AS I cōsidered and secre­tely waied w^t my self y^e present state of ordres in y^e churche of Englande wherin / whā I sawe y^t very many thīges, w^t (whether it were lōge of mē or of times) haue bene of lōge season cōfu sely iōbled together somthīges blemished / & som thīges decayed / & almost turned quite vp side downe / were by y^e pfite lyne & plūmet of Goddes worde / called agaī / layde a newe / & restored vn to y^e aūciēt foūdaciōs of Goddes worke: anō ca me in to my minde (evē w^t a certaī reuerēt admi taciō) the invincible power & excellēcie of god­des vnfailīg truthe / w^t (albeit it semeth now & thā vnto mānes ꝑsuasiō to susteine by sore & lō ge endurīg ouerthrowes) yet it remaineth euer hoole / cōstaūt & certaȳ: & though it be darkened [...] mēnes sleighty iugglinges / & coūtrefait craf [...]es / as it were w^t certayn mystes for a while yet [...] the tyme of God appoynted / it bursteth out [...] and sheweth it selfe clearely / like the [Page] soune / whan darkenes is bannished and cha­cedPsalm. Lj. awaye: y^t God may be founde Iuste in hys saienges / and haue the victorie whan he is Iudged.Wiche­stre ze­lous in y^t defēse of the la we and lettre.

And I doubt not / but many bothe learned / gra ve / and right good men were in the selfe same / or not muche vnlike thought that I was in: & wher they haue ben tangled with a certain fo­lishe and cankred vile supersticion / and haue wrastled against the truthe / of a longe time / this advised consideracion hathe pulled awaye all their scrupulous doubtes / and by the wor­kingeWhan you we­re so lōg in recea uing the truthe / what causeth you now / af ter so long ty­me so­daily to leape frō it. of Goddes grace / hathe conveyed and brought thē in to the light of the true veritie. And to confesse playnly of my selfe / wher I was a very earnest setter furthe and defendour of the lawe and of the lettre / as I maye so saye and wher I coulde doo nothing with a worse will nor more against my mynde / than to shrin ke from any thinge that I had ben before per­suaded in / what so ever it were: the further that my Iudgement swarved from the truthe in that behalfe / so muchc the more vehement­lye & eagrelie me thought I was astonied / whā I knewe y^e truthe: even as a mannes eies beīg dulled w^t darkenes / are wōt to be amased at so­dayne brightenes / whā y^e light breaketh out. [Page] For I had not the gift / that Paule vndoubted ly had / who / as sone as God had ouer throwneAct. ix. him / fell downe / and spake the wordes of obe­diēce / sayeng / Lorde, what wilte thou haue me to doo? For that chosen vessell had so muche pleyntye of the grace of God / that he cō fessed by and by / it was the voice of God / that checked him / and called him from his errour / and so commytted him selfe hoolly to the go­vernaunce of God / and obeyde him in all tru­the / and did after him in all poyntes without any more adoo. But as for me (albeyt my Iudgemēt hathe bene alwaye / that the tru the ought to be obeyde / which doubtles dothe come all together of God) yet in the discussing and triall of the truthe / I did not so easely con­tent my selfe. But I so framed my selfe / y^t / as itWiche­stre cir­cūspecte in tryēg the tru­the thā. had bē in askinge the Iudgemēt of al my senses onles I perceaved / y^t I furst of all hearde them w^t myne eares / smelled them at my nose sawe / them w^t my eyes / and felte them with my handes / I thought I had not sene ynough: to the intent I might submyt and captiuate the wytte of my vnderstondinge to the truthe / as though I had throughly perceaved and knowne it.

This my leasure taking / which some perchaū ce recken for a to muche obstinate rebelling / [Page] my mȳdc is not to ascribe vnto myn owne wisedome or grauitie / lest any man wolde thinke / I were fayne (as they saye) to praise my selfe / for lacke of good neighbours: But I doo most cōstauntly affirme and impute it (as right is) vnto the soudry working of God / in settīg fur­the the truthe / of whom / all men / whan they are taught which be taught in dede / according to this sayeng. And ye shalbe all taught Ioā. ix. of God: as euery one shall fele him felfe affec ted in assenting vnto the truthe / so maye he tal ke and make playne mencion. But as for the causes / whye this man embraceth the knowle ge of the truthe whan God offreth it / more spe dily / that man more [...] / and an other man neuer in all his life / it is nether geuen to men alwayes to perceave / nor premitted to searcheNot to be sear­ched fur ther thā is expres sed in scriptu­res. out / farther than is expressed in scriptures.

So that myne intent is not / persently to rēdre the cause of my slackenes / or to clayme that ad vised leasure taking / as a propre inwarde gifte of myne owne / which were not only a token of folishnes with mē / but also a very wyckednes towardes God: but I wolde rather yelde accō pte to the worlde / what it was / that chaunged myne opinion so muche / and what caused me now at leyngh / to dissent from my selfe / and [Page] from myne owne former wordes and dedes.

And in dede (to tell you at a worde) that compelled me / that compelled all men / whan God seeth his tyme / euen the myghtye power of the truthe / wherunto all thinges at leynghTruthe cōpelled winche­stre to forsake his fay^er of Ro. nay for­sothe a fatte bisshoprick but yet he loued hi neuer y^e worse in his harte: obeye and doo ther after.

Nou I desire and hartely praye the / gentill rea der / to beare frendly with me / in speaking of true obedience / and suche thinges / as for thy sake / the rules either of Rhetorike or Logike / require of a writer y^t is / y^t I shoulde / at y^e beginnyng / geue the occasion either to be lovingly bent / or fytte to be instructe / or elles to be attē tyve / w^c as yet I have nothing done / yet geve thē to me agayne / as if thou haddest receaved thē / and forgeve me thē / as though thou were perfitly payed of them in dede.

For seinge I perceave that I have obeyed tru­ly / in acknowlageinge the truthe / I can not chose / but set furthe somthinge openly / tou­ching true obedience / and though I am not hable to speake of it / according to the worthy nes of the thinge / yet myne endeavour shal be to speake it openly / and open it plainly.

And to come spedely to my purpose: I thin­ke / that to obeye truly / is nothing elles / but to obey vnto the truthe.

[Page]And God is y^t truthe (as scripture recordeth)Truthe to be sought only in scriptu­res. wher in he geveth his chief lighte vnto vs / so muche / that who so euer seketh it in any other place / and goth about to fette it out of mennes puddles and quallmyres / and not out of the most pure and cleare fountayne it selfe / they drawe & bringe vp now and than / I wote not what / fowle and myrye geare / vneffectual and to no purpose / for the quenching of mennes thirstie desires / which perteigneth all together proprely vnto the truthe it selfe. For it is only he / that geveth vs the holsom water of the truthe / wherof / he that drinketh / in obeyeng the faithe which Iesus Christ hathe published / he shall also bringe furthe the frute of true o­bedience / so that he shall neuer be thirstye.

For albeit God in the olde lawe / whan he had determined in slaine sacrifices and offringes / to shaddowe and signifie / his owne syncere and pure service and honour (which the true wur­shippers should doo now in spirite and truthe) and for that cause gave strait commaundemēt / y^t those slaine sacrifices and oblaciones shoulde be had in highe honour and devociō / to shewe / how muche more dearely he estemed obediēce / he hathe manifestly declared in many places of the scriptures / y^t he setteth more by obedience / [Page] than by all oblaciones & sacrifices. For so speaf. [...] xv. keth Samuel out of the spirite of God / vnto Saul: Wolde the Lorde haue offrynges ād sacrifices (saythe he) and not rather that the Lordes worde shoulde be obeyed? Obedience is better, than burnt offrynges, and to take heade, is more, than to offre the fatte oframmes. Moses also in Deuterono­mio, Deu. xj commending obedience vnto the people / saythe: Lo (sayth Moses) I set before your faces this daye, blessinge and cursinge. Blessinge, if ye obey vnto the commaunde mentes of the Lorde your God, which I cō maunde this daye: and cnrsinge, if ye doo Rom j. not obey. Of this true obedience SaintFaithe requi­reth obe dience. Paule maketh mēcion / in these wordes writīg to the Romaines / where he saithe / he receaved grace and apostleship / that faythe might be o­beyde amonge all people. etc. For faythe re­quyrethThan a trne faith maketh no reco nȳg of his ow­ne wor kes. obedience / that is that we acknowla­geinge the will of God in Christ / which is the worde of the father / & beinge made partakers of the grace of god / by his merite / shoulde also / through the same Christ our lorde / bothe bele­ue in obeyeng / and obeye in beleving.

And who so euer putteth his perfite belefe and hope in God / loketh for rewarde at his only hā [Page] des / and without God compteth not vpon his owne workes / and dedes / but poynteth them their limites / so that he rendreth them vnto God / as though they were done of God / from whom al good thinges procede / and acknow­lageth God to be the only begynnyng and fy­nysshing of all goodnes: that man is doubtles he / that maye be sayde / to obeye truly / that is to saye / in folowing the truthe / and for tru thes sake in contemnyng all thinges / that this deceaveable worlde / is wont bothe to make shewe of / and to magnifie.

And to thintent mankinde shoulde clearely and playnly / not only with eares / but also with eies / vnderstande and see this truthe of obedi ence / that is to saye / to thintent as many as are children / shoulde be drawne / bothe ont­wardely / and inwardely / of the heavenly fa­ther / to atteyne that truthe: the worde (Ie­sus Christ) proceded from the father in to the virgine / and taking vpon him a very true and a mortall body / became fleshe / and the very same / bothe God and man dwelt among vs / Ioan. j. shewing his glorie in sigues & power as theNo man hathe se­ne God / at any tȳ glorie of the only begotten son of the father / and tolde vs playnlye of God / whom no man hathe sene at any time / and went before / and [Page] shewed vs the true wayes of obedience / that lyke as by the disobedience of one man / many became synners / so by the obedience of one / many shoulde be made righteous / and that / deathe (wō the synne of disobedience brought in) beynge ouercome / men shoulde truly lyve in dede / in Christ / by vertue of obedience.

For to beleve surely in God / and to cleave con stauntely vnto him / which the scripture calleth a righteous mannes lyfe / is doubtles to obey him / and in exercising obedience / to chasten the body / to bring the fleshe in to seruitute / to sub­due the kingdome of synne / as muche as lyeth in vs: to depende of God / to make our mem­bres servaūtes of righteousnes / to set light by our owne commoditie / and for Goddes sake / to care for other mennes / to trust that God hiMatth. xxij. selfe wil be our rewarde / and without God / or besides God / to compte nothing pleasaunt [...]. xx. or delectable.

This is to love the Lorde / with all our hearte / which is a gelous God / that can not awaye with any man / that serveth euery maister / but he requireth to have the man all holle to him selfe / and not to be hewen in peces / to serve two diverse maistres commaundemen­tes / but he will be only worshipped / and [Page] he wilbe only served of them that be his.Goddes secret will re­ueled in Christ.

This secret will of God / being (by his [...] cheable devise) hiddē from the begynnyng / is now in the ende of the world / reveled vnto vs / by our Christ / the [...] sacrifice and raūsom of mankynde / who in appeaceing the most [...] deserved wrathe of God / hathe declared the holsom doctrine of obedience in his dedes / and hathe suffred for vs / leaving vs an ensam­ple / y^t we shoulde folowe his fotesteppes / w^e [...] we will considre / we shall playnly fynde / [...] to be true obedience / which (all other maters set aparte) executeth and practiceth the will [...] God / exprest to mankȳde in the worde / which is Christ / and being stered vp of god / [...] also the effecte & ende vnto god / which [...] the gifte / bothe to wil and to worke / according to his owne good will. Therfore whan Chr stes mother troubled him / as he was teaching in the temple / and occupied in the office of [...] obediencc / Doest thou not knowe, quod he that I must nedes be about my fathers [...] nes? to shewe manefestly / that evē the affecci [...] of nature / ought to obey the will of God / that nothing ought to be done / before the [...] maundement of God / by obedience. As the [...]Ioan [...].ther commaunded me (saithe he) so I [...]

[Page]And in an other place / I am not sent, but vn­toMat. [...]the lost shepe of the house of Israel: she­wing therby / y^t nothing ought to be desired / y^t shoulde blemyshe the office of true obedience.

Whan the houre of Christes passion drewe ne re / and whan he had made that forme of pray­er / that shoulde be most cōvenient for our wea ke frayltie / at the peril of deathe / Father, if it be possible, let this cuppe passe from me: he added straightwayes (to declare the victoryMatth. [...]. of obedience / more playnly) Not as I will, but as thou wilte. Which his fathers commaunde ments / God the sonne obeyed to the vttermost in the mysterie of our redempcion / to shewe vs how we shoulde obeye / and because (as the [...] saydesawe is) we shoulde not spill the wine with powring in water / and lose all the frute of obedience / he hathe also with his owne most true and most certayne wordes / taught vs in [...] other place (and perfourmed the same also in his dedes) that he sought not his owne glo rie / through his obedience / but his fathers. I (saithe he) seke not myne owne glorie, but my fathers. If I (saythe he) glorifie my selfeIoan. [...].my glory is nothing. And in an other place / he geveth vs more playne warning of this / say [...] / Let your light (saythe he) so shine be­fore [Page] men, that they may glorifie your fa­ther,Mat. v.which is in heauen. Yf we trust vpon commendacion or vayne glorie at mennes han­des / we lose our rewarde / and shall appeareTake [...] of y^t be ty­me ther fore. one daye before the presence of almightie God / with emptie vesselles like the folishe virgines / and shall suffre a most grevous repulse of the spouse at his comming. Therfore let not thy left hande knowe what thy right hande dothe:Mat. [...]. left hande mater is vugayne / and wicked what soo euer procedeth of the fleshe. Doo not ther­foreMat. vj Defile not god des ma­ters w^t y^e deuy­ses of men. defyle nor marre Goddes maters with mannes devises / but obeye secretly from the fleshe / and God shall rewarde the in secrete.

