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.]]