ked requestes of theyr hygher Rulars and lordes: here is no
place to be gyuen to them / 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 consent 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 from 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
bidden. 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.

[[A confutation of the places alledged.]]

Nowe this is remayning / that I sholde answer vnto those reasons
which were put forthe at the begynning to proue that the
dwelling together of the faithfull with the vnfaithfull is
lawfull / and confute them. Firste / the example of Christ is
set against vs / which dyd eate and drinke familiarlye with
scribes / pharisees / publicanes / and synners. We muste
remembre that Christe was not only stronge / but the chiefe
heade of all them shich be stronge. He coulde so profyte them