And herevnto I suppose it maye be applyed / that. S. Paule writteth / sayeng: Not he that is a Iewe openly, is a Iewe: nether is the circuncision of the fleshe, that is done o­penly, circuncision, but he that is a Iewe se­cretly, is a right Iewe, and the circuncision Kum. ij. of the hearte, is the circuncision, that con­sisteth in the spirite, and not in the lettre, whose praise is not of men but of God.

Let the lorde therfore be bothe our parte / and the hole summe of our enheritaunce / whoPsalm. xvj. only shall restore a sure enheritaunce vnto vs: that is to saye / let vs obey God for [...] [Page] sake / which only is true obedience: which re­turneth thider / whence it came / and wher it proceded of truthe / it gothe in to truthe / and is conteyned of all one beginnyng and endinge.

By this maner of ordre / it semeth that Saint Paule set furthe the rule of obedience / whanCol. iij. he badde servauntes / be obedient vnto their maistres for Goddes sake / declaring playnlye / that God is the author and rewarder of that iuste obedient seruice / that seruauntes doo vn­to their bodily maisters: so that what so euer shall certainly appeare to be done in his name / we maye not doubte / but he will accepte and take it in good parte. And according therto / it appeareth to be written in the Gospell:

Blesshed shall you be, whan men hate you, and persecute you etc. For the sonne of Mat. v. mannes sake, reioyce and be gladde, for your rewarde is great in heauen. For if we suffre [...] iustly for our faultes (as. S. Petre saithe) what gramercie is it to vs?

For y^t is exhibited vnto y^t lawes & not vnto god / even as that is not worthy of any rewarde at Goddes hāde / how godly so ever it seme in out­warde appearaūce / y^t hunteth after any earthy mater / glorie / or estimaciō of mā / w^t is y^t ppre­tie of hypocrites / vnto whō y^e sayeng of God is [Page] mēcioned: Thou haste rceaued thy rewarde. For so shall the man be cursed / that dbeyeth not God / which happeneth two maner of wayes / [...] cur [...] of god [...] ma [...] of [...]. either whan we put the commaundementes of God in practyce in outwarde shewe before mē / or elles for ambicious vayne glorye / or vaunta ge sake / wherof I have spoken somthing all­ready before. As for the finall iudgement of this mater / God hathe particularly reserued it vnto him selfe / to be pronounced at the daye of his iuste iudgement / most earnestly inhibi­ting vs / that we pronounce not rashely of any mannes hearte in that behalfe / yea / thouh they doo al together as evil / as we have done in this kynde of synne / as he hathe not prohibited men [...] [...] to be [...]. to talke of all thinges / or in that / that men are permitted to iudge of / whan we cloke true obe dience with countrefait obedience / and neclec­ting that / that God commaundeth we provide vs other ware to kepe vs occupied withall / tur­nyng the deafe eare to that most sore sentēce of Goddes truthe: In vayne doo you worship Mat. xv me, in the commaundementes and doctri­nes of men, seyng you haue broken my praeceptes for your owne tradicion.

And to the intent we doo not soo / we ought furst of all to take hede / that we kepe surely [Page] that marke / which is certai and is signed with the syngre of God / wherby we may make a di­stinctiō betwene Goddes causes and mannes / that they be not shuffled together. Furst of all therfore / recken vpon this for a certayntie / that the talke of God / conteyned in the holy scriptures / by the declaracion of the holy goost / doth reporte vnto vs the most certayn true wor de of God / that we maye therby vnderstande & learne his will / and the certayntie of his com­maundementes and doctrine / to the intent / beī ge instructe that waye of commaundementes / we may goo straight to y^e coūtrey euerlasting. Than Sir / what is commaunded in thē? Many thinges are commaūded in them surely: wher­of som thinges in the olde testamēt were chiefly spoken / not to iustifie the soule inwardely / but for the keping of the people in ordre / which in this newe people regenerate in Christ / are va nyshed awaye euen as it were by the light of truthe succedinge darkenes / which it were su­perfluous / aud not to the purpose / to treate of at this present / for somuche as myne intent is to speake only of those preceptes / which God determined to signifie / not vnto ane only sorte of people / but by one sorte of people / vnto all nationes / wherof not so muche as [Page] one [...] or one title coulde be pretermitted.

And these / of som men are called / morall prece­ptes / which / forasmuche as they perteigne also to holynes and chastitie of life and maners / thei are denied to abide still perfitily in their full streynght & vertue. And ther of we maye be per suaded / as well by many other places / as na­mely by this place of the gospell / wher Christ teaching the people / pronounceth so playnly / y^t we shall not entre in to the kingdome of hea­vē / onles our righteousnes excede the righteou snes of the scribes and Pharisees. In which sayeng / albeit Christ did not altogether allowe the righteousues of the Pharisees / because it was only a humayne and a carnall righteous­nes / that is to saye / it consisteth in outwarde hypocrisye of dedes / and sprong not out of that fountayne of the spirite / whom the only grace of God (in the same Christes merites) causeth to spowte water: yet by this con­ference / we take it / that he shewed and admo­nished vs / the pure behaueour / which the la­we required in the Scribes and Pharisees / and not to remitte nor to set it at lybertie by the doctrine of the Gospell / but by that sig­nificacion of wordes / to enlarge the limites of holynes and chastitie / and to require [Page] the encreace and gooing forewarde ther of / in this newe lawe of the Gospel. For the libertie which is geuen vnto vs by the Gospel / and is thought tohaue abrogated Moses lawe / per­teineth not to that intēt / y^t we may forgete the morall preceptes and haunt a light dissolute / & filthie maner of life / but y^t we shoulde be free from synne / & become the servaūtes of righte­ousenes / and that / loke what the will of God / teacheth vs in the scriptures / to tēde vnto god­lynes / we shoulde haūte y^t / and embrace that / accordīg to goddes cōmaundemēt / so as the sta te of our obedience maye be cōstauntly certayn of the which morall preceptes in the olde lawe / to speake of som (for my purpose is not to ma­ke present rehersal particularly of thē all) the Leuiticalle preceptes / touching forbiddē & in­cesteous mariages / as ferre as thei cōcerne cha ste and pure wedlocke / wher in the hole custo­me of [...] life is conteyned / and the origi­nal fountayne of the encreace of people consi­steth / are alwayes reputed to be suche sorte / that being in dede geuen furst to the Iewes / (because they shoulde be declared to advaun­ce the Law of nature) they shoulde perteyne to all maner of people in the hole worlde for [...]. Wher in doubtles / bothe [Page] the voice of nature and the commaundementThe [...] and [...] / [...] say / [...] he [...] not by Goddes [...] ha­ue the la dy Ka­therine. of God / have forbidden / what so euer is [...] rie to the condicion of them bothe.

☞ And amōge these / seing / ther is a [...] dement that a man shall not mary his brothers wife / what ought or coulde the king of [...] de his most excellēt Maiestie haue done / other wise than.Thā y^t vish. of Can­torbury was not all y^t doer / but y^t church & perlia ment.. by the hole cōsent of y^e people / & judgement of his churche / he hath done? that is / that he shoulde be dyvorced from vnlawful mariage / and vse laufull and permitted copula cion: and obeyeng (as mete it was) cōforma­blye vnto the commaundement / he shoulde cast of her / whom nether lawe nor right permitted him to retayne / and take him to chaste and law full mariage. Wherin / . T. for afmuche as the judgement of goddes worde might haue suffi­sed / wher vnto all mē ought to obeye without stopping or stayeng / yet the kinges most royal Maiestie was content to have the assisting con sentes of men of notable gravitie / and the cen­sures of the most famous. D. vniuersities of y^t world. And all to the intent / that men shoul / de thinke / he did / that he bothe might doo / and ought to doo vprightely wel / seing y^e best lear ned and worthy good men haue subscribed / vn to it: and that he shewed such obediēce in so do­ing / [Page] as the truthe of goddes worde / semeth toit were so by goddes worde thā [...] doo [...] say nay now? Why dothe D. [...] ley [...] prisō if this [...] cion be true? [...] by [...] double sayēges you [...] a dou­ble [...] tor & a very [...] he. require of euery godly and good man / so as it might be sayde that he bothe obeyde God / and obeyde truly: of whom / forasmuche as I am purposed to speake / I could not passe ouer w^t si lence / that / that occasiō had commodiously of­fred / vpon this mater.

But let vs returne to the purpose / which chief­ly standeth in this poynt / that / we shewe / that he obeyeth truly / which walketh in the lawe of the lorde and blenchet not out of the waye of Goddes commaundementes / but with an humble and willinge hearte committeth him selfe to Goddes will / neuer to refuse the auto­ritie of God / and to obey bothe him and al thē / whom God commaundeth him to obey for his sake. In dede / God / according to his [...] great and vnspeakeable goodnes towarde mankynde / to encreace habundaunce of glorie in vs / wherby he might establishe present ma­ter for vs / to exercise our selues godly and thā ­ke worthyly in / substituted mē / who being put in autoritie as his vicegerentes / shoulde requi­re obedience / which we must doo vnto them w^t no lesse frute / for Goddes sake / than we shoul­de doo it (what honour so euer it were) [...] vnto God him selfe.

[Page]And in that place he hathe set princes / whom / Prices represēt Goddes Image / & excell all mē. [...]. Pet. [...] Pro. as representours of his Image vnto men / he wolde haue to be reputed in the supreme / and most highe / rowme / and to excelle amonge all other humayne creatures / as Saint Petre wri teth: and that y^t same princes reigne by his au­toritie / as the holy Prouerbes make reporte By me (saythe God) Kinges reigne / in so mu che / that after Paules sayeng / who so ever re­sisteth [...]. power / resisteth the ordinaūce of God. Which Paule openyng that playnly vnto Ti­tus / which he speaketh here generallye / com­maunded him / to warne al men / to obeie their Princes. And ther be other men appoyn­ted also of God / to require obedience / howbeit in an inferiour ordre. For the wife beinge in subieccion to her husbande / the seruant to the maister / and to whom so euer any mā is in sub­ieccion / they must also obey their gouernours for Goddes sake. Wherof it chaunceth now and than that som men / not vnderstanding y^e sense of Goddes lawe rightly / stande in doubt / whan two gouernours commaundemētes ge­uen at all one selfe same tyme / varye / and be contrary and manifestly repugnaunt one to y^e other / whether of them ought furst and [...] principally to be obeyde.

[Page]As for example: The maister biddeth the ser uaunt doo a thinge / and the kinge commaun­deth him to do a cleane contrary thinge / and bo the at one tyme / and in one moment.

And forasmuche as they ought bothe to be obei de for goddes sake / by the worde of God / the very nature of thinges / can not admitte / bothe their commaundementes / to be applied in at al one selfe same time / and of al one selfe same mā here in like as it might perchaunce be doubted of som mā that hatheth not yet his wittes / mu che exercised / whether of them the seruaunt is bounden chiefly and most principally to obey / euen so vnto him / that marketh wel other like causes / the solucion of suche a question shall a­non playnly appeare / that nature it self fra­meth the mater so / that y^e inferiours must also serve and geve place to the superiours.

Therfore in this propoūdeth example / the ser vaunt must not obey his maister / but the kin­ge / as his superiour mayster / as him / whom bothe / the maister and servaunt are bounden to obeye.

And for asmuche as we acknowlage / that ther is one above bothe the servaunt / maister / and Kinge / even God / whiche is the Kinge of Kī ges and Lorde of Lordes / of whom al thinges / [Page] thinges / by whom all thinges / and in whom all thinges are: his cōmaundemētes all men ought [...] men ought to obey Goddes cōmaun [...] though Princes cōmaun de a con trary. to obeye / principally and afore all thinges / bo­the seruaunt / maister / & kinge: that they may appeare / to haue obeide all men for Goddes sa ke / but nomā without God / nor against God.

Therfore is the wife praised that obeyeth her husbande / yea / vnto deathe. For it is bet­ter to obey God than men.

Thus in asmuche as it is manifest / y^t an ordre ought to be kept in obedience / and that our due tie is to obey euery one chiefly / after such sorte / as he excelleth other in ordre and prerogatyve by the testimonie of Goddes lawe: I thinke it [...]. v. requisite for me (seinge I am speaking of the necessarie degree of ordres) to touche also in this place / that cause / which is cōmonly in vre / and spoken of at this daye almost in all mennes handes and in all [...] mouthes: whether y^e hole consent of Englishe mē be grounded vp­onThe Kī ges su­prema­cie groū ded [...] Goddes lawe. Goddes lawe / in that they declare and ho­noure the most victorious and most noble prin ce Henry theyght Kinge of Englande and of Frauncc / defendour of the faithe / and Lorde of Irelande / to be in earthe the supreme headde of the churche of Englande / and is graunted vnto him / by autoritie therof / in the open courte of [Page] parliament / frely to vse his right / and to call himself supreme headde of the churche of En­glande / as well in name as in dede. Wherin / ther is no newely invented mater wrought / only their will was / to haue the power pertei­nyng to a prince / by Goddes lawe / to be theAll men boūde to defēde their pri ces su­prema­cie: than he not to suffre it to be pulled frō the crowne though y^e Oue­ne wol de for­goo it. more clearely expressed / with a more fitte ter­me to expresse it by / namely for this purpose / to withdrawe that countrefait vayne opinion out of the common peoples myndes / which the false pretensed power of the bishop of Rome / had / for the space of certain yeares / blinded thē with all / to the great impeaschement of the kin ges autoritie / which all men are bounden to wishe / and to their vttermost power / see kept safe / restored and defended from wronges.

