God's work and
ordinance, let a bishop do nothing except he be sure that God
sanctions it, that it is either God's word or work.

And besides, inasmuch as God will not permit that we should regard as
a matter of sport what we do with the christian church, we must stand
in such an assurance as this, that God speaks and works through us,
and that our faith may also say, "That which I have spoken and done,
God also has spoken and done; on this I will even die."

And yet if I am not certain of the matter, then my faith will rest
upon the sand when the devil assaults me. Thus here it is
emphatically forbidden us to receive the command of any bishop,
unless it is also the case, that he is certain that he does what God
does, and can say, "I have God's word and command for it." Where that
is wanting, we must hold him for a liar.

For God has prescribed that our conscience must rest on the bare
rock. This is said also of government in general, that no one might
follow his own darkness, and that nothing might be done of which he
was not sure that God would sanction it. Whence you perceive how St.
Peter so long ago thrust down to the ground the government of Popes
and bishops, as we have it at the present day. Now follows:

V. 11. _That God in all things may be glorified through our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever;
Amen._ For this reason it is, you are to be so confident, (he means),
that God speaks and does all that you speak and do. For if you
perform a work of which you are not sure that God has done it, you
cannot praise and give thanks. But where a man is certain of it, in
that case he may praise and thank Him for His word and works' sake,
though he should be belied and held up for derision. Therefore it is
a shameful and ruinous thing that in Christendom any one should
govern in opposition to the word and works of God. Therefore, from
necessity, has St. Peter subjoined that in which he instructs how
government should be ordered among christian people. Then follows,
further:

V. 12. _Beloved, be not surprised at the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you._ That is a mode
of speech not common in our language. But St. Peter uses this very
phraseology, in order to remind us of that concerning which the Holy
Scripture speaks. For the Scripture is accustomed to speak of
suffering as though it were a furnace full of fire and heat. St.
Peter has