The. 1. Diuision.
Admonition.
And to these three ioyntly, that is, the Ministers, Seniors, and Deacons, is the whole regi∣ment of the Churche to be committed.
This is only by you set downe without proofe, therefore I will heare your reasons before I make you answere. In the meane time I praye you what authoritie in these matters do you giue to the ci∣uill* 1.1 magistrate, me thinke I heare you whisper that the Prince hath no authoritie in ecclesiasticall matters: I knowe it is a receiued opi∣nion among some of you, and therein you shake handes also with the Papistes and Anabaptistes.
T. C. Pag. 153. Lin. vlt. &c.
Unto all the rest vntill the ende of the firste parte of the Admonition. I haue answered already, yet there is a poynte or two whiche I must touche, whereof the first is in the. 126. pag. where hee would beare men in hande that the authours of the Admonition & some other of their mynde, would shut out the ciuill magistrate and the prince from all authoritie in Ecclesiasticall matters. Whiche surmise although I see it is not so much, bicause either he knoweth or suspecteth any such thing, as bicause he meaneth hereby to laye a bayte to entrappe withal, thinking that where (a) 1.2 he maketh no conscience to giue he careth not what authoritie to princes, wee will be loth to giue more than the worde of God will permit, wherby he hopeth to drawe vs into displeasure with the prince: yet for bicause he shall vnderstande, we nourishe no opinons secretly, which we are ashamed to declare o∣penly, & for that we doubt not of the equitie of the prince in this part, which knoweth that although her authoritie be the greatest in the earth, yet it is not infinite, but is lymited by the worde of God, & of whome we are persuaded, that as her maiestie knoweth, so she will not vnwillingly heare ye truth in this behalfe, these things I say being considered, I answere in the name of the authors of the Ad∣monition and those some other which you speake of, that the prince and ciuill magistrate (b) 1.3 hath to see, that the lawes of God touching his worship, and touching all matters and orders of the church be executed and duly obserued, and to see that euery ecclesiasticall persone do that office whervnto he is appointed, & to punish those which faile in their office accordingly. (c) 1.4 As for ye making of ye orders and ceremonies of the churche, they do (where there is a constituted and ordered churche) perteyne vnto the ministers of ye church, and to the ecclesiasticall gouernours, & that as they medle not with ye making of ciuill lawes, & lawes for the common wealth: so the ciuill magistrate hath not to ordeyne ceremonies perteining to the church: But if those to whome that doth apperteyne make any orders not meete, the magistrate may and ought to hynder them, & driue them to better, for so much as the ciuil magistrate hath this charge to see that nothing be done against ye glorie of God in his dominiō.
The wordes of the Admonition pag. 126. be these: and fo these three ioyntly, that is, the* 1.5 Ministers, Seniors, and Deacons, is the whole regimēt of the churche to be committed. Wher∣fore they spoyle the ciuill magistrate of all gouernment in Ecclesiasticall matters: for if the whole gouernmēt of the church is to be cōmitted to Ministers, Seniors, & Deacons, what authoritie remaineth to the ciuil magistrate in the gouernment of it? Agreable to this disobedient spirite & erroneous & Papisticall doctrine, is that in the second Admonitiō Fol. 8. &. 9. where the authors of that booke take from the ciuill magistrate all supremacie in