Wherin surely I see no cause / why any man shoulde be offended / that the kinge is called the headde of churche of Englande / rather than the headde of the realme of Englande. Here now I appeale vnto the / gentill reader / to set aparte the termyng of terme wordes in the meane sea son & to weyghe the mater selfe. For I am not ignoraunt / of the force of bothe the [...] of speches / and that this worde (churche) signiWhat y^e churche is. fieth not euery congregaciou / but with an adiec [...] (as / I hate the malignaūt churche) but [Page] that only multitude of people / w^c beīge [...] in the profession of Christ / is growne in to one body. For this came in by custome / that this terme / churche / which elles is a commō terme / became (notwithstonding) the propre name of a more excellent bodye. But this worde (Realme) is more playnly knowne / and com­prehendeth all subiectes of the kinges domini­ons / who so euer they be / and of what cōdicion so euer they be / whether the be Iewes / Barba­rianes / Saracenes / Turkes or Christianes.

Than / seinge in this mater / which I haue in hande / the mater that is mēt by it / is of such sor te / that is agreeth indifferently with bothe ma­ner of speches / and seinge the churche of En­glande consisteth of the same sortes of people at this daye / that are comprised in this worde / re­alme / of whom / the kinge his called the head­de: shall he not / beinge called the headde of the realme of Englande / be also the headde of the same men / whan they are named the churche of Englande? Shall the termynge of wordes / inas muche as they haue nō other vse / but to signifie the thinges / be of suche force in this cause / as to turne the nature of the thinges them selues vp side downe? that one man shoulde be taken in [...] estate of beinge / and an other in his estate / [Page] all one according to the diuersitie of names? I knowe wel ynough / that / by relaciō of names / y^e offices are somtymes chaūged / and y^t the selfe same al one mā / as he is called by this name or y^t name / must also doo the partes of office agreīg to that name. But if the kinge be the headde ofThe [...] beinh head of the [...] me [...] also be [...] head of y^e [...] the realme / y^t is as muche / as a mā wolde saye / he hathe so many / as are within the dominiō of the realme / vnited al vnto hīselfe / as vnto one body / y^t they maye take him for their supreme headde / cā it be by any possible meanes / throug the mutacion of the name / for all one selfe same man / to be in subieccion to this headde / and not to be in subieccion to this headde / in all one kin de of subieccion / y^t is to saye / for Goddes sake?

For ther is no subiecciō against God. What a folye were it than / for a man to confesse / that al one man (if ye lust to call him Iohan) dwellīg in Englāde / is in subiecciō to y^e kinge / as vnto y^e headde: & if ye call hī a christiā / of y^e same for te / to saye y^t he is not a subiecte? For in y^t his a­bidīge is in Englāde / he is of y^t realme / & in y^t he is a christiā / dwellīg in Englande / he is demed to be of the churche of Englande. They kinge (saye they) is the headde of the realme but not of the churche: wheras / notw^tstondīg / y^e churche of Englāde / is nothing elles / but y^e cōgregatiō [Page] of men and women / of the clergie and of they^t chur the / is bothe of y^e laytie and cler [...]. laytie / vnited in Christes profession: that is to saye / it is iustlie to be called y^e churche / becau­se it is a communion of christen people / and of the place / it is to be named / the churche of En­glande / as is the churche of Fraunce / the chur­che of Spayne / & the churche of Rome. So y^t they / which confesse the kīge to be supreme hea de of the realme / and yet graunt him not to be supreme headde of the churche (on Goddes na me) beinge one congregocion in the same real­me (whiche is either their owne ignoraunce / or their owne malice) this is their playne mea ning / that the kinge is the heade of the vnfaith full / and not of the faithfull: except the kinge / him selfe be an infidele / that either an infidele kinge dothe beare rule ouer a faithfull or vn­faithfnll people / or elles the same kīge copulīg him selfe to the Christian churche / geveth ouer (from thencefurthe) his autoritie and power. I wōdre excedingly / that any suche one is foū ­de / that can meane thus: and yet I can not fin­de / what thaduersaries haue to saye / for thē sel fes / but thus / As for any other sure and groun­ded allegacion / they bringe non / but suche as hengeth to gether in no pointe / nor agreeth [...] it selfe. The kīge (say they) [...] headde of y^e [Page] realme / but not of the churche. O what anIf they beginne to bele­ue but now / than their belefe was no belefe / before now. absurde and folishe sayēg is that? As though / because the people begynneth now to beleve in God / it were a iust cause / why they shoulde be no more in subiecciō to the kinge / Goddes lief tenaunt / but be exempte quyte from his body. But Paule taught not so / which sayde / that y^e autoritie of maistres ouer their seruaūtes shol­de not be chaūged or dyminished through pro fessing of Christ / but warned them to kepe it still in perfite autoritie / bidding servaūtes / to be obedient vnto their bodily maisters for god­des sake. The conuerting of a wife vnto fai­the / withdraweth nothing from thautoritie ofCol. iij her husbande / for he is the headde of the wife / still / and because she / after she had professed y^e faithe / shoulde shewe no token of mysordre / wherby she might plucke the mȳdes of som frō religion / Saint Petres mīde was / that wives having professed the faithe / shoulde leave of y^e office of preachīg / which they executed by wor des / and winne (without y^e worde) their hus bandes through their chaste conversacion.

Therfore / the autoritie of the Maistre / to­wardes the servaunt / and the right of the hus bandes superioritie over y^t wife / is not lost by y^e meane of religiō: & shal it be lost to y^t kīge? [Page] who / forasmuche as he (yea though he be an infidele) representeth / as it were the ymage of God vpō earthe / so that he is called the headde and the guyde of the people / shall his state be nypped of because of the christian profession? & shall he be called no more the headde of the peo ple / which is the churche / but the nerer he dra­weth to God by faythe (which is the only mea ne to com to God / shal he so muche the further goo awaye from Goddes ymage? and shall he begynne to be had in so muche lesse reuerence with the people / for that names sake / that he ought most chiefly to be honoured for? Truly / if he be the headde of the people / and that by the ordinaunce of God / as no mā sayeth naye / yea euen aswell whan the people / as the prince be most ferre dissevered frō God through infideli­tie how muche more now / seinge they accorde through the power of God in one profession of faithe / & by that meanes are a churche / oughtThe kin [...] befor [...] darke [...] nov [...] y^e true [...]. he to reteyne the name of supreme headde? And y^t he maye worthily be taken for the headde of y^t churche still / he representeth the office that he occupieth in Goddes stede / muche more honou rably now thā before tyme / whan he wādred in the darkenes of infidelitic. Paule [...] differē ce / biddeth mē obey those princes / y^t beare the [...]. xiij. [Page] sweorde. Saint Petre speaketh of kinges by [...]. Pe. [...]. name / Christ him self commaundeth tribute to be payde vnto [...] / and checked his disciples / Matt. xxiij.for streyvyng / who shoulde be the greatest. Kinges of the naciones (quod he) beare ruleLuc. xxij. ouer them / declaring plaīlye in so great varietie of degrees & ordres / which God dothe garny­she this worlde withall / that the dominiō and autoritie perteyneth to nō but to princes.

But here som mā will saye to me: you travaile about that / that no man is in doubt of. For who euer [...] / that the prince ought to be o­beyed? it is most certayn / that he that will not obeye the Prince / is [...] to dye for it: as it is comprehended in the olde lawe / and also con firmed in the newe lawe. But we must see (wil he saye (that the kīge doo not passe the [...] appoynted him / as though ther must be an [...] trer for the ordringe of his limites. For it is certayn / that obedience is due / but how ferre the limites of requiring obedience extende / that is all the hole question that can be [...]. What maner of limites are those / y^t ye tel me or̄ seinge y^e scripture hathe nō suche? but generally speakīg of obediēce / w^c y^e subiecte is boūdē to doo vnto y^e prīce / y^e wife vnto y^e husbāde / or y^e serua [...] to y^e maister it hathe not added so muche as [Page] one sillable of excepicion / but only hathe preserNo mā ­nes wor de to be obeyde agaynst goddes worde. ued the obedience due to God / safe and hole / y^t we shoulde not hearken vnto any mannes wor de in all the worlde against God. Elles the sentences / that commaunde obedience / are in­diffinite / or without excepcion / but are of indif ferent force vniuersally / so that it is [...] lost la­bour for you / to tell me of limites / whiche can not be proued by any testimonie of scripture / We are commaunded doubtles to obeye / In y^t consisteth our office / which if we mynde to goo about / with the favour of God and man / we must nedes shewe hūblenes of hearte / in obey­eng autoritie / how grevous so euer it be / for goddes sake / not questionīg nor inquirīg / what the kinge / what y^e maister / or what y^e [...] ought or maye cōmaunde other to doo. And if thei take vpō thē / either of their owne headde / or whan it is offred them / more than right and reason is / they have a lorde / vnto whom they either stande or fall / and that shall one daye sitte in iudgement even of them. Yet for al this / som mā wil saye: Yea but ye promised in y^e begynnīg / to speake of y^t / w^c you are about now to avoide your hādes of / havīg forgoten your purpose / as it appeareth. No Sir / saye I / I avoide not my hādes of it / but I saie / it is [Page] sufficiently confirmed / by these that we haveHe is wiked addeth or dimi nisheth to god­des wo de. [...] are [...] a deuil. spoken of before / that Prīces ought to be obey ed / by the commaūdement of God: yea & to be obeied w^tout excepcion / as a thīge / wherof ther is no mencion in that lawe / w^c if thou put any thinge to / or take any thinge fro / thou arte a wicked man: what wolde we have more?

For if I must take in hande to interprete the ge nerall doctrine of obedience / as it ought to be & shal conferre and compare scripture to scri­pture / & searche out the true & right meanīg of the scripture / as the most godly and greatesty^e doctr ne of [...] bediēce to be in terpre­ted by cōferēc of scrip tures. learned men are bothe wont and ought to doo: I see no cause ī dede / why I shoulde doo any les se thā they did. Therfore let vs considre / what those scriptures saye / w^c are alleged on y^e cōtra­ry parte. Obey your rulers, sayth Paule to [...]: which place / and the xiij. to the Ro­maynes / som expounde of the Bishop of Ro. autoritie / whiche they call / the ecclesiasticall power. Also in the actes of the apostles / Take Act. xx [...] res [...] ged for y^t bish. of Rō. hede to your selues, and to the hole flocke, amōge whom the holy goost hathe set you to be ouerseers, to gouerne the churche of God, whom he hathe purchaced, with his owne bloude. And lest we shoulde passe ouer any thīg / although it is mēt to an other purpo­se / [Page] let vs not omitte that / that Petre speaketh / concernīge y^e Royall priesthode. For this texte: Whatso euer thou shal bynde in earthe &c. perteyneth to an other mater / and this: Fede my shepe: besides that / that Christ spake w^t his owne mouthe / meaneth no more / but that I haue allready shewed / was commaunded / cō cerning the gouernement of the churche. These sentēces and suche like / though they be vnder­stonden / as those mē wolde haue them / that is / that Bishopes & ministres of the worde of God in the churche / are nothing against the kinges autoritie (but that he maye be called y^e headde of the churche) no more / than the obediēce due to y^t kinge / is any thīge nypped or diminyshed / in y^t / that y^e wife is cōmaunded to obey her hus bande / & y^t seruaūt his maister / as it were w^t ge nerall speache of wordes. Forlike as w^t the la­wers / as they thē selues terme it / ther be now & than sondry iurisdicciones y^t ꝓcede out of al one thinge / & yet they marre not one an other: but they cōsiste & cōcurre by y^e mutual helpe of one to an other: euē so in y^t the gouernement of the churche is cōmitted to y^e apostles / & to those y^t succede in their rowmes / maye not be thought to abrogate or diminishe y^t / that God hathe cō mitted vnto prīces / in any cōdiciō. The person / [Page] vicare or y^e parishe priestes cure of his parishe­ners / is neuer y^e lesse / because the bishop ought also to ouersee: nether maye y^e Bishoppes iuris­diccion be demed of nō effecte / because he must take y^e Archebishoppe for his superiour. For y^e curate / y^e bishop & tharchebishoppe do gouerne y^e churche euery one in their degree & ordre.

