Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to the Holy Scriptures

unto them, and win them unto Christ, and overcome them with kindness, that of love they may obey the ordinance that God hath made between man and wife.

The Office of a Master, and how he ought to rule.

PAUL (Eph. vith) saith: "Ye masters, do even the same Eph.vi. things to them," (that is, be masters after the ensample and doctrine of Christ, as he before taught the servants to obey to their masters as to Christ,) " putting away threatenings," that is, give them fair words, and exhort them kindly to do their duty; yea, nurture them as thy own sons with the Lord's nurture, that they may see in Christ a cause why they ought lovingly to obey: and " remember (saith he) that your master also is in heaven; neither is there any respect of persons with him;" that is, he is indifferent and not partial: as great in his sight is a servant as a master. And in the ivth chapter to the Colossians saith he: " Ye masters, coi. iv. do unto your servants that which is just and equal, remem bering that ye also have a master in heaven." Give your servants kind words, food, raiment, and learning. Be not Ter.ch thy bitter unto them, rail not on them, give them no cruel coun- know Christ tenance: but according to the ensample and doctrine of Christ's doc-

Christ, deal with them. And when they labour sore, cherish ^thxhim' them again. When ye correct them, let God's word be by; DO an things and do it with such good manner, that they may sec how word. wfi. that ye do it to amend them only, and to bring them to the way which God biddeth us walk in, and not to avenge your selves, or to wreak your malice on them. If at a time through hastiness ye exceed measure in punishing, recompense it another way, and pardon them another time.

LET Christian" landlords be content with their rent andtandiords old customs; not raising the rent or fines, and bringing: up no0rent?nor new customs to oppress their tenants; neither letting two or customs.

three tenantries unto one man. Let them not take in their commons, neither make parks nor pastures of whole parishes:

God gave the for God gave the earth to man to inhabit; and not unto

W.T. /sheep and wild deer. Be as fathers unto your tenants: yea, be unto them as Christ was unto us, and shew unto them all love and kindness. Whatsoever business is among them, be not partial, favouring one more than another. The complaints, quarrels, and strife that are among them, count diseases of sick people; and, as a merciful physician, heal them with wisdom and good counsel. Be pitiful and tender-hearted unto them, and let not one of thy tenants tear out another's throat; but judge their causes indifferently, and compel them to make their ditches, hedges, gates, and ways. For even for such causes were ye made landlords; and for such causes paid men rent at the beginning. For if such an order were not, one should slay another, and all should go to Landlords waste. If thy tenant shall labour and toil all the year, to st1a°nuddthelth" pay thee thy rent, and when he hath bestowed all his labour, tenams0 ie his neighbours' cattle shall devour his fruits; how tedious and bitter should his life be! See therefore that ye do your duties again; and suffer no man to do them wrong, save the king only. If he do wrong, then must they abide God's judgment.

The Duty of Kings, and of the Judges and Officers.

LET kings, if they had lever be Christian in deed than so to be called, give themselves altogether to the wealth of their realms after the ensample of Christ; remembering that the people are God's, and not theirs; yea, are Christ's inlientance and possession, bought with his blood. The most person afore despised person in his realm is the king's brother, and fellow- Am, ed. member with him, and equal with him in the kingdom of God and of Christ. Let him therefore not think himself too good to do them service; neither seek any other thing in them, than a father seeketh in his children, yea, than Christ sought in us. Though that the king, in the temporal regiment, be in the room of God, and representeth God himself, and is without all comparison better1 than his subjects; yet let him put off that, and become a brother, doing and leaving undone all things in respect of the commonwealth, that all men may see that he seeketh nothing but the profit of his subjects.

When a cause that requireth execution is brought before him, then only let him take the person of God on him. Then let him know no creature, but hear all indifferently; whether it be a stranger or one of his own realm, and the small as well as the great; and judge righteously, " for the judgment is Deut. i.

the Lord's." In time of judgment he is no minister in the kingdom of Christ; he preacheth no gospel, but the sharp law of vengeance. Let him take the holy judges of the old

Testament for an ensample, and namely Moses, which inj Moses- w- T- executing the law was merciless; otherwise more than a)

mother unto them, never avenging his own wrongs, but suffering all things; bearing every man's weakness, teaching, warning, exhorting, and ever caring for them, and so ten derly loved them, that he desired God either to forgive them, or to damn him with them.

