before declared. But of this other sorte of Princes and Rulers / of which some by right of inheritaũce / some by vertue of office committed vnto them / are Rulars and gouernours of countrithes / cities and places. Of these I do saye and pronoũce this / That in matters which do belong to Godd and true Religion / they ought to do no other things / but those / which I haue already shewed that the muste do / which are meere / absolute / and the hygher princes and Rulars. For it is not lawfull for them / no not at the commaundement of theyr hygher Princes and Lordes / to compell those subiectes ouer whom they haue rule / to recyue wicked Religion and supersticion / neyther to permitt the vnfaithfull in the places where they do beare Rule / to haue theyr vngodly Idolatries and supersticions. This must thei not do / no thoughe they were (I saye) therunto cõmaunded by theyr hygher princes and Lordes / of whom / and vnder whome / they haue theyr auctoritie. But yf thou wilt saye / that they must obey theyr hygher poures / I will graunt that / but (as the sayinge is) vsque ad Aras, that is vntill they do come to matters of Religion / and vntill they do commaunde in Religion thinges contrarie to Goddes worde and truthe. For when they shall commaunde that which is against Godd / and is hurtefull to the conscience of mã / these magistrates must not obey thẽ. For these vnder Rulars are called into a parte of the cure and charge of the goode gouernemente of the countrie / by the force of theyr dignitie and office:
They must not therfor putt those thinges in execution / whiche are agaynst Godd / and are hurtefull to theur countrye: Yea they ought both to persuade by reason / and to defende by poure the contrary.
The Lacedemonians / when they whiche hadd ouercomme them / did demaunde of them such thinges as were against the ciuile lawes and libertie of their citie / They answered / If ye do commaunde vs to do thinges which ar more weightie and greuous then death / we wyll rather dye then do them: Thus ought these vnder Rulars answer theyr higher Lordes / when they do commaunde them to do thinges which are to the defacing of Godds glorie ãd truth / and to the wounding and vnquieting of the consciences of the subiectes / whiche thinges are more weyghtie and greuous then death indeede. In Cyuile thinges they may gyue place to the vniust commaundementes and decrees of theyr hygher Lordes / but that ought they not to do in the cause of Godd / and pure Religion. The Machabees at such tyme as the Iues were vnder the rule of the Macedonians (Antiochus / Demetrius / and Alexander / I meane) which princes did leade the people awaye from the true worship of God / and from the seruice taught in hys worde / wolde not obeye them. But that house and tribe of the prestes called Asmonei, whiche in dignitie were nexte vnto the house and stocke of the Kinges / and bare the chief Rule nexte vnto it / les that the true worshippe of Godd commaunded and taught in the lawe / and which hadd bene retayned and vsed in theyr countrye / shulde
be thus leafte and forsaken / they did Rebell against thos kinges as the hostorie doth witnes. But if this historie for the insufficiencie of the auctoritie of the bocke (which yet is a true historie / as Iosephus also doth witnes) will not suffice to proue this matier: Then let vs consider what Ioiada the bishopp did in the dayes of Athalia: 4. Reg. 11. She hadd by violence obtayned the kingdomme / ãd so was she the supreame ordinarie poure: But yet he sturred vpp a commotion agaynst her / And he brought the Sonne of Asa / Kinge Ioas / I meane (who was saued by hym frõ her bluddy sworde) into the kingdome: For he knew that by Goddes worde the kingdome was gyuen to the house of Iuda / He perceyued also that she went about to haue all good Religiõ / and true godlynes / vtterly ouerthrowen. Therfor as she had vniustly shedd innocẽt bludd / euen so he most iustlye commaunded that she shuld be slayne. 4. Reg. 18. Kinge Ezechias also / was in subiection to the King of the Assyriãs / for Achaz his father hadd submitted hym selfe vnto hym / and did not only paye hym tribute / but also for his pleasure did chaunge Godds Religion: for whẽ he wente to Damasco to meete this Kinge / he commaunded that an altar shuld be made at Hierusalẽ / after the patrone and fashion of that which he hadd seene at Damasco. This Kinge Achaz his sonne / godly Ezechias / perceyuinge that these thinges whiche his father hadd done / were repugnant and contrarye vnto Godds worde / hurtefull also to the consciences of his subiects / he (I say) did fall away