Thā like as euery one of thē doing their office / seme not to hīdre one an other / but to helpe one an other / euenso / in y^e we finde / y^e gouernemēt of the churche was cōmitted to y^e apostles / & to those y^t succede in their rowme / y^t w^c beforehāde is cōmitted of God to prīces / is in no wise ta­ken awaye. But forasmuche as gouernemēt hathe nede of many thinges / especially teachīg & preeminēce occording to y^e sondry distribuciō of giftes / vnto som / God hathe committed the office of teachīg / & y^e ministerie of y^e sacramētes in all one bodye / & to som preeminence / not to be aduersaries / but as diuerse membres agree in one body / so in gouernemēt they shoude ac­corde together / & euery one goo abouth is owne office w^t charitie. But here me thinke / I heare som mē startle / & as it were / wōdrous earnestly chide / because I had rather vse a newe makīge of distīcciō, thā y^t olde accustumed Hū trū distīc ciō, w^c as those mē thīke / dothe put a hādesom [Page] differēce betwene the gouernemētes of a Prin­ce / and of the churche: that is / that the Prince shoulde gouerne in temporall maters / and the churche in spirituall: after the whiche distinc­tion / the Prince / as the moone which is called the lesse light / shoulde haue charge of suche ma ters / as are of the night / but the other / which be of the spirite & of the daye light / he must re serue to the sonne alone / to be discussed. For­sothe a blynde distincciō / and full of darkenes. For if thou leave vnto a christian Prince the na me of a kinge still / so that his duetye is / not only to be the chief ouer the people / in Goddes stede / but also to gouerne them / and rule them: [...] what [...] a [...]. Furst I aske / what waye shall a christian Prince take in gouernement / to leade christian peo­ple by: the waye of truthe / which leadeth vnto life / or the waye of lyes / which hasteth to dea­the? For ther is no mydde waye founde. If he shall take the waye of truthe / what charge of temporall maters / tell you me of / whā y^e scrip­ture [...]. [...]. vj cryeth: Seke furst the kingdome of God, as for other thinges they must not be sought for, for Goddes liberalitie must ge­ve thē? Must euery mā in his owne y^tuate care seke y^e kīgdome of god & must a prīce in his admi nistraciō / neclecte it / or at least / not care for it? [Page] This is the mater surely / because the good menThey did not so wise­ly invē [...] y^t deuise but you as sub­telly fo­lowe y^t same steppes. were afraide / lest any kīg shoulde waxe to holy and in this behalfe / lest he shoulde fall vnto vertue to earnestly / they invēted a fine devise / thī ­king it a wittie parte / to appoȳt a kinge his of­fice / so as he take no thought / whether his peo ple be good or not (I meane / after y^e goodnes that is mete for the profession of christen men) so that they be not notoriously cryed out vpon for abhominable impietie & wicked dedes / so as they seme not to become / more like beastes than men. Therfor it must be y^t kinges charge / to see / that they steale not / nor murther / and y^t the laye folke oppresse not the good people. But as for all maner of horedomes / or worse than horedome and what so euer those mē doo / whose title and rayment wolde make a man to thinke the contrary in them: though their be­haueours be neuer so ferre out of ordre / the kinge must let it alone / and passe not on it. For those are spirituall maters / that is to saye / spirituall mennes synnes / which they biddeTrustinge of prelates o­uer mu­che marreth all. the Kinge / let them alone withall: as though it were ynough for him / to gouerne his people in temporall affaires / & y^t it were not for him to knowe any further. This in dede is y^e most spedy waye to marre all / & ferre contrary from his [Page] office that occupieth Goddes rowne in earthe.ij. [...]. v. Is this to fede y^e people? which worde the scrip ture vseth to kinges? Naye / Saint DunstaneDūsta­ne a holi man / & my dog­ge other (which was a very holy and a right good mā) somtyme Archebishop of Cantorbury / did a great deale after an other sorte / with great re­ioysing / interprete the charge of a prince in cor recting the maners of the churche / beinge gla­dly well apayed of the kinges sayeng / whan he tolde him / he wolde ioyne sweorde to sweorde / to thinthent the light dissolute maners of the Holy Kirckemen, might be framed in to the right trade of lyfe. By the one sweorde / allu­ding to the sayeng of Paule / which the mini­stres of the worde / exercice in preachīg and ex­communicating: by that other sweorde / she wīg a supremacie oppoynted by the lawe of God / whervnto / as many as are the kinges subiectes (which is the congregacion / that we call the churche) are all bounden throughlye to obeye. For the kinge is commaunded / to gouerne the people: and the prophet warnyng Princes ofPrinces ought to be lea rened in scrptu­res. their duetie / sayeth to thē: Now you kīges get you vnderstanding, & be learned you that are iudges of the lāde. But if we admitte the­se mēnes interpretaciō / thā shoulde prīces haue no more vnderstāding / nor be further learned / [Page] than to be necligēt almost in all thīges / y^t is to saie / they shoulde not meddle w^t y^e one halfe of y^e people / if thei serve y^e lorde in name & apparail: & as for y^e rest of y^e people / they shoulde correcte thē / not to refraine frō al grosse synnes / but frō som. But y^e pphetes interpretaciō / is an other maner of mater / which he brīgeth in after war­de / saieng: Serue the Lorde in feare, what this meaneth / we must vnderstande and learne it of Goddes owne mouthe. For Goddes mouthe speaketh playnly in the holy scriptures bothe of of the olde testament and newe. Touching kinExāples of prin­ces auto rities out of y^e [...] res. ge Salomons administracion / this dothe scrip ture reporte: Kinge Salomon, according to his fathers appoyntment, ordained the offi ces of the priesters in their ministeries, and Levites in their ordre, that they might geue thankes, and [...] before the priestes af­ter the ordre of euery day, and porters in their diuisions gate by gate. Here you do he­re y^t kīge Salomō take cure also of holy or spiriij. Parali. xxviij. tuall maters / not vnadvisedly / but by thappoīt­ment of Dauid his father / of whō god / by the prophet / protesteth / that he had founde a man after his owne hearte. So that the same histo­rie of Salomō / speaketh of this sorte folowing: For soo had the mā of God commaunded, [Page] nether did they omytte any of the Kinges commaundementes, nether the priestes nor Leuites, of all that he had commaunded.

Wherto shoulde I here make rehearsall of kin­ge [...]. Par. [...]. Iosoph at his carefulncs / that set vp the hi­ghe iudgement seate of the priestes and levites householdes in Hierusalem? By what auto­ritie did he so / but by his Regall power? taking it to be his office / rather to take charge concer­ning [...]. Par. cxviii. Divine maters than humane. What a bolde dede had that ben of kinge [...] / euē the very furst yeare and the furst moneth of his reigne / so to have busyed him selfe with the ad­ministracion of divine maters / if the discipline of his regall office / w^c he receaued of God / had not required it? y^t is to saye y^t a Kinge ordayned of God (which is y^t eternall spirite) shoulde ta ke charge of spiritual and eternall affaires / be­fore and rather than corporal maters / and thin ges that shall perishe in time. This Ezechias therfore / the scripture commendeth so highly / that ther was non of all the Kinges of Iuda / which obserued all the lordes preceptes like vn­to him. For his will was to seke the lorde with all his hole hearte / as he did in dede and pros pered / as the scripture testifieth. [...]. Par. xxviij. What did this Ezechias / I saye? In the very [Page] furst yeare & furst moneth of his reigne / he did not only buylde vp the gates of the lordes hou­se agayne / but also gave diligence to refourme the priestes them selues / and to repaire the ly­uely buylding / that was decayed. For he not only admonished y^t priestes / y^t dwelt together on the east strete of the citie / of their necligēce in their office / but also like a man of autoritie / sayde: Hearken o ye Leuites and priestes: be ye sanctified and make cleane the house of the Lorde, the God of your fathers, & put a waye all vncleānes frō the sayntuarie. &c. I pray you / what coulde he speake more impe riously? For he spake not / as one / that exhor­ted thē / as inferiours / or those that be folowe like / vse to take in them selves with all / to cau se the communicacion of the mater / to be the more easily taken. Which maner of talke is re quisite som time in a gentill godly hearte in an others mānes cause. And if Ezechias lusted to haue spoken after that rate / he wolde not have sayde / Be ye santified / but let vs be santified: not make you cleane, but let vs make cleane: not put ye awaye, but let vs put awaye: or if the mater had ben suche / that it wolde not ad­mitte feloweship / if a priuate man shoulde ha­wished or declared those cases / it had become [Page] him nether to make him selfe felowe like with the mater to be required / to exhorte them / nor to require it by the waye of commaundemēt.

But the right good prince Ezechias / beinge taught of God / what his Regall office / charge and administracion was / vsed suche maner tal ke vnto the priestes / as shoulde declare y^t autori tie and power of the speaker. Therfore he spea keth in the imperatiue mode: Hearken, make cleane, and put awaye. And the priestes them selues (as it appeareth in the same place) did / as y^t kinge had iustly bidden them / and obeyed his commaundement. Thus were those kingesGod wilbe angry ī these daies [...] vnlear­ned Pri res. learned / that fully and entierlye applied their office / by Goddes autoritie amonge Goddes people. And these thinges will God require at princes handes / a great deale more in these dayes: that / they shoulde hearken / how the pro pheth exhortet them / to laye hande vpon this maner of learning / to gouerne the people by / and to serve the lorde with feare & trembling: and to cause the people / not to be suche as theyHow cā y^t be if Goddes boke be takē frō them. lust them selues to be / but a worthye and [...] acceptable people vnto the lorde / as muche [...] in thē were possible / & so to be founde faithful stuardes / in y^t daye / whā they shal yelde [...] te of y^e administracion / w^c they toke vpon thē. [Page] [...] them therfore heare what y^t wisemā saithe: Heare ô ye kynges and vnderstande, marke Sap. vj with your eares, you that are rulers of the multitude, for power is geuen vnto yow of the lorde, and streynght frō the highest, which shall enquire, what your workes be. Therfore Princes must not passe the tyme / in [...] / necligence / and Idlenes / but con tinually serve the lorde. For their duetie is / to be so muche the more carefull in the office that God hathe geven them (as one hathe writtē) as they see them selues the more bounden in yelding accompta. For it is a great talent / that God hathe put princes in trust withall: that is / that they shoulde not only rule the people / but also rule them rightly / not in any one parte alo ne but in all particularly: and so to loke vnto the lordes vineyarde / which men thinke they have takē in hande to kepe in good husbandrie / that they not only plucke out suche thinges as are noysom / but also trymme it and laye newe dong to it: and to leave no poynt of husbandrye vndone / that the vineyarde maye bringe furthe frute more pleynteously / which the good man of the house shall require in his season.

For who is hable to save princes harmeles / or beare them out / that / wher they have taken [Page] vpon them selues / all the hole charge to gouer­ne the people by Goddes autoritie / they maye compacte afterwarde / that the greater parte shall have the charge of the other / and they in the meane while / as though thei had done their office gayly well / take their ease / and care for nothing? And wher a worde was ones spoken / by cause of the reuerēce of their present vertue / and not by the truthe of their autoritie: shall men / though it were spoken of a man so affec­ted / vsurpe it for that ende to mocke out the charge of Goddes autoritie? I meane / the [...] of Constantine: I will not iudge you, of whom I my selfe ought to be iudged. [...] tine the emperi­our.

God speaketh generally / he excepteth no man / he committeth the people vnto the princes [...] ge / somtyme naughty people / to a naughtye prince. If somtyme good people to a good prin ce / than he puteth him so muche the more [...] trust / that mē maye surely thinke / he hathe [...] supremacie ouer all the people / according to [...] commaundementes of God / and not ouer on parte of the people / after the tradiciones of [...] which people / being [...] together in one be [...] of Christ / seing it is a churche: what [...] ditie is it / that a prince / which is called [...] headde of that people / shoulde not be called [...] [Page] so the headde of the churche / which that people maketh? You will saye perchaunce / Christ only is the headde of the churche. We all con­fesse it / or elles we coulde [...] proprely cousti­tute a churche / but the churche of malignaun­tes. In dede we acknowlage that Christ is theNota. headde of the churche / & that he reigneth with the father in heauen / who is our aduocate / sit­ting on the fathers right hande / and maketh intercession for vs.

But as concerning that Christ / the mediatour of God / and men / bothe God and man / is the headde of the churche / that churche hathe [...] addicion / forasmuche as the churche of Englā ­de / is not the churche / alone / but also the chur­che of Fraunce / of Spayne / and of Rome / for the churche is not circūscripte to any place / but where so euer it be in all the wide worlde / euen among the Turkes / wher God hathe sealed vp his owne children vnto him selfe / who (as the Gospell saithe) draweth all / vnto whom heIoan. 1. hathe geuen power to become his children.

