carried his flocke into the same destruction Or like the Angell of Laodicia who beinge rich in worldly wealth yet was he indeed poore miserable blind and naked And verily our owne English Homilie saith The true Church is built vpon the foundtion of the Apostle and Prophets Hom. serm vpon which part 2. it hath allwayes three notes or marks whereby it is knowne Pure and sound doctrine the sacramentes ministred accordng to Christs holy infiitution and the right vse of ecclesiasticall dicipline Here marke that my Lords the Bishops doe say even in the Church Homily that the true Church builded vpon the foundation of the Apostles Prophets hath allwayes this marke or note of right vsing the ecclesiasticalll discipline built vpon the foundation laide by the Apostles aswell as of pure sound doctrine and the Sacraments Ministred according to Christs institution It were good therefore happy for them if they would leaue all their ecclesiasticall discipline which is neither built vpon the doctrine or practise of the Apostles nor vpon any foundatiō which they haue laid in the scriptures And I wish that they and all other that professe the Gospell of Christ in what degree or vocation soever they bee might haue it imprinted in their harts that it is the expresse commandement of God and the words of the holy Ghost which saith of Babilon Rev. 18.4.6 7 Goe out of her my people that ye be not partakers in her sinnes and that ye receaue not of her plagues Reward her even as shee hath rewarded you and giue her double according to her workes and in the Cup shee hath filled to you fill her the double In asmuch as shee glorified her selfe and liued in pleasure so much give ye to her torment and sorrow Goe out therefore and touch no vncleane thing Which words of the holy Ghost and the very commandement of God bindeth not only princes and Magistrats by their authority and lawes but also all Gods people euery one in his estate degree and vocation both to hate detest and vtterly to abhore the filthy whore of Babilon with all her implements and to reward her double according to her workes and in the Cup that she hath filled to vs of superstition Idolatry an innumerable abominations to fill her the double in detestations and abhorring even the very printes and stepes where she hath gone Thus committing my selfe and all Gods people vnto his mercies obtayned vnto vs by Christ Iesus our Lord I end with the prayer for his Maiestie taken out of the publique service appointed for the Church in Queene Elizabethes time after the terrible earthquake whē mens hearts were a wakened out of securitie and trembled at the presence of God And now Lord particularly we pray vnto thee for thy Churches of England Scotland France Ireland that thou wilt continue they gratious favour still towards us to maintaine thy Gospell still amongst vs and to giue it a free passage that it might be glorified And to that end saue thy servant our gratious King Iames grant him wisdome to rule this mightie people long life quietnes round about him detect all the trayterous practises of his enimies devised against him and thy truth O Lord thou seest the pride of thine enimies and though that by our sinnes we haue iustly deserved to fall into their hands yet haue mercie vpon vs and saue thy litle flocke Strengthen his hand to strike the stroke of the ruine of all superstition to double into the bosome of that rose coloured whore that wich she hath poured out against thy saynts that he may giue the deadly wound not to one head but to all the heads of that cruell beast that the life that quiuereth in his dismembred members yet amongst vs may vtterly decaie and wee through that wholesome discipline sweet yoke and comfortable scepter of Iesus Christ may inioy his righteousnes that the Church may florish sinne may abate wicked men may hang their heads and all thy children be comforted Strengthen his hand and giue him a swift foote to hūt out the Buls of Basan deuouring beasts that make hauoke of thy flocke And because this worke is of great importance assist him with all necessary helpes both in giuinge him godly wise and faithfull Councellers as also in ministring to him inferior rulers officers as may sincerely vprightly and faithfully doe their dueties seeking first thy honor glory then the common wealth of his Realmes dominions that we may long enioy thy truth with him and all other thy good blessings which in so great mercie thou hast bestowed vpon us with groweth in goodnes gaine in Godlines and dayly bettering in sincere obedience Amen Hierom. Lib. 2. Epist 2. Paulino Malens aliena verecunde dicere quam sua impudenter ingerere Willing rather with modesty to speake other mens words then impudently to thrust forth his owne T. W. Ierom concerning some Bishops in his time Nihil grande est pacem voce pretendere et opere destruere Aliud niti aliud demonstrare Verbis sonare concordiam re exigere servitutem Volumus et nos pacem et non solū volumus sed et rogamus Sed pacem Christi pacem veram pacem sine inimicitiis pacem in quâ non sit bellū involutum pacem quae non vt adversarios subiiciat sed vt amicos iungat Quid Dominationem pacem vocamus Et non reddimus vnicuique vocabulum suum It is no great matter in word to pretend peace and in deede to destroy it to make shew of one thing and to demonstrate another to talke of concord and indeed to require a servitude We also desire peace and we doe not only desire it but we intreat for it But it is Christs peace it is a true peace it is a peace without enmitie a peace wherein no warre should be infolded a peace which should not bring under adversaries in subjection but joyne friends togeather What Doe we call a Lordship peace Why doe we not giue to every thing his proper name Hierom. ad Theophil adversus Iohannem Ierosolymitanum Tom. 2. pag. 184.