frõ the Kinge of the Assyrians / which yet was now his superior and hygher poure. Indeede he soughte fyrst to pacifie hym with gyftes / which thing when he coulde not do / then to the vttermost of hys poure he dyd defende hym self / and his people agaynst hym. Neuertheles in this matter sedicion muste be auoyded so much as may be / and these princes must not vnder the colour and cloke of Religion / seeke theyr own gayne and honor: but here only let thẽ resiste / that nothing be done contrary to Godds worde / and not for those thinges which are done to hinder theyr ambicion. Of this corrupt affection yf thei be cleare / and only for Religions sake do resiste the wicked proceadinges of theyr hygher princes and Lordes / let them not thincke that they do herin anye vnrighteousnes at all. But yf one will obiecte and saye: Thys maye not be / for all men are commaũded to obeye the hygher poures. I answer / Rom. 13. It is true indeede that the holy scriptures do commaunde / that euerye soule shulde obeye the hygher poures / but so farr as by Godds word it is lawfull to obey / and no further. For the holy scriptures do likewyse say / that the Rular is not any feare to them that doth good / but to them that do euell. Wherfor seying these princes / in this case by theyr endeuour and laboure / do promote that which is goode / they do well and not euell: and so ought they for this doinge to be without fear of the hygher poure / because that herin they do not resiste agaynst them / with that Resistaunce which is forbidden. Wilt thou (saith he) be without
feare of the poure? do well then / and so shalt thou be praysed of the same: If these princes and rulars do defende godlynes and religion / they do good / then by the iudgement of Goddes worde they are without feare of the poure / and do deserue prayse of theyr hygher poures and lords. But yf thou do euell (saith Paule) then feare the poure / for he beareth not the sworde for nought / but is the minister of Godd to take vengeaũce on them which do euell. Thus doth this place arme the myndes and cõsciences of these inferior princes of whom I speake / that they shulde note feare theyr hygher poures / when for the defence of Goddes religion / they do resiste and not obeye theyr wicked commaundementes. Yf any will now thus saye agaynst me. He that hath the kinglye and supreame auctoritie / vnto whom by othe I do owe obedience / commaundeth these thinges / and therfore I must obey. I answer that thou arte not boũd herin to keape any such othe or promis. For when he commaundeth those thinges whiche are agaynste God / he dothe not the office of Goddes minister / to him thẽ therin thou dost owe neyther faith nor obedience. Agayne yf thou wilt aske / By what righte may these vnder rulars and inferiour magistrates / thus sett them selues agaynst the hygher princes / which haue the verye supreame right and poure to defende pure and godlye Religion / and the true faithe. I aunswere. That the electours of the Empire / and the Princes of Germanie / and the fre cityes / do it by the Imperiall poure and righte / whiche
is committed vnto them: And that the Magistrates and Rulars whiche are in kingdoms / they do and darre do it / by the Kinglye poure and right lykewyse committed vnto them. For Emperours and Kinges / and such hygher poures / haue therfor chosen and taked these vnder Rulars and officers / as it were into a parte of theyr Rule / to be theyr helpers / in administringe and ordering theyr businesses and charge / to the ende that Iustice might florishe so muche the more. And euen so from the begynninge poure and Rule was gyuen vnto these / that they shulde rule the common wealthe / for that part therof / whiche was committed vnto them / iustlye / vprightlye / and godlye. Wherof the Emprour in the Code doth saye / that yf he shulde commaunde anye thinge agaynste righte / he wolde not that any suche decree of his shulde auayle in iudgementes. The very same thinge is to be sayde / where a kinge or suche which do retayne the supreame auctoritie / do commaunde or determyne anye thynge againste right. Not vnworthy is Traianus the Emperour therfore commended / who when he delyuered the sworde to a Rular in his Empire / sayde: If I do cõmaunde Iuste thinges / vse this for me / but yf I do require vniust things / vse it against me. But on the contrary part / Gregorie the great / Byshopp of Rome / can not in this behalfe be praysed / but dispraysed / and accused: Who seinge that the lawe whiche Mauritius the Emperour had made was vniuste / which was / That no man entangled with the matters