Therfore late this be out of cōtrouersie / about the which it were wickednes to cōtende / I wil not saye / Dispute. And to avoide this / that ther remayne no cause of evil reporte of it / [...] is to this worde / headde / added in Earthe: and [Page] to this worde / churche / is added / of Englāde. Of which churche of Englande / the supreme [...] by [...]. headde in earthe / forasmuche as bothe scriptu­res and reasones doo allowe it / as a thing in­existent vnto the name of a prince and of a kin­ge / all Englishe people / thought it mete / to ha­ue that mater expressed i plaine wordes / bothe [...] of ty [...] is not allo wed but prescrip [...] of [...]. the commones / and the fathers / yea / and euen those / that were reputed to be from that iuris­diccion / be prescripcion of tyme / and not by prescripcion of truthe. For / why shoulde they not cōsent to the truthe? In dede the newnesse and vnwont noueltie of the worde nether coul de / nor ought make men any thinge afrayde: For / after it appeared / that the thinge it selfe / which was expressed by name / was not only true / but also auncient: it came of aduised [...] [...] supre me head [...] writ­ten in y^t kinges stile. iudgement and not of temeritie / that som no­table name shoulde be set furthe / to stere vp the holowe heartes and feble iudgementes of som men vnto the cōsideration of the truthe by and to aduertise the subiectes by that name / that the prince is the hole Prince of all the people / and not of parte: and that the same body of the people / growing in to that condicion / to be cal­led the churche / is not one handed / nor cut of by the stumpes / but that it consisteth perfitly [Page] hole / the same Prince beinge as the headde:y^e office of a prī ­ce is to take charge [...] diuine maters. whose office is / to take charge / not only of hu­mayne maters / but muche more of divine ma­ters / that is / to distribute fitely vnto euery membre of the body / their propre offices / that he / with his eies / with his eares / and with his mouthe according to the care / wherby he hathe the gouernement / by the gifte of God / in mini­string vnto the body / and chargeing euery one with their duetie / he maye applye that maner of office / that God shall doubtles / one daye / call for a reconyng of / at the handes of a christē Prince / havinge the gouernement of christen people. Thus muche to wching the neweltie of the name. For elles the mater it selfe / hathe bothe many and right weightie examples / not those only / which I haue before rehearced out of the olde lawe / but many other also / not com parable in dede with them (in that they are grounded vpon Goddes worde) in grauitie and weightie importaunce: howbeit / for asmu­che as they are pertynent to the cause / they are not to be omitted. Than Sir / who did euer disallowe Iustinianes facte / that made lawes / [...] anus. concerning the glorious Trinitie / & the catho­like faithe / of Bishoppes / of men of the clergie / of heretiques / and others / suche like? Which [Page] lawes he either made in vaine / or elles he decla red / that he had the charge of that parte of the people also / which ought to be of the greater puritie and of the more holynesse / as he say the him selfe he had / havyng perteyned in this be­halfe / vnto the iudgement of thc truthe / out of all peraventure. How often doo we reade / that the causes of heresie / haue ben debated before Emperours aud Princes / and discussed by their tryall? If we will boulte out the auncient la­was of kinges of Englande in tymes past / how many shall we findc / concerning religion and the chnrche / made / proclaymed / and bidden to be put in execucion / by the commaundement & autoritie of those kinges? Yea / saye they / they made suche statutes / as defendours of the churche / and not as autours and headdes of y^e churche. Who was headde than in the meane space? Who had the gouernement? Who had the principall charge? I wotte / what their ans wer wilbe: Mary Sir / the Bishop of Rome. That shall we see here after. In the meane while / it must nedes be graunted / that the kin ges dignitie hathe bē alwayes aboue y^e chiefest Bishoppes in Englande / and that / vnder the name of Defendour of the churche (which title was geuē vnto kinges / euen of them / that [Page] graūted least) they did and exercised those thinHow a prīce is defen­dour of y^e chur­che. ges albeit not in all thinges yet in most thinges that representeth the dignitie and office of the headde in the churche. For princes were de defendours of the churche / euen as the headde maynteneth and defendeth the body. And as we maye see it chaunce almost in euery place at this daye / that som that be [...] in many thinges / covet the name for all that. And con trary wise those Princes / which haue ben su­che in dede and in office / that they ought iustly to haue ben called headdes / haue refrayned on­ly / to be called headdes. For they haue made statutes by their autoritie and by their owne la wes / for to enquire of heresie / wheri consisteth the chief and principall poynt of office / which is yet still / and hathe alwayes ben obserued euen vnto these dayes. But now have they per mitted many thinges vnto the Bishoppes andy^e autori tie & im­munitie of bish. geuē by princes. clergie / aud haue graunted them many inmuni ties / the graūt wherof ought to be a wondrous great argument / either that Princes haue ben hitherto desired in vayne to graunt that / that is an other mannes / which ought to perteyne nothinge vnto him / and that they gaue / that they had not them selues / which is a playne absurditie / or elles that they had power to exer [Page] cise them selnes / that they graunted to other: and that therfore / they remitted and departed in so dooing / with parte of their owne right. Which beinge euen so / Princes haue ben all­waies headdes / mater in dede / euen thā / whan they were called only Defendours / if this be to be the headde vnto the body: to beare rule ouer all the people / to commaūde / remitte / and som­tyme to beare with all the membres therof / as muche as tendeth to the vse of al y^e hoole body / and so to ordre and moderate euery thīge / that the glorie of God / and the profession of the fai­the maye be advaunced from daye to daye. But these mē will sayc: Princes haue acknow­laged the Bishop of Rome / to be the headde of the vniuersall churche: to him they haue geven condigne honoure / as to supreme headde / to him they haue submitted selues / his autoritie they haue acknowlaged / reuerenceing him as their father / and reioyceing that he called them sonnes / so that if we shoulde esteme the right by the dedes / & if it be ynough to teache dedes for the prose of the right / so as / what so euer is apparauntly done / we must confesse it to be do­ne rightefully: than doubtles the Bishoppes of Romes cause shalbe on the better hande.

I wolde not be reputed so vayne or so [...] [Page] a mā (which is y^t formust ende of my thought)winche­stre not ipudēt / no full lothe. as to clocke or to saye naye / to those thinges y^t haue ben done / and yet whan I shall graunt to suche thinges as cā not be denyed / me thinketh / that like as vertue / whā it is most throwne vn­der fote / and soiled with vices / yet it sheweth his efficacie / by one shifte or other / that we maye vnderstonde it to be presently oppressed / but not vtterly extincte / euen so in the meane season / dedes / which seme to dymynishe the right title / and autoritie of the prince / a certain light of the truthe hathe alwayes peeped out / as it were / out of most depe darkenes / wherby he that marke it more nerely and. more surely / might ꝑceave / that these dedes were not hoole nor perfite / ne groūded vpon iuste foundacio­nes / but had a greater appearaunce of truthe / than true in dede / & tokens of honoure rather borowed than payde. For if that opinion had euer sonke in to Princes heartes / that the Bi­shop of Rome had ben Christes vicare on ear­the / that is / the headde ordayned of God to be ouer all / vnto whom al thinges shoulde bowe / all thinges shoulde obeye / without whom / no­thing must be reconed holye nor sacred / whose blessinge shoulde alwaies geve ꝓsperitie / who­se curse aduersitie / or if the Bissoppes of Rome [Page] were persuaded / that it were so: the bishoppesIf y^t bis. of Ro. were christes vicar / he wol­de not haue practi­sed iug­glīges. of Rome wolde not haue practised straunge ar­tes / and carnall fetches / rather than strong te­stimonie of Goddes truthe / if they coulde yet to this daye haue brough out any suche / in the de­fense of their autoritie: nether durst the princes haue ben so bolde / euery oue in his tyme / as to nyppe awaye that same autoritie (which they semed to graunt in wordes and termes of spea­che) after that faciō in their procedinges / and doinges / not in corners but openly in the face of the worlde: I speake of suche princes / whose excellent religious deuocion / the worlde now after their deathes / reverenceth and worship­peth: and reconeth them amonge the nombre of Saītes verily if our elders had beleued / that God had committed the charge of all the hoole worlde / vnto the bishop of Rome / what wil­full boldenes caused them / to make so many sta tutes agaynst / and contrary to that charge and power aduaūceing it selfe / vnder that pretēse? and as they wolde haue done many other thin ges / yet they durst neuer haue ben so bolde / to doo / that they did / to haue purposed to blynde­felde him / from lokīg about him / aud to stoppe his eies / whom they extemed for a watcheman set of God / in the higher place / to see? I thīke. [Page] it was mete / to [...] so great a diligence in Goddes vicare / for that he beinge burthened w^t the cure and charge of all churches / lest the peo ple shoulde want shepeherdes / made prouisiō with iij. sortes of vnder sheperdes. Against the superiour / or against him / it is not laufull to make any lawe. For inferiours prescribe not lawes to the superiours / nether doo they lau­fully make penalties against their gouuerne­ment / how wicked / or intolerable so euer it be. Therfore our elders / and princes / that were before tyme / whan they assembled together to counsail vpon maters of the commō weale / ta­king deliberate advisement in their open coun­sailes / haue by statutes and lawes determina­tely thought it mete put out that quicke sight in the bishoppes of Romes eies / that it shoulde not serve thē to loke ouer / so ferre as vnto vs: yea / those princes seme that they knewe owne right autoritie / and that they were not al igno raunt of the originall begynning and nature of the Bishop of Romes power: and yet the bis shoppes of Rome thought it good to alloweA [...] foxes. bothe their iudgementes and doinges / in y^t be­halfe / so muche / that they haue not only / not founde faulte with those Princes / which bothe made suche statutes and kept them / but also [Page] dissembling the foile that they had taken / com­mended those Princes / for their fidelitie andyou are a whel­pe of y^e same heare. obedience. Yea Mary Sir / the bishoppes of Rome were circumspecte / aud the more wittye men in their generacion / folowing in this case the example of subtyl marchauntes / that of an vnthriftye bargayn / whan they haue scant hal fe / yet they holde them content / reconyng it all wonne that they had / because of right they coul de haue claymed uothing. As for our elders / whan they perceaved the bishop of Romes au­toritie by his frutes / and iudged him not to be Goddes vicare / they thought / that [...] autoritie must be borne withall / and not clea­ne cast out (for so reason permitted at y^t tyme) but their expressed dedes doo most manifestly declare / that they were of the same iudgemēt / y^t [...] & temeri­tie of prī [...] put­teth not away y^t autori­tie y^t god geueth them. that we are of. Neuertheles / as euery man­nes hearte serueth him / so dothe he either clay me his owne / & vseth it / like a stowte hearted man / or elles beinge content with the commo­ditie that is offred him / letteth the rest alone / and wotteth what he thinketh. And seing the mater stondeth euen so / ther is no reason / why the rest of their doinges shoulde trouble them / how contrary in outwarde appearaūce so euer they seme / by the which they coulde nyppe a­waye [Page] nothing from Goddes lawe / and dymy­nyshe,errours of mys doinges hurteth not the truthe of the thīges. their power / through temeritie or by ne­cligence. Let mē call the Bishoppes of Rome / fathers: let theym call them / headdes: let them advaunce them with what names / they lust: yet the truthe of thinges / is not impeched by errours of thinges mysdone.

The churche of Rome / was in the olde tyme / either by reason of outwarde holynes or byy^e chur­che of Rome godly in the olde tyme. mightie power / not only of great fame / but al­so of highe autoritie: whā I speake of autoritie / I folowe Tullies meanīg / who / in y^t weightie importaunce of witnesse bearing / attributeth autoritie vnto such as be wittye and wealthye men / because of the cōmon peoples iudgemēt / Autori­tie after Tullies mide &c though it be not alwayes a right / as he saithe / yet because it is not easily altred. For elles the autoritie / that the bishob of Rome shoulde be thought to haue by Goddes lawe / is non auto­ritie with vs in dede / like as no maner of foray­neRemem bre this lesson your sel fe / elles ye wilbe [...] one day. bishop also hathe autoritie among vs.

Nether let it / in this case / be preiudicall vnto the truthe / that men haue done here to fore in sondrye counsailles / to florishe out the mater withall: that is to saye / either seruing their owne turne / or [...] place to y^e tyme / or elles blinded through ignoraunce. Let the truthe of [Page] Goddes worde haue the victorie now / which itTyme may not prescri­be a­gainst truthe. it geue no more autoritie vnto these Bishoppes of Rome / than to all other bishoppes / that is / to fede & bring vp the people / within their dio­cese committed to their [...] charge / with the ministracion of the worde of God / and of his sacramentes: let not tyme prescribe against Goddes truthe / nether let it be iudged / that thePrices may not put a­waye their su­prema­cie / be­cause they ha ue it of God. Prices or y^t people were blinded w^t ignoraūce / circumvēted with subtiltie / or gredy of gaines / either induced through any other respecte / to doo / that they nether ought nor coulde possi­blye by any meanes haue done. Because men haue vsed / to aske the Bishop of Rome counsail in gouerning the churche / is it not lauful ther­fore to doo any thinge without his counsaill? And because Princes haue suffred their subiec­tes / to aske his counsaill / did they by that mea­nes geue ouer their owne autoritie / which / be­causeLet ma­ters a­myse be called home a­gayn to y^t line of Goddes worde. it is committed vnto them by God / it is not laufull for them to put awaye? Let the maters / that haue / in tymes past / ben made a myngle mangle / be called agayne to the true square of Goddes worde: let the groundes of bothe their powers be wayed / and like as we haue by testimonie of Goddes worde shewed before / that a Princes mightie power is not [Page] goten by flattery / or by priuilege of y^e people / [...] y^t high priestes were subiec­tes to prīces. but geuē of God / let vs also considre / whether the selfe same God haue geuen any power to y^e bishop of Rome / that ought to hindre the supre­me power of princes. And in this mater / we nede not to make much a doo in searching out the scriptures of the olde testamēt / wherin / we haue aswell touched somwhat all ready as also it is most manifest in many other places / that the priestes were in subiecciō to y^t high princes.Exo. [...] Did not Aaron take Moyses for his souerai­gue lorde / which is the maner of speche of him that acknowlageth superiour autoritie? Didj. Reg. [...]. not Achimelech the high Priest vse the same worde of subieccion / whan he spake to Saul / the kinge of Israel; Did not Solomon put Abiathar the high priest to deathe? what did [...]. Re. [...] Kinge Alexander (as it appeareth in the boke of Machabees) write to Ionatha / sayeng?j. [...] x Now haue we this day ordayned the to be the high priest of thy people. Doo not the­se sayenges / sufficiētly declare / that the power of Princes / as aboue euen the highest priestes of all? I speake nothing / that Demetrius gauej. Mach. [...]. vnto Symon the office of the highe priest / and so to others after him. I passe also ouer many other moo. For the multitude of examples out [Page] of Goddes lawe dothe not so strongly confir­me as shewe the truthe. For this is the diffe­rence betwene Goddes lawe / and mannes: [...] awe cō [...] / & [...] Goddes lawe is constaunt / but mannes lawe is euer subiecte vnto vanitie / & so vnto varietie. In Goddes worde therfore / it is alwaies true / that is ones set out by example for truthe / as / to prove the supreme power and autoritie of princes / the example of [...] alone / which is regestred in Goddes boke / and commended vnto vs / might instly haue suffised. It remay­neth thā / that the bishop of Rome / must ether bring out the tables of the newe testament / or non. But furst / to speake vniuersally of the newe lawe / how can any sillable in Christes wordes / helpe his autoritie / seing the selfe same Christ / dothe so opēly protest bothe in wordes and in dedes / that he sought not a earthely kīg­dome / nor wolde clayme any suche kinde of kingdome / but (the state of ordres remayning still) he set furthe and taught the forme of hea­uenlyChrist altred not the state [...]. conuersacion / and the iuste gouernaunce of the inwarde mynde / through y^e grace of god / which he by his open doinges most playnly de­clared / to consiste / not in highe ruffling estate nor in ruling the rost / but contrary wise / in hu militie and contempte of wordly thinges / whā [Page] he suffred y^t most bitter & cruell kīde of deathe for our sakes. And y^e poītes of office / of himy^e office of him occupi­eth chri stes [...] me. that is his vicare / if he doo his office faithfully / are / not to beare rule / but to be in subiecciō / not to commaūde princes / but to acknowlage him selfe to be vnder their power & cōmaundemēt / not only whan they commaūde thinges indiffe rent / and easily to bedone / but also whan they commaunde thinges not indifferent / so they be not wicked: in checkes / in scourgīges / and bea­tinges vnto deathe / yea euē to the deathe of the crosse. In dede / these are Christes fotesteppes / & this is the maiestie of rule bearing in Christ: This / I saye / is the true power of Christ / vnto vs bothe wonderous / and exceding holsom: by the which also is power geuen to vs / to become the children of God. This he taught and expres sed in his doīges / touchīg y^t kingdome of Israel. His dreamīg disciples he alwayes rebuked: but he neuer hyndred Cesares tribute / nor any mā ­nes autoritie / one iote by his dedes. And seing it is so / I wene / I haue made it manifest / if we considre Christes dedes / which maye not be al­tred nor doubtefully interpreted: we shal finde playnly / that all is cleane cōtrary / that the bis shop of Rome chalēgeth to hī self / as Christes vicare. This therfore only remayneth / that he [Page] flee to the wordes of the euangelistes / which (how so euer men haue varied in the interpre­taciō) all men knowe well ynough / how they stande in the texte. But what loketh he for / in [...] and [...]. them? Mary Sir / this. Whether Christ / the waye / the truthe and the life / spake euer any thingh / wheri he shoulde disagree frō his owne dedes? y^t wher he never sought autoritie amōg mē / he gaue it not withstondīg to the bishop of Rome / to vse as his vicare. This in dede is the summe of the question / in wordes (as it is pro pounded) blasphemous / and wicked / but yet it paynteth out the mater / that I haue in hāde. For wher in al other maters / as y^e euāgeliste re­porteth / Iesus begane to doo and to teache / & to teache that he did: And in this one only ma­ters / which we now treate of / if he taught any whitte of that / which the bishop of Rome clay­meth at this daie to him selfe / by Christes title / that is / to be aboue Princes / by Christes wor des / we must nedes cōfesse / that Christ taught in wordes / that wherof he not only shewed no example in him selfe / but shewed cleane cōtrary in all the hole course of his life before. Let this therfore remayne still iu y^e cause / that Christes dedes stāde on our side / which maye not be wre sted by no mannes interpretacion: only the que [Page] stiō is i Christes wordes / w^e now & thā / māues interpretacion is so sawcye as to blemyshe.