Let the judges also privately, when they have put off the Judges. W.T. person of a judge, exhort with good counsel, and warn the people, and help that they come not at God's judgment: but the causes that are brought to them, when they sit in God's stead, let them judge, and condemn the trespasser under lawful witnesses; and not break up into the consciences of men, after the example of antichrist's disciples, and compel them either to forswear themselves by the almighty God and by the holy gospel of his merciful promises, or to testify against themselves: which abomination our prelates learned of Caiphas, Matt, xxvi, saying to Christ, " I adjure or charge Matt. xxvi. thee in the name of the living God, that thou tell us whether Jgf1^0* thou be Christ, the Son of God." Let that which is secret to w!1!?8' God only, whereof no proof can be made, nor lawful witness penramS1unto brought, abide unto the coming of the Lord, which shall open island open all secrets. If any malice break forth, that let them judge kine- w- T* only. For further authority hath God not given them.

Moses (Deut. xvii.) warneth iudees to keep them upright, Deut. xvii.

and. to look on no mans person; that is, that they prcter not judges is the high before the low, the great before the small, the rich Anted". [! Better is used here for superior, as in the Catechism.]

before poor; his acquaintance, friend, kinsman, countryman, or one of his own nation, before a stranger, a friend or an alien, yea, or one of their own faith before an infidel; but that they look on the cause only, to judge indifferently. For the room that they are in, and the law that they execute, are God's; which, as he hath made all, and is God of all, and all are his sons, even so is he judge over all, and will have all judged by his law indifferently, and to have the right of his law, and will avenge the wrong done unto the Turk or Saracen. For though they be not under the everlasting testament of God in Christ, as few of us which are called Christian be, and even no more than to whom God hath sent his promises, and poured his Spirit into their hearts to believe them, and through faith graven lust in their hearts to fulfil the law of love; yet are they under the testament of the law natural, which is the law of every land made for the common wealth there, and for peace and unity, that one may live by another: in which laws the infidels, if they keep them, have promises of worldly things. Whosoever, therefore, hindereth a very infidel from the right of that law, sinneth against God, and of (him will God be avenged. Moreover, Moses warneth them Partiality that they receive no gifts, rewards or bribes. For those two testntnceoef P0111*8' favouring of one person more than another, and Anfed receiving rewards, pervert all right and equity; and is the only pestilence of all judges.

And the kings warneth he, that they have not too many wives, lest their hearts turn away; and that they read alway in the law of God, to learn to fear him, lest their hearts be women, lift up above their brethren. Which two points, women and contempt of pride, the despising of their subjects, which are in very deed

^e pestilence their own brethren, are the common pestilence of all princes.

Anted. Read the stories, and see.

The sheriffs, baily-errants, constables, and such like officers, may let no man that hurteth his neighbour scape, but that they bring them before the judges; except they in the mean time agree with their neighbours, and make them amends.

Let kings defend their subjects from the wrongs of other nations, but pick no quarrels for every trifle: no, let not our vain names, most holy father make them no more so drunk with vain names, with caps of maintenance, and like baubles, as it were puppetry for children, to beggar their realms, and to murder their people, for defending of our holy father's tyranny. If a lawful peace, that standeth with God's word, be made between prince and prince, and the name of God taken to record, and the body of our Saviour broken between them, The holy raupon the bond which they have made; that peace, or bond, p^ea£[Jce can our holy father not dispense with, neither loose it with all the keys he hath: no, verily, Christ cannot break it: for he came not to break the law, but to fulfil it.