of the common wealth / or which was appointed to the warrs / might be made a priest or a mõck / he wrote to the Emperour / That after that he hadd seene hys lawe / he was wonderfullye afrayed and astonied / And therfor he desireth hym to diminshe somwhat of the rigour of the lawe or els to chaũge it altogether: But yet he added / That as touchinge hymself / after that he hath now done his office in admonishing hym / now for the obedience which he doth owe vnto him / he wolde publishe his lawe / as he hadd commaunded. Thys acte surely can not / but be reproued in this Busshopp. Agayn here thou wilt happily saye. What yf the hygher Prince wil not allowe me to do myne office / or doth reuoke this parte of myne office? Truly no man cã take that frõ thyne office / which God hath cõmaunded the to do in it. No mã can discharge the of that dutye / wherewith God chargeth the in thyne office / do thou the dutye that longeth to it. Many there are which do thincke / that when this dealinge and doinge of the inferior magistrate agaynste the hygher Rulars is thus straitly required / That Godds Religiõ is not to be promoted after this manier by thẽ / but rather / that they do sufficientlye the thinge which belõgeth vnto them / yf they do forsake theyr office / and gyue ouer their Rule and auctoritie. So do not I thincke / Thy dignitie and office is not so lightly to be gyuen ouer. Thou dost gyue ouer thyne office / because thou wilt not strayne thy self therin to promote the
glorie of Godd: And this is to depart and fall from thy vocacion: which thou oughtest not to do / especially whẽ thou dost playnly see / that thy roume and place / shalbe bestowed vpon those / which ar wicked and both do / ãd will oppresse the kingdom of God. These men must abyde therfor in theyr offices / so lõg as they be not putt out of them by the higher poures / and strõgly must they defend the glorie of God in them.
Now when I on this maner do entreate of these thinges / I do not make or shewe an easye waye to sturre vp sedicions. But this onlye I do seke / and care for / Matt. 22. That those thinges which do belonge vnto Godd / shuld be gyuen vnto Godd: and those thinges which are belonging vnto Cesar / shulde be gyuen vnto Cesar. If the worldly substaũce and ritches of men were required and asked by the hygher poures / I wold councell to gyue thẽ. But in those thinges which do belonge vnto the worshipp of Godd / I say / that thei must not yealde to the wicked requestes of theyr hygher Rulars and lordes: here is no place to be gyuen to thẽ / but in our owne ciuile matters we must yealde / yf to yealde in them be not agaynst Goddes lawe. 3. Reg 21. In which case Naboth is to be excused / which wolde not graunte hys vyneyard to the Kinge: He dyd it not of couetousnes / or of to great a desyre which he dyd beare to the thinges of the world / but because he dyd knowe that in gyuing awaye of his vineyarde so / Goddes lawe shulde be broken / by which he hadd appointed / that the feeldes
and possessions amonge the people of Israell / Num. 33. shuld remayn in theyr tribes and kindreds / as they were iustly distributed at the beginning. This lawe of God wolde Kinge Achab haue broken / and therto required he the cõsent of Naboth / which he with a good and a safe conscience could not do / and therfor wold not. But halas / sorow it is to behold / how that there are many Dukes / Earles / and such princes / from whome yf an Emperour or a Kinge wold take their dominions / landes / lordshipps and inheritaunce / they wold leaue nothing vndone / yea they wold do all that they could do / to defend their own / and do resiste their vnrighteous doinge: But when the kingdom of God is assaulted by tyrauntes, and the gospell and bequest of the bludd of Christe taken violently and wretchedly away from them / and frõ the children of Godd which are committed to theyr tuition and defence / they will do nothing at all. Yea when they are required of theyr hygher poures / as ministers of theyr furie / to destroye and ouerthrow the gospell / then they neyther sturre nor speake anye thing at all / but do as they are biddẽ. In theyr own cause they can fight / and rebell / but in Goddes cause / they are as it were no princes nor Rulers. Wherby we can not thincke any other thing of them / then this / That they do not at the hart esteme the gospell of Christe.