Albeit he that shall stande with the bishop of Rome in this cause / might furst of al / sticke fast in this poynt: that ther is not foūde in the holy scriptures / so muche as one syllabe / of y^e bishop of Rome / so y^t what interpretacion of Christes wordes so euer he wil stande to / he might seme to lose his accion / as they saye. For what is the consequency than? Christ wolde haue Petre to be aboue Princes / asit appeareth it was neuer his minde. Ergo he wolde haue the bishop of Rome to be so to. Why / because he his Petres successour? I saye no more / but I wolde he were. And than / in that case / I doubt not / but he shoulde be aboue all mē / though not in hault estate of worldly power (as out of doubt he ha the non suche) yet in admiracion and reuerence of in warde vertue / and in that poynt / Christ wolde haue those that his be / to excelle and be ring leaders euen aboue emperours: as those / vnto whom / beīge his Embassadours / he gaue the keyes of the kingdome of heauē / and amōg them / vnto Petre / which in all their names / Petre spake one for thē all. had spoken so holsome a cōfession / to acknow­lage Iesus / to be the sonne of the living God. Which confession / like as fleshe and bloud had [Page] not reueled / euen so was ther no prerogatiue geuen vnto fleshe and bloud in Petre / what so euer was geuen / but to the chiefer parte / which was the spirite / to y^e intent / that beinge endued the more pleynteously with the Grace of God / he shoulde be the ring leader in vertue & migh­te of the worde of God / and in the power of ru ling affecciones. Yfwe shoulde so interprete Christes wordes / as if they ment som externe power / in rule bearing / which al other folkes / shoulde acknowlage them selues to be vnder / yea euen Princes to / albeit the same selfe God haue set them in the superiour rowne / so that nothīg elles coulde be allcged / how coulde that sentēce of Christ stōde together? The disciple [...]. xiij is not greater than his maister, namely if the disciple wolde not be cōtēt to be in subiecciō / as Christ was / but execute y^e supreme power him selfe / w^c his lorde wolde neuer take vpō him. In scriptures / ther is no mencion made of Pe­tres supremacie / and Eusebeus in Ecclesiastica historia / reporteth / that Clemens in sexto li. Dispositionum, affirmed / that Petre / Iohā / and Iames / after the ascension of our saueour / [...] fthe a­ostles. although he had set them almost aboue all the apostles / yet they toke not the glorie of supre­macie vpō them / but that Iames / which is cal­led / [Page] Iustus / was ordayned the bishop of the a­postles. Notwithstonding for the autoritiesSupre macie may be takē [...] uersely sake of them / which haue not [...] the wor de of supremacie / I doo not so muche refuse the worde selfe / but I flee to the interpretacion of the worde / that it maye agree with the right propre meanyng of the Gospell / expressed in Christes dedes. Admitte / y^t Petre were chief / admitte he had the supremacie of Christ / what of that? was a kingdome / lordeship / or preemi nence geuen him / with y^e supremacie? Because he was biddē to cōfirme his brethren in faithe / was it geuen him / to beare rule ouer his bre­thren / therfore? Christes humble estate knewe no suche kinde of speache / nor mater. For though Christ (as touching his God headde) was equal vnto the father / with whom he was in the begynnyng and in all thinges / which he created / speake / or did / he was alwayes / toge­ther with y^t holy goste / the indivisible worker (one substaūce of three persones in divinitie) although I saye / according to this maiestie / he hathe alwayes had all power / to subdue al thin ges vnto him selfe: he was alyve / he is alyve / & he shall lyve: he hathe reigned / he reigneth / & he shall reigne God for euer more: yet for his exceding mercie towardes mankinde / he made [Page] him selse of no reputacion / taking the forme of [...]. ij. [...] houlde [...] re­ceyue [...] a seruaunt / being in apparaill founde as a mā / and a very opprobrie / as the prophet saithe: to make it plaine and open / that those thinges / w^c were highely estemed with men / as empires / dominiones / and highe autorities / being / as it were / stoppes and impedimentes to the attey­ning of eternall felicitie / are rather to be cast a­waye and contemned / than to be gredily sought for / and ambiciously coveted / yea they are notneddlīg [...] many [...] narreth [...] [...]. to be receaved though they offre them selues / but vnder this condicion / that we receaue thē / as mater offred of God / to trauaile in / for the exercise of Godlynes sake / euery one in his vo­cacion. Which / the greater it is / and the moo thinges it is tangled withall / the harder it wil­be [...] to [...] sel [...] ther­ore. to doo it so well / as euery one wolde be glad and fayne to doo / that faithfully contendeth to com to the countrey that euer shall endure. So that we must vnderstande / that Christ mētWhat houl­iers / [...] neuer a worde of any supremacie of wordly ad ministracion / but he appoynted his souldiers / whom he furnished / to encountre as it were in the vawarde against the cōtinuall fraudes / per petuall / bataill and warres of the worlde / the fleshe and the dyvell / to be the forewardest / & as it were the enseigne bearours / in the very [Page] formost ranke. Whom he knewe / to be of bet­ter courage in faithe / to breake the more daun­gerous raye of thenemies / because they were not tangled nor letted with any charge of worldly maters / and might by their example of constaunce / encourāge / allure / and provoke other of the weaker sorte / to become souldiours of y^t bande also. In which kinde of warrefarre / though Christ / makīg choise of his owne / gaue the vppermost standing to Petre / among the brotherne / it was no marvaill: seinge he had so armed him / y^t he knewe before hande / though he wolde geve backe from the enemye perhap­pes for a tyme / yet he wolde not geve it ouer so / but to it agayne stotaly / and fight like a tall felowe for the defense of the truthe. Ha / was Petre the chief than? No man saithe naye. For he confessed Christ / to be the very sonne of the lyvyng God / furst. And Petre was of as constaunt and stedfast myndes / in defending of the same truthe / at all tymes / as any mā was. He was the furst after Christ / that taught the Iewes. And ī thassemblye of thapostles / whā one shoulde nedes speake in all their names / Petre / somtyme as the mater required / was chief in the tale telling. Therfore I will not saye naye to the argument / which they call: [Page] Argumentum à coniugatis, but that Saint Petre / beīge by so many wayes and reasones / the furst / might also be thought to be chief a­mong thapostles. For like as the wise man ha­the wisedome / in that he is a wise man: so hathe the chief mā y^e chief place or supremacie. What than? he y^t is chief of all y^e Phisicianes / hathe not he also the supremacie among Phisi­cianes? For why shoulde he not? Among Paynters also / if ther were any in these dayes / as connyng as Appelles or Pharrhasius was / and were called therfore y^e head Paynter / wol­de we not saye / that he had the supremacie a­mōg paynters? yea doubtles. In vniuersities / agayn / if it were agreed by all [...] consen­tes / that [...] of Parrise / as being a vniuer sitie most playnteously furnished and occupied with great learned men / shoulde be called the headde vniuersitie of the worlde / might not y^e name of supremacie be fitte for it / being chief among other vniuersities / yes doubtles. But let vs come nerer to the mater. If a man / whan he had set one man to gouerne the hole house­holde / wherin inasmuche as he had a great for­te of yong men / whom he wolde fayne haue taught and instructed in good artes / and wol­de provide many scholeruaisters / and among [Page] other / ther were one man excellently wel lear­ned aboue the rest / whom / as a notable man among other / he wolde call the chief of all the scholemaisters that he had gotten: and to who­se instruccion he wolde committe / those that he setteth most by: hathe not he / seing he is chief scholemaister / the supremacie? yes. For the chief person can not chose / but haue chief rule in any mater: For these two wordes / Primus, which is furst / principall / or chief / & Primatus, which is chief rule / preeminence / and is here rightly englished / supremacie / are coniugata, that is to saye / lynked to gether / the one depen ding of the other / not only in speache / but also in mater. Neuertheles this question maye be asked: he / of whom I spake / y^e chief scholemai­ster in this householde / if ther shoulde fall any controuersie / touching maners / or ordre / whe­ther of their autoritics shoulde be estemed abo­ue the other / his / vnto whom the householde was committed / or his / that is callad to instrue te the youthe? he that is called the chief / as I saide / and therfore he hathe the supremacie. Who doubteth / but his rowme is the greater / that hathe charge of the householde? why so? For it stōdeth most with reason / because ordre is somtyme chaunged by relacion. And that / [Page] which in one relacion is supreme and chief / in an other or in a cōtrary relaciō / hathe [...] an inferiour place / and often tymes the lowest place of all. And so God y^e sonne / is equal with the father / after his divinitie / but he is lesse thā the father / after is humanitie.

Also God the sonne / in that he is God / is in y^e begynnyng / and is the begynnyng it selse: but in that he is the sonne of God / he is the seconde person in nombre: [...] without all considera­cion of tyme / he is without begynnyng as God the father is. But to fette examples / out inferi­our maters: Do we not fee all one man to vse diuerse offices at home / like Arithmeticall figu res / now to occupie the furst and chief rowme / than the seconde / afterwarde the thrid / & som­tyme a lower rowme / as the cause / wherin he is occupied / and place / wher company meteth / doo require? Doo we not see him / that sitteth highest amōg iudges / and for that cause / is cal­led / the chief iudge / whan he is required / to be present in extraordinarie iudgementes / as it is often sene / placed after others in the thrid or fourthe rowme? But in divine offices / I pray you / how great a supremacie as I maye to call it / hathe the chappelayne ouer his maister / as long as he is in divine ministracion? And [...] [Page] whan he is out of the place / and cast of his gai­re / he leaveth his supremacie behynde him.

And it is no marvail. For in this cace / the ma­ter stondeth so / that who so mindeth to reteyne the name of the chief person & chief office still / must not swarve from the thinge / whervnto y^e nvme was applyed and setto. Therfore to re­turne vnto examples. Admitte / ther were a fa mous chief Phisician / that is to saye / were as conning in Phisike as any man / and so / becau­se the mater so requireth it / he kepeth still / his preeminence / yea Sir / but while he meddleth with Phisike: But forasmuche as ther is an o­ther maner of office in the administracion of y^e common weale / let him be contēt also with his seconde forme / & stryve not to beare rule ouer other / because he is the chief Phisician: nether let him take autortie vpon him to be a cōmaun­der of the rest of the Phisicianes / which is not geuen him in his preeminence / not because he coulde not geue it hī / which so preferred him / but because it was not his pleasur to geue it hī for it was no reason why he shoulde: or elles which is the sorest thinge to speake of all / why he did not: Mary Sir / because he made him not absolutely chief / but he called him the chief Phisician. Admitte also a curious [...] [Page] payntour / to be chief payntour / let him stryve also to continue still in his chief payntourship / lest an other passe him in connyng / and so have the name of chief payntour from him / because he is more worthy than he. Let the vniuersitie of Parrise reioyce not so muche of the honour of the name / as to studie to make it good / that it attributed by the name. Finaly let this scho­lemaister / which is called to teache children / because the good man of the house thought not the person of the mā / but the vertue hidden vnder the person / whorthye the honour of chief scholemaister / remembre and remembre again / that he is not honoured / but burthened with y^e name / and let him study rather according to y^e the intēt of the name / to shewe him selfe chief / in the office of teaching / than to abuse the vay­ne title of a name / and as though he were chief absolutely without condicion / yet neclecting his office / and so losing his supremacie / to con­tende and stryve / about the name and terme of it / with them / that as being set in autoritie to gouerne the householde / haue the true and ab­solute supremacie in dede: and to myngle God­des maters / and the worldes maters together / so that he maye ouercome / by right or by wrōg / and haue it as him lusteth: as for his function & [Page] office / he taketh no more thought for / but is& as you do yet ex cept it be w^t y^e poysō of popish heresies good mē [...] all way y^e rule. holly bent in that. As it appeareth now for a great while / that the bishoppes of Rome haue done / which not regarding those thinges / that were added vnto Petres supremacie / and accō ­plishing the name of supremacie being annexed vnto som certain poyntes of office / as they accō plishe all thinges / they haue propounded the bare name vnto the worlde / that they might be taken for chief / yea / and chiefer than the chie­fest: not remembring in the meane tyme / how / y^t is as true as the Go­spell: [...] you [...] as bad­de as [...] deth to be. in all other maters / they are inferiour to the lowest that is. [...] I doo not compare / the faultes of the men with the condiciō of the cau­se / wherin I might haue very large mater to speake / I knowe / they are not alwayes good men / that beare the swīge / and yet the naugh­tynes of the man dothe not hyndre his autori­tie. I knowe this also / y^t we haue all synned / & nede the grace of God. But as concerning / y^t which is annexed vnto the cause / cā not be kep­teFor so y^e you ha­ue amē ­ded the mater gayly si­thence [...] tyme. in silence / lest any man caste this sayeng of Paule in my dishe / that / in the same I preache to others / I my selfe be founde to blame.