If any man have broken the law, or a good ordinance, and repent and come to the right way again, then hath Christ power to forgive him: but licence to break the law can he not give; much more his disciples and vicars, as they call themselves, cannot do it. The keys, whereof they so greatly what the boast themselves, are no carnal things, but spiritual; and *h^JJ are nothing else save knowledge of the law, and of the promises w- Tor gospel. If any man, for lack of spiritual feeling, desire authority of men, let him read the old doctors. If any man desire authority of scripture, Christ saith, Luke xi. "Woe be to Lukexi. you lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves, and them that come in ye forbid:" that is, they had blinded the scripture (whose knowledge, as it were a key, letteth into God) with glosses and traditions. Likewise findest thou Matt, xxiii. As Peter answered in the Matt. xxin. name of all, so Christ promised him the keys in the person of Thekeysare all. (Matt, xvi.) And in the xxth of John he paid them, say- j£tJ-XTl ing, "Receive the Holy Ghost: whosoever's sins ye remit, they The keys are are remitted " or forgiven; " and whosoever's sins ye retain, John Xx. ' they are retained " or holden. "With preaching the promises loose- w- Tloose they as many as repent and believe. And for that John saith, "Receive the Holy Ghost." Luke, in his last Luke xxiv. chapter, saith, " Then opened he their wits, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day; and that repentance and remission of Repentance sins should be preached in his name among all nations." At ness come by preaching ot the law repent men; and at the preaching of w- Tthe promises do they believe, and are saved. Peter in the Peterpraesecond of the Acts practised his keys; and by preaching the key? w. T. law brought the people into the knowledge of themselves, and bound their consciences, so that " they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the other apostles, What shall we do?" Then brought they forth the key of the sweet promises, saying, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise was made to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar, even as many as the Lord shall call." Of like ensamples is the Acts full, and Peter's epistles, and Paul's The pope's Tepistles, and all the scripture; neither hath our holy father codeword any °^ner authority of Christ, or by the reason of his prede- pareth the understanding of scripture to a key, so compareth he it to a net, and unto leaven, and unto many other things for certain properties. I marvel, therefore, that they boast not themselves of their net and leaven, as well as of their keys; for they are all one thing. But as Christ biddeth us

Beware of the beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, so beware of their ami of the' counterfeited keys, and of their false net; which are their keusoef our traditions and ceremonies, their hypocrisy and false doctrine, hJy/ather. wlierewith they catch, not souls unto Christ, but authority and

Let Christian kings therefore keep their faith and truth,

Not wjt^an and all lawful promises and bonds, not one with another only, it is right before God; as the scriptures and ensamples of unlawful the bible testify. Whosoever voweth an unlawful vow, provows, or. »

611 misetn an unlawful promise, sweareth an unlawful oath, sinneth against God, and ought therefore to break.it. He needeth not sue to Rome for a licence; for he hath God's word, and not a licence only, but also a commandment to break it. They therefore that are sworn to be true to cardinals and bishops, that is to say, false unto God, the king, and the realm, may break their oaths lawfully, without grudge of conscience, by the authority of God's word. In making them they sinned; but in repenting and breaking them they please God highly, and receive forgiveness in Christ.

Let kings take their duty of their subjects, and that that is necessary to the defence of the realm. Let them rule their realms themselves, with the help of lay-men that are sage, wise, learned, and expert. Is it not a shame above all shames, and a monstrous thing, that no man should be found able to govern a worldly kingdom, save bishops and prelates; thatt Bishops. have forsaken the world, and are taken out of the world, andj appointed to preach the kingdom of God? Christ saith that! John xvui. his " kingdom is not of this world." John xviii. And, Luke Luke xii. xii. unto the youn^ man, that desired him to bid his brother Behold the face of the to give him part of the inheritance, he answered, " Who made gjf^jjj °sf me a judge or a divider among you?" " No man that layeth w tj;sslasshis hand to the plough, and looketh back, is apt for the king- Luke ix> dom of heaven." Luke ix. " No man can serve two masters, Matt. vi. but he must despise the one." Matt. vi.

To preach God's word is too much for half a man: and * to minister a temporal kingdom is too much for half a man I also. Either other requireth an whole man. One therefore! cannot well do both. He that avengeth himself on every trifle is not meet to preach the patience of Christ, how that a man ought to forgive and to suffer all things. He that is overwhelmed with all manner riches, and doth but seek more daily, is not meet to preach poverty. He that will obey no man is not meet to preach how we ought to obey all men. Peter saith, Acts vi. " It is not meet that we should leave Acts vi. the word of God, and serve at the tables." Paul saith in the ixth chapter of the first Corinth. " Woe is me if I preach l Cor- «• not." A terrible saying, verily, for popes, cardinals, and bishops! If he had said, ' Woe be unto me if I fight not and move princes unto war, or if I increase not St Peter's Peter's patri- patrimony/ as they call it, it had been a more easy saying for them.

