A14136:212
The Obedience of a Christian Man
The obedie[n]ce of a Christen man and how Christ[n] rulers ought to govern, where in also (if thou mark diligently) thou shalt find eyes to perceive the crafty conveyance of all jugglers.The obedie[n]ce of a Christen man and how Christe[n] rulers ought to governe, where in also (if thou marke diligently) thou shalt fynde eyes to perceave the crafty conveyance of all iugglers.
At Marlborow in the lande of Hesse i.e. Antwerp : the second day of October. Anno. M.CCCCC.xxviii, by me Hans luft i.e. J. Hoochstraten, 1528At Marlborow in the lande of Hesse i.e. Antwerp : the seconde daye of October. Anno. M.CCCCC.xxviii, by me Hans luft i.e. J. Hoochstraten, 1528
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1Be learned left the hypocrites bring the wrath of God upon your heeds and compel you to shed innocent blood: as they have compelled your predecessors to slay the prophets / to kill Christ and his Apostles and all the righteous that since were slain 2Gods word pertaineth unto all men as it pertaineth unto all servants to know their masters will and pleasure / and to all subjects to know the laws of their prince Let not the hypocrites do all thing 3secretly. What reason is it that mine enemy should put me in prison at his pleasure and there diet me and handle me as he lusteth / & judge me him self and that secretly / and condemn ne me by a law of his own making / and then deliver me to Pilate to murder me? Let Gods word try every mans doctrine ⟨p. lxxxvij⟩and whom so ever gods word proveth unclean let him be taken for a leper 4One scripture will help to declare another. And the circū stances / that is to say / the places that goo before and after / will give light unto the middle text. And the open and manifest scriptures will ever improve the false and wrong exposition of the darker sentences. Let the temporal power to whom God hath given the sword to take vengeance / look or ever that they leap / and see what they do. Let the causes be disputed before them / and let him that is accused have room to answer for him self. 5The powers to whom God hath committed the sword shall give a counts for every drop of blood that is shed on the earth. Then shall their ignorance not excuse them nor the saying of the hypocrites help them / my soul for yours / your grace shall do a meritorious dead / your grace ought not to hear them it is an old heresy condemn ned by the church▪ The king ought to look in the scripture and see whether it were truly condemned or no / If he will punish it. If the king or his officer for him / will flee me so ought the king or his officer to judge me. The king can not / but unto his damnation / lend his sword to kill whom he judgeth not by his own laws. Let him that is accused stand on the one side and the accuser on the other side and let the kings judge sit and judge