For how great lacke I synde in my selfe in my­ne owne office doing / myne owne conscience knoweth. But who is it / that shalbe founde a [Page] faithfull stuarde / as Paule saithe? who also in the same place speaketh further: Iudge not before the tyme come. Therfore will not I wade in this mater / any broader nor further / thā cause requireth: y^t is / as modestly as I cā w^t y^t truthe / to reselle him y^t calleth hī selfe chief vntruly / & to wishe him this at least / if nothing elles / y^t he maye be chief in those titles / wherin he ought to be chief / that he might worthily be called the chief / and wherī Petre was / by whō he claimeth the supremacie to him self / as by suc cession. Wherfore let him now excelle othters / in confessing Christ / & let him so ferre be wor­thily taken for chief amonge all men / euen by the lawe of Godde: which if Boniface had per­ceaued / he nedde not to haue goten that / by pri uilege of Phocas themperour / as it had ben byPhocas beggīg / which by y^e assistence of Goddes grace / he might haue wonne to him selfe by him selfe. Moreouer let the Bishop of Rome be chief in teaching and preaching Christ a fore other / & so longe let him haue the supremacie of that kī ­de of office. But what a folye were it / whan many are rūnyng in a race / that som one shoul­de wīne by his ambicious importnuitie muche fauour of the lokers on / wher he / being appoī ­ted in dede to runne amonge others / whan he [Page] is now either made lame through his owne faulte / or otherwise vnmete to rūne / yet shalbe reported / that he ouerrunne them al / and came furst of all to the pricke / wher as saving that he came [...] in apparail made to rūne withall / he sitteth him downe amonge the lukers on / & clowteth a toorde as for any other cōsideraciō of his requestes / he allegeth non / but that he was borne & bredde of thē (on Goddes name) wher in tymes past were the best runners / and were therfore called the chief. A goodly reason forsothe / and worthye of him / that [...] ioyous of vayne and false titles / and contenteth him selfe / to be flattred / aboue measure. But like as a sure frēde / if he had any wold not only wi­she hī better minde / but also wolde turne him / if he might by right admonicion / from that fo­lishe desire of priuilege: and tell him / what a very folye it is / for a man / haue a mīde to be na med & called that in wordes / which he is not in very dede. euen so wolde I also wishe vnto the bishoppes of Rome / whom it is manifest / haue ben in like sorte affected (I will not ouer­shote my wordes) & yet still at this present (as I heare) surcesse not their olde cākred minde: that they were counsailed of som bodye / not to contēde to be called supremes / as longe as they [Page] are still postremes: But if their delight were to be so called / they should see / by what thinges that title was gotten / and by what thinges / it was proprely attributed. For like as in a well ordred citie / those that are chief in riches / are not therfore chief in autoritie: euen so in Chri­stes churche / they are not put ī autoritie aboue other / that excede other in pōpe / lordely estate and riches. And therfore if the supremacie of y^e churche of Rome in tymes past / with great cō ­sent of the worlde / stode / in y^e office of preachīg Goddes worde / if in advaunceing the cure andNou he brīgeth i hresies & so doo you [...] your pe stilent masses & other such. charge of Christes name if ī prōpte valeaūtnes of mynde / to defende the truthe / and to kepe y^e faithe of Christ frō heresies / as it is most play­ne that in those dayes it did / whan the bishops of Rome (yea almost non but they) at the furst begynning of the spring of the churche / were diligent to heale the furour of tyrannes rageīg against christian people: I wene / ther is neuer a christen prince in the worlde / but if he sawe the bishoppes of Rome / contende about that su premacie faithfully / that they might godly aud zelously passe all other bishoppes (that y^e chur­che of Christ / wher so euer it is scattred / hathe) in godlynes in faithe / and religious deuocion / and wolde stryve to goo so ferre before / that in [Page] this race they might be worthily called y^e furst. If the princes / I saye / might see this in them / they wolde with good will / call them by those true names / that they sawe with their eies: & him that they spied to be furst / they wolde call chief / in that matche game: and in that kyndc of supremacie / they wolde reverence him with due honour / according to his vertue. And with this opinion / semeth our elders were induced (which openion also dured vnto our tyme) y^t [...] how hi­pocrysie cābegile men of simple wittes. they wolde geue y^e bishoppes of Rome wages / for their paynes / which called them selues the seruauutes of Goddes seruauntes, not only in name / as they doo now / but mater in dede in those dayes. Howbeit the name of a seruaūte / signifieth a seruice. For a seruaunt commaun­deth not his labours to be set out / but he set­teth them asale / as it were in an open place / to provoke som body to hyre him. Wherin not­withstonding / som make such a shewe of their labours / in commending their diligence and fi­delitie / and make them so sale kene / that they cause many to be desirous of them: and bringe them in that mynde / that / whan their busynes might bothe better and more spedily be dispat­ched at home / yet they thinke / nothing can be comly nor well done / without their counsail. [Page] And forasmuche as we see that dayly chaunce / in sondry kindes of craftesmen / & in euery tri­fling mater: it is no marvaill / though it be so in religion / wherin / all men wishe / that all thin­ges were ordred / according to the most perfite example / wherin for all that / many men partly distrust their owne wittes / partly vse currupte wittes / in that / they esteme straūge ware more than domesticall stuf: no man ought / I saye / to thinke it any marvaill / though the glorions name of the churche of Rome / beinge at that tyme famous in excellent vertue / drawing and alluring almost all the partes of the worlde / in to admiracion of it / for vertues sake / which is the most sure bonde / knyt all men to it / and cau sed that churche / whom al men might see so no­tably vertuous / to be reverenced / as the chief & principall churche among other. And Godly mē beautified it also with those names / w^c y^e Ro mishe bishoppes make boast of to the worlde / as though they were set furthe by oracle from God / to the supremacie withall / not the supre­macie of vertue / but the supremacie of power / and that earthly / an externe & a fleshly power / such a one as Christ neuer exercised / nor com­mitted it at any tyme to any [...] to exercise / as ferre as we maye gather out of holy scriptu­res. [Page] Wherout notwithstōding / seing som men haue piked out somthinges / wherwith they wolde confirme it to be commaunded and or­dayned of Christ / whervnto the people and y^e princes / wolde euen of their owne voluntary will / because of their great vertue / wherwith they were allured / as it had ben mē drawne vp with an admounde ston / wolde haue graunted them / that is / that they wolde not only honour and reuerence that churche of Rome / and the bishop therof / but also advaunce thē with tho­se titles: which godly affeccion is wont to diuise and vttere / wherin good mē doo somtyme errc: yet forasmuche / as bycause many men haue set furthe many bokes touchīg this mater / and by reason of mutuall conflicte of men reasonyng with it and agaīst it / it is more than manifeste that those place of scripture / are wrested from their true and propre meaning / to defende that autoritie / I though it not mete / to doo that is done already / and in makīg rehersall of them / to make men thinke / I had geuen them a pigge of an others mānessowe. Wherin the meane space / lest I should seme to cast awaye al men­ues wrytinges / I doo not so muche contende a­bout the supremacie so they racke it out no fur­ther / thā it appeareth to be mēt frō y^e beginnīg [Page] But this I vtterly denye / that God ordayned the bishop of Rome to be the chief / as touching any absolute wordly power: of this is the que­stion / in this point the hole cause consisteth.

In this mater / I wene / I haue made it playne ynough / that Christes dedes stāde on ourside / and that y^e name of supremacie vsurped of our elders maketh nothing agaīst vs: and that the title / having a right interpretaciō ioyned vnto the power / which the bishop of Rome claimeth now to himselfe / maketh nothing for his pur­pose / and moreouer / that the prerogatiues / w^c God gaue vnto Petre / crownyng his owne giftes in him / helpe y^e Bishoppe of Romes cau­se nothīg at all: which: prerogatiues were not geuen vnto fleshe and bloud / but to be a testimoYou are a good sone for teachīg your fa­ther so good a [...] as nether of you taketh hede to. nie of that exellent profession of his faithe.

And such wolde God (whose liberall goodnes dothe neuer waste) geue yet still / vnto these bis shoppes of Rome / if they folowed thexample of Petres faythe.

But if the bish oppes of Rome goo about / to ke pe in state still and holde vp y^e decayes of their power (whose bulding was naught / and ther­fore hath wryed on the one side longe a goo) w^t proppes and stayes / divised by mannes braine / rather thē to let it shrynke downe to that state / [Page] that the truthe were hable to defende & beare out: well / beware lest they catche a sorer fall / I will gesse no sorer a thinge. Only let them cō ­sidre / It [...] best for you to take this [...] sail also Mat. [...]: that at leynght truthe hathe the victorie / and that the light of the Gospell / is now come in place of darkenes: and that the lighi repro­veth the thinges that are not allowable. All mē see / what these wordes of y^e Gospel meane. Thou arte Petre, and vpon this rocke will I buylde my churche. Men perceave the mi­steries / bothe of Christes three tymes askingy^e light of y^e Go spell ca me in / whan bish. of Ro. [...] drynen out. of Petre / of Petres thrise denyeng / and of the payeng of tribute money for him / It is vnder­standē at this present / what it is / to be the chief of the apostles: & what it is / to fede the shepe / whom God geueth charge of: this gaire almost euery body hathe in their mouthes. Yea / som crye out / that they haue ben iuggled withal and deceaved. And (as their nature & disposiciō is) som speake lesse / and more temperatelye than som. and som ther be also / which / perceaving they haue ben so lōge / falsely beguyled / as mu­che as they can refrayne / saye neuer a worde for shame. Wel / al sortes of people / are agreed vpon this poīt / with most stedfast consent: lear ned and vnlearned / bothe men & women / that no maner of person / borne and brought vp in [Page] Englande / hathe ought to doo w^t Rome. Al manerThā as many as [...]eceaue y^e truthe hauenot [...] doo w^t y^e bish. of Ro. of people / receavīg and embraceīg y^e truthe / doo with one hole cōsent / acknowlage / honour and reuerence the kinge for the supreme heade of the churche vpon earthe. They bidde the bisshop of Rome farewell: whose labour / how so euer it hathe ben receaued in tymes past / euen so now as vnprofitable and discommodious / they haue no more deuocion to it / as a thing / wherin a man shoulde haue no deuociō / but to turne such a chappelayn / out of the dores / will he nyll he / as beīge hyred or prayed to ministre divine service / hathe not shewed him selfe faith­full and diligente / in his office / vnto them / that he shoulde haue loked to haue receaued his wages of / for his paynes taken. For a man had rather haue a faithfull seruaunt to ministre in dede / in whose name / the true token of doing / which is the right vse of calling / maye appeare: than in stede of a seruaunt to haue one / that taketh vpon him to be lorde of lordes / in his doī ­ges / though in the meane space / he calleth him selfe seruaunt of seruauntes.

And yet all men / for christian charites sake / praye for him and wishe him wel / amonge whō I am one specially: that Paule y^t now is / may so excelle his predecessours in Saint Paules gi­stes / [Page] that / like as Saint Paule hathe compre­hended all the mysteries of our religion / in one only epistle / to the Romaynes: so this Pauley^e same we [...] de pray for you, but [...] your [...] te wil­fulnes maketh vs afra de to pray [...] you. maye now write from Rome / to them that be vnder his obedience / suche thinges / as tende to the true glorie of Christ / and concerne the ad­vauncement of faithe / rather than such ware / as hathe crept in to y^e worlde / these yeares past / from those highe potētates [...] stoare houses. To be shorte / God sende him good life / and well to fare in the lorde.