Christ forbiddeth his disciples and that oft, (as thou The pope's mayest see Matt. xvm. and. also xx. Mark ix. and also x. improved. Luke ix. and also xxii. even at his last supper) not only to ^xatt- xviiiclimb above lords, kings, and emperors in worldly rule, but Luke i also to exalt themselves one above another in the kingdom of God: but in vain; for the pope would not hear it, though he had commanded it ten thousand times. God's word should rule only; and not bishops' decrees, or the pope's pleasure. That ought they to preach purely and spiritually, and to °™nxdecrccsfashion their lives after, and with all ensample of godly living and long suffering to draw all to Christ; and not to expound the scriptures carnally and worldly, saying, ' God spake this to Peter, and I am his successor, therefore this authority is mine only;' and then bring in the tyranny of

Bishops have captived God's word with their their fleshly wisdom, In prcesentia majoris cessat potestas minor is; that is, in the presence of the greater the less hath no power. There is no brotherhood where such philosophy is taught.

Such philosophy, and so to abuse the scriptures, and to mock with God's word, is after the manner of the bishop of

Rochester. Rochester's divinity. For he, in his ' Sermon of the condem nation of Martin Luther,' proveth by a shadow of the old Testament, that is, by Moses and Aaron, that Satan and anti christ, our most holy father the pope, is Christ's vicar and head of Christ's congregation1.

Moses, saith he, signifieth Christ; and Aaron the pope. And yet the epistle unto the Hebrews proveth, that the high priest of the old law signifieth Christ; and his offering and his going in once in the year into the inner temple signify the offering wherewith Christ offered himself, and Christ's going in unto the Father, to be an everlasting mediator or intercessor for us. Nevertheless, Rochester proveth the con trary by a shadow; by a shadow, verily: for in shadows

They walk in they walk without all shame, and the light will they not come w- T- at, but enforce to stop and quench it with all craft and false hood, lest their abominable juggling should be seen. If any man look in the light of the new Testament, he shall clearly see that that shadow may not be so understood.

Understand therefore, that one thing in the scripture representeth divers things. A serpent figureth Christ in one place, and the devil in another; and a lion doth likewise. Christ by leaven signifieth God's word in one place; and in another signifieth thereby the traditions of the Pharisees, which soured and altered God's word for their advantage.

Now Moses verily in the said place representeth Christ; Av*rrontJ*e and Aaron, which was not yet high priest, represented not ^acher.

Peter only or his successor, as my lord of Rochester would have it, (for Peter was too little to bear Christ's message unto all the world,) but signifieth every disciple of Christ, and every true preacher of God's word. For Moses put in Aaron's Exod- iv- vii- mouth what he should say; and Aaron was Moses's prophet, and spake not his own message, as the pope and bishops do, but that which Moses had received of God and delivered unto him. Exod. iv. and also vii. So ought every preacher to preach God's word purely, and neither to add nor minish.

A true messenger must do his message truly; and say neither more nor less than he is commanded. Aaron, when he is Aaron repre- high priest, and offereth and purgeth the people of their christ- w- T- worldly sin which they had fallen in, in touching uncleanly things, and in eating meats forbidden, (as we sin in handling the chalice and the altar stone, and are purged with the bishop's blessing,) representeth Christ, which purgeth us from all sin in the sight of God: as the epistle unto the Hebrews maketh mention. When Moses was gone up into the mount, and Aaron left behind, and made the golden calf, there Aaron representeth all false preachers, and namely our most holy father the pope; which in like manner maketh us believe in a bull, as the bishop of Rochester full well allegeth the place in his sermon2.

If the pope be signified by Aaron, and Christ by Moses, why is not the pope as well content with Christ's law and doctrine, as Aaron was with Moses'? What is the cause Aaron add- that our bishops preach the pope, and not Christ; seeing the apostles preached not Peter, but Christ? Paul saith of himself

. and his fellow apostles, 2 Cor. iv. ""We preach not ourselves, preached not but Christ Jesus the Lord, and preach ourselves your servants