But I wil returne to my purpose: that is / that I maye move all men to obedience / which only in y^e cōmaūdemētes of God / & for Goddes sake / maketh vs happie & blessed. And cōmaūdemen­tes of God / are cleare / & lightē our eies / y^t we stōble not in darkenes: they are righteous / theyGoddes worde pure [...] truthe maketh not [...] hereti­quesbu kepeth thē frō heresye are honest / they are also not only profitable al­wayes to the life bothe of soule and body / but also necessarie / and not sore nor hearde to be ob served / for they haue a respecte vnto the yoke / y^t they deteyne and kepe still in labour / yea but with a sweatnes / they are a burthen / but yet a lighteone. For it commeth to passe by the grace of God / which is made by Iesus Christ / that thinges impossible vnto the fleshe / are accompli shed by the spirite with chearefulnes / by love / [Page] that is powred in our heartes / by y^e holy goost / which is geuen vs / and seing we are now re­newed in the spirite of our mynde / and become spirituall: we may saye with Saint Paule: We are hable to doo all thinges in him, that streynghtneth vs, that is to saye / Christ. Ther is no cause than / to make vs afraude / of the weightye importaunce of the thing / which through the benefite of Christ / by meanes ofMēnes intcrpre tacions not to be folowed his most precious and most glorious deathe / is made most easie / to thē / w^e acknowlageīg their weakenes of fleshe / committe thē selves holly to Goddes trust / through obediēce / with a sure confidence in God. Let vs therfore make vs / ready / to obey God in his preceptes / which / asI bese­che god / kepe his [...] a­mōge vs & than [...] nysor­ne shal­be spied well y­nough. they be not harde / so they are not many in nom bre. [...] y^t loveth his neighbour (saithe Panle) hathe fulfilled the lawe: what can be spokē mo­re briefly / or kuitte vp in lesse rowme? And be­cause this worde (love) hathe an iterpretaciō / we must nedes afore all thinges / folowe that īterpretaciō / which is set furthe in scriptures / by him / that made the lawe and published it. Let vs than folowe the ordre / that God hathe prescribed / and not goo about with our inter­pretacton / to cōfounde and peruerte the mem­bres of his body the churche / which he hathe set [Page] in ordre & disposed in particulares accordīgly / Loke how good counsai y^e tray­tour ge ueth & yet wil nether folowe it hï sel fe nor suffre other. that one in the congregacion shoulde teache / and an other haue the preeminēce / which is ap pointed to princes / and forsakīg and neclecting those thinges / which either mennes wisedome or subtill brayne hathe invented / let vs folowe the truthe it selfe: let vs obey it / let vs doo after it / which only maketh true obedience.

And here I coulde haue made an ende of my tale / had not som folkes folishe wordes ben / y^t had almost pulled me downe backewarde aud enforced me to rendre accōpt of my selfe / what caused me to be so hardye / as to write one wor de / concerning any maner of obedtēce / namely true obedience / seing I neuertheles / entrepri­sing to teache obedience / disclose myne owne dis obedience / and geue the ousette against his po­wer and autoritie / for whose defeuse I was called ones to be a patrone / and boundē by my­ne othe to defende and maitene his autoritie to my possible power? wher is the keping of othes become / saye they? Wher is fidelitie? What maye a man beleve now a dayes? Whō maye a man trust? ffor he was made a bishop and by the priuilege of the Bishop of Rome / admitted in to the ordre of Bishoppes / and consecrated by his commaundement / and sworne vpon the [Page] holy euangelistes to defende the rightes of the churche of Rome: all which thinges he willīgly and with al his hearte obeyde / and permised to performe. So / saye they / euen the very selfe sa­me man / to the most horrible example of brea­che of his fidelitie / and forgotting the solemne othe / he made / or if not through forgotefulnes / yet (which is the worse of the twoo) having contemned and defied his othe and fidelitie / he professeth him selfe an open enemye of the chur che of Rome / and to shote his poysoned shaftes the more surely agaist it / he boroweth a pece of artillary as it were of obedience / and thinketh he lyeth closely in covert / as though his sides were ouerhilled / whan for all that / he lyeth o­pen and naked to al menues sightes / bothe like a fole and a naughty man. Such mē / as wil tal­ke on this sorte / I am afraide / & in great doubt / how I shall satisfie them. For they will allege perhappes / to amende the mater withall / a cer taī preiudice of soule / I wote not what / wher­with their mynde being blowne full / they will spue out that that I shall speake / euen as it we­re a vessell being toppe full of water / that re­ceaveth no more liquor / whā it is poured vpō. But they y^t shall heare these mennes talke / and than on the other side will indifferently reade [Page] my saieng / with an emptie and free minde / and not all ready brynke full: I doubt not / but I shall shewe vnto them / and persuade them so / that their wordes as weyghtye as men thinke them (in dede they accuse me of periurie and slaundre (cōdemne them for false reporters / y^t speake them: and that they ought no more to move me / against whom they be reported / than the blombling sounde of an olde barel / as they saye. For in othes or promises / the formevnlau­fnll o­thes no [...] to kep [...] How should [...] folishe or vnlafull vo­wes b [...] bound to be kept whan such o­thes a [...] not? ought not so muche to be respected / as y^t mater. But let a mā / saye / sweare / or promise as faith­fully as he can / that thing that he ought not to doo nor performe / y^e promise shall not be aboue the nature of the mater selfe: nether shall y^t for­me in these cases / chaunge the condicion of the mater / but the faithfully made othe / if it be starke naught / or not good / is better broken / than vnder pretense of the othe / as though it were the bōde of widkednes / it shoulde be perfour­med & kept: onles we must be persuaded / that constauncie is commendable in naughtie and and peruerse maters / and that it is a greater faulte to turne agayn in the mydde waye than still to runne alwayes naught. And for the more cleare demonstracion of this mater / I take this to be the most fitte example. A certain ma­ried [Page] man / whan he thought by most iust likely­hodes / that his furst wife had bē vndoubtedly deadde: as a man that had bē free from maria­ge / by the autoritie of the churche / toke ano­ther woman / which was a faire damoysell / &An exā ­ple / fat­ched not farre of. thought to be a mayde / to wife by cōsent of her parentes: by whō / after they had dwelt a fewe yeares together / and he had childrē by her: Lo / his former wife vnloked for / came againe / as it were peeping behinde the post. Well / she re­quireth to haue her husbande agayn / that had done evil in marieng an other woman. Than y^e man being astonyed at that / as a mater all­most incredible / and dryven at the furst to denie her to be his wife: than to aske her what tokēs she coulde tell him / and last of all / because he was wonderous lothe to be divorced from her / that he had maried the later / to make as longe delayes as he coulde: and at leinght to cal her to the lawe / & ther to make al the shifte he coulde / to defende his seconde wifes cause. But whan he was cast / he gaue place to the truthe / and ta­keth his furst wife to him agayn by the iudge­ment of the churche. In this cace now / if the woman / that he maried last be iustely put frō him / or for sorowe and heavines speakig neuer a worde / her Parentes or frendes wolde crye [Page] out: Out vpon mennes maners? out vpon it / what a worlde is this? & after this sorte wol­de make suche a like wondremcnt / as these mē seme to vse against me: thow helhounde / thou wicked couenaunt breaker / doest thou forsake and cast of this woman now / vnto whom thou madest ones so faithfull a promise in the open face of the churche / whan God him selfe was a present witnesse? hast thou forgotē the wordes which thou spakest in the temple / the ministre of God rehearsing them vnto the / in the pre­sences of so many people / this woman / y^t thou hast now shamefully cast vp / being present / & making covenaunt & promise to the in like sorte agayne? Diddest not thou ones desire vs for her / and madest muche entreatie to haue her to thy wife / and promisedest vs vpon thy othe / y^t thou woldcst vse her as the good wife of thy house for euer / and neuer to forsake her during thy lyfe? Arte thou not ashamed / seig thou hast suche children by her / to cast her of now / as though she were an whore? and now whan thou leavest her to take her parte / that caused the to be divorced frō her? Wher is the keping of othes become? wher is fidelitie? what maye a man beleve now a dayes? whom maye a mā trust? The husbande forsaketh the wife.

[Page]Which maner of communictcion / as it maye be borne withall in the womans heavynes / bothe for the great grief of her present calamitie / and because she is the weaker vessell / euen so whan it is spoken of other mennes mouthes / which wolde haue folkes to thike / they speake pithily / it wolde make men thinke / they were starke fo­les / and in open company / euery body wolde laughe at them / and in triall of lawe noman couldc abyde them. But after a certain space / if a man wolde answer y^r womau: and saye: wo­man you doo not well to accuse him / that you want now to be your husbande and defendour: For what faulte fynde you now in him? For as longe as the farther wife helde her awaye / he loved you / he honoured you / he vsed you as his wife: yea so muche / that whā the furst wife came agayne / whō he thought had ben deadde / he was not rashe in geuing credence vnto her / nor sodaynly assented vnto her: he coulde doo no more for your sake / than he did. If he had fallen to whores / and so forsaken you / your querell had ben somwhat. But now / what cast you him in y^e tethe / with faithe breaking / which to kepe his faithe / departed from you / and kept him to that other wife / that he had laufully ma­ried before? Why doo you complayne still? the [Page] woman / I wene / wolde geue ouer: in dede she had no cause to complayne. Yf she had not bē a mayden / as she was takē for / but an evill dispo sed womā / & had occasioned this mānes first wi fe / to be sent in to some ferre ylondes / to haue this mā to her husbāde in y^e meane tyme / & cauSaye youtrue doo you loue chaūge of wo­men / as he did? sed y^e furst mariage to be brokē: whether shoul­de be thought to be more in the faulte? this mā / y^t maried (as he thought) rightly / were in no faulte: and the subtyll womā werein y^t greatest faulte / as one y^t delighted to haue an other wo mās husbande. And if a mā wolde considre this gaire / shal he not see / as it were in a glasse / y^t ve ry ymage of y^t husbāde in me. For in dede I / seing I beleved / y^t no suche truthe of obediēce / So [...] thiketh you for­gote it now a­gayne. had bē / or if it had bē sought for / I wolde ne­uer haue founde it: I coupled myselfe in secōde couenaūt / & therto plighted my trouthe / w^r whō I thought I had laufully dwelt & kept laufull cōpany w^call: But whan the truthe came / w^c is euery mānes furst wife / maried to hī in baptis­me / I pray you lose it not / now it is foūde to your hande. & so doo maried priestes goo frō their se­conde knotte & folowe y^eiudge­mēt of Goddes wrode / wherby his chur che is go uerned: w^c sayth To avoi de forni caciō let euery māhaue his ow­ne wife. Hearkē to your owne reason my lor­da / Doc tor dub­bleface. w^c will require the furst promyse / at all mē ­nes hādes to her I applyed / to her I cleaved: & frō my secōde knotte / as of nō affecte / by y^e iud gemēt of my churche / I departed. And shall any man thinke it indifferent / that I shall be called a lyer / because I obey the truthe? Because I [Page] serue God / in obey eng my Prince / y^t I shalbe reported to be a contemner of the sacramen­tes / or an othe breaker? And that / that is fondly layed to the husbandes charge / after he is divorced / because he perfourmed not his promyse / that he ought not to haue made: shall that in this cause be grevously and ear­nestly tromped in my waye / because I am by most graue iudgement of the truthe / diuorced from the churche of Rome / which it was not laufull for me to kepe still and am compelled to take my wyfe Truthe to me / whan she commeth agayne at leynght peeping behyn­de the scrine / & to cleave cōstauntly vnto her? If he coulde teache me / y^t she is not the truthe / whom / I haue receaved formy wyfe / clayming againe my furst promyse (as he shall neuer doo it) let him call me by what names he will.

But yf he will let that passe / and make a [...] about the othe / it is to be feared / lest all [...] will begynne to abhorre that subtyltie / which is grounded in makyng of othes agaynst [...] truthe. Therfore take awaye the othe from [...] cause / for the othe ought to be a seruaūt of [...] the / & cā not nor ought to be preiudiciall vnto the truthe. [...] that by his othe promiseth [...] lauful thinges / dothe not right: but he that [...] [Page] keth an vnlauful othe / and gothe on stil to put it in execuciō / thrusteth downe him selfe deper and deper / from whence he can neuer escape / except he cō out arsewarde. Wherfore it were to great an absurditie / that a man shoulde beThey are lesse hurteful thā you / for they ōly spea ke euil / but you both say euil & do worse. compted to doo a notorious crime / and to disho neste and shame him selfe / in that point / wherī he goeth about to doo better. And according to this consideraciō / it is decreed / that not so mu­che as by y^e ciuile lawes / a mā is bounden to per fourme vnhonest or vnlaufull promyses / lest it might be though / that these lawes doo rather commende perseueraunce in crymes / than re­pentaunce. And in the ecclesiasticall decrees / it is also established / that no man is bounden to perfourme an vnlaufull othe / seinge an othe cā Me thī ­keth you shoulde be asha med to speake against priestes maia­ge / if this rea son be true / as it is ī de de / y^t ye make here. not bynde a man to wickednesse. This only re­mayneth / that whā these men / w^c accuse me of periurie / are driuen backe / that they cā laye no more periurie to my charge / they wil go about to burthen me w^t vnadvised temeritie / for pro­mising by mine othe / y^t was not lauful forme to perfourme. Well Sir / but I thought it had bē laufull / and not I alone / but w^t y^e iudgemēt of many men. For y^e worde of Truthe / lyeng thā buried a lōge season / was thought to be no let. But now whā she is come home agayne / & ha­the [Page] confirmed her selfe vnto me by so many pro ues / y^t it is euen she / why shoulde I not embrace mine owne true wife / euen Dame Truthe her selfe / vnto whō I plighted my trouthe / & in y^t accōplishement of y^e same / ther is non offense / muche lesse any notorious cryme? well / ther isThan a mā may make an vnaduy sed vo­we / af­ter xxi. yeares / beīg vn learned seīg you a mische uous wel ler­ned mā / madean vnaduy sed othe of your age. no cause / why I shoulde be afrayde of other fol kes euil reportes / as lōge as Idoo my duetie to her alone / & according to her mynde / obeye my prīce / y^e supreme headde in earthe of y^t churche of Englaude / & thā doo myne endeuour / to ac­complishe y^e other partes of true obedience / w^c belong proprely to a christen man / so as whā I haue passed ouer y^e pilgrimage of this life / in o­bedience & truthe / I maye obteyne eternal life / y^t autor & gever wherof / is Iesus Christ / who / to drawe al vnto y^e father / obeiēg y^e father in al thīges / suffred deathe for our saluaciō / & bothe in worde / & dede taugt obediēce w^c / forasmuche as it is full of truthe / shal at leīght pmote all y^t faithfully sticke vnto it / to y^e very truthe selfe / w^c is God blessed for euermore Amen.

Afaire tale, a good tale, God quyte you for your tale. Very wele sayed / wele obeyed / as y^t is sproken in ale.