Christ. W.T. for jesus' sake:" and, " Let no man rejoice in men, for all whether it be the world, or life, or death; whether they be present things, or things to come; all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." He leaveth out, Ye are Peter's, or ye are the pope's. And in the chapter following he saith, icor.iv. "Let men thuswise esteem us, even the ministers of Christ," &c. And (2 Cor. xi.) Paul was jealous over his Corinthians, be cause they fell from Christ, to whom he had married them, and did cleave unto the authority of men; for even then false prophets sought authority in the name of the high apostles: for I coupled you to one man, to make you a chaste virgin to Christ; but I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve through his subtlety, even so your wits should be corrupt from the singleness that is in Christ." And it folio weth: " If he that cometh to you preached another Jesus, or if ye receive another Spirit or another gospel, then might ye well have been content:" that is, ye might have well suffered him to have authority above me: " but I suppose," saith he, " that I was not behind the high apostles;" meaning in preaching Jesus and his gospel, and in ministering the Spirit. And in the said xith chapter he proveth, by the doctrine of Christ, Paul is great- that he is greater than the high apostles: for Christ saith, high apostles, to be great in the kingdom of God is to do service and to take pain for other: upon which rule Paul disputeth, say ing, " If they be the ministers of Christ, I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison eat- niore plenteously, in death oft," and so forth. If Paul w. T" r' preached Christ more than Peter, and suffered more for his congregation, then is he greater than Peter, by the testimony Paul proveth of Christ1. And in the xiith he saith, "In nothing was I "nMhin inferior unto the high apostles: though I be nothing, yet the thebuhorisg: tokens °f an apostle were wrought among you with all patience, with signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." So Proved he his authority, and not with a bull from Peter, sealed with cold lead, either with shadows of the old Testa ment falsely expounded.

Moreover the apostles were sent immediately of Christ; The apostles and of Christ received they their authority, as Paul boastcth Christ with himself every where. " Christ," saith he, "sent me to preach rity- w- Tthe gospel." 1 Cor. i. And, "I received of the Lord that which i cor. t. I delivered unto you." 1 Cor. xi. And Gal. i., " I certify you, icor.xi. brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me was not after the manner of men, (that is to wit, carnal or fleshly,) nei ther received I it of man, neither was it taught me, but I received it by the revelation of Jesus Christ." And Gal. ii. Gai. n. " He that was mighty in Peter in the apostleship over the circumcision, was mighty in me among the gentiles." And 1 i Tim. i. Tim. i. readest thou likewise. And (John xx.) Christ sent them forth indifferently, and gave them like power: "As my Father sent me," saith he, " so send I you;" that is, to preach and to suffer, as I have done; and not to conquer empires and king doms, and to subdue all temporal power under you with dis guised hypocrisy. He gave them the Holy Ghost, to bind and loose indifferently, as thou seest; and afterward he sent forth Paul with like authority, as thou seest in the Acts. And in the last of Matthew saith he: " All power is given me in heaven Matt. xxvm. and in earth; go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe whatsoever I commanded you." Jhe authority that Christ gave them was to preach jjyet not what they would imagine, but what he had commanded, Christ gave

" Lo," saith he, " I am with you always, even unto the end of chmt-sword. the world." He said not, I go my way, and lo, here is Peter in my stead; but sent them every man to a sundry country, whithersoever the Spirit carried them, and went with them himself. And as he wrought with Peter where he went, so wrought he with the other where they went; as Paul boasteth of himself unto the Galatians. Seeing now that we have Christ's doctrine, and Christ's holy promises, and seeing that Christ is ever present with us his own self; how cometh it that Christ may not reign immediately over us, as well as the pope which cometh never at us? Seeing also that the office of an apostle is to preach only, how can the pope challenge with right any authority, where he preacheth not? How cometh it also that Rochester will not let us be called one congregation by the reason of one God, one Christ, one Spirit, one gospel, one faith, one hope, and one baptism, as well as because of one pope?1

If any natural beast with his worldly wisdom strive, that one is greater than another, because that in congregations one is sent of another, as we see in the Acts; I answer that Peter sent no man, but was sent himself; and John was sent, and Paul, Silas, and Barnabas were sent. Howbeit such manner sendings are not worldly, as princes send ambassadors; no, nor as friars send their limiters to gather their brotherhoods2; which must obey, whether they will or will not. Here all thing is free and willingly. And the Holy Ghost bringeth them together; which inaketh their wills free, and ready to bestow themselves upon their neighbour's profit. And they that come offer themselves, and all that they have, or can do, to serve the Lord and their brethren. And every man, as he is found apt and meet to serve his neighbour, so is he sent or put in office. And of the Holy Ghost are they sent, with the consent of their brethren, and with their own consent also: and God's word ruleth in that congregation; unto which word every man conformeth his will: and Christ, which is why bishops always present, is the head. But as our bishops hear not

God on earth. Christ s voice, so see they him not present, and therefore make them a God on the earth, of the kind, I suppose,

Aaron made of Aaron's calf i for he bringeth forth no other fruit but

Forasmuch also as Christ is as great as Peter, why is not his seat as great as Peter's? Had the head of the empire been at Jerusalem, there had been no mention made of Peter. It