The summe of the holye scripture and ordinarye of the Christen teachyng, the true Christen faithe, by the whiche we be all iustified. And of the vertue of baptesme, after the teaching of the Gospell and of the Apostles, with an informacyon howe all estates shulde lyve accordynge to the Gospell.

¶Of men of warre and of the warre whether the Christen may war∣re without synne an informa¦cyon after the Gospell. Chaptre .xxix. (Book 29)

THe men of warre haue no∣thing in the gospell for the gospell knoweth no mē of warre nor the warre but o¦nely peace. Albeit that ma¦ny doctoures sey that the men of warre is a thing resonable & good bicause of the wordes of saint Iohn bap∣tist who as (writeth saint Luke in the gos¦pell) answered vnto the men of warre ax∣••ing him whate thing they shulde do to be saved that they shuld hurte nomā but sh∣ulde be contented with theire wages. By these wordes will the doctours and / The∣ologyens saye that the men of warre may warre pill and do evill without synne. But they vnderstond not the wordes of saint Iohn.

ye must vnderstond that the teching of saint Iohn brought noman vnto full per¦fectiō. It did but onely make redy the hert

of man vnto god and vnto the teaching o•• Iesu christ. He rebuked the most grettes•• euilles by his preaching. He did but onely teche the beginning of rightuousnesse / a•• though he wolde haue seyed: If I shuld all ar••once forbid you to warre / ye migh•• not yet for your wekenesse suffer it •• nor ye•• might not leve••t all sodeynly. But begin∣ne first to ••eue the most grettest evill as to do hurt and outrage vnto other / as to bur¦ne / to kill / to pill and so forth. And be alwe¦yes content with your wages.

So was saint Iohn Baptist none o∣ther thing but as a man that abateth and cutteth of from a pece of timber the most gretest knotres. He doth it not to thintent that it shulde abide so. But whē the knot¦tes and warres be cut of then comith a bet¦ter master carpenter that planeth it & ma∣keth it more smothe with a large fine ra∣bot. Likewise did saint Iohn by his pre∣aching / he did but onely abate and cut of the grete knottes / that is to sey / the grete sinnes. And yet they were not clene taken away ••nd cut of till an other better master workman came after and ••ut them of with his fine rabot. And therfore was he no∣thing

els but a voyte crying in the deserte whiche cryed:* 1.1 Make redy the wey of the lorde: make ••••reyght his fete pathes.

He was not the light as saieth saint Io∣hn the Evaungelist. He coude not pardo∣ne oure sinnes / for he was not Christ.* 1.2

He was but onely a voyce a foregoar and a shewer whiche made redy the wey a∣geinst the coming of Christ.

And for this cause did Saint Iohn sen∣de his disciples to Iesu Christ / when he shulde die to thintent that they might ler∣ne the full perfection of him. For he had but onely made them redy for to come vn¦to christ. for this cause & reason it is al ma∣nifest that saint Iohn hath not preised the warre by these wordes / but hath rather forboden it: As teacheth all the gospell. for as it is a thing evill agreing that the hōde fight ageinst the hede / So is it a thing as evell agreing and grete sinne that one Christen warre ageinst the other.* 1.3 For we are all bretheren and membres of one body / the body is Christe / whiche in all his life preached peace and concorde to all theim that he taught.

Saynt Iohn in his fyrst epistle saieth:* 1.4

He that hateth his brother is an homicide We may hate noman / we must love oure enemyes / we must pray for theym and do good vnto theym that persecute vs. How can it then be possible after the gospell that we may warre without sinne? wherin so many people lose theyre livis and wherby so many parsones come to wildenesse ryot and evill life. There be textes in the canon lawe that suffre some warres. But the re∣ehing of Christ forbiddeth all warres.

It is a thing horrible and daungero∣us for body and soule to enterpryse & mo∣ve a warre. For all malice reyneth in ty∣me of warre. Neverthelesse when a cun∣trey is invaded or a towne beseged & whē the comon peace is troubled / and grete vi∣olence is done vnto the subiectes: the lord of that cuntrey ys bounde by brotherly love to helpe hys subiectes / and to de∣fende theym to punysshe the evyll / and to put hys lyfe yn ieoperdy for hys subie∣ctes.

But he must alweyes beware that he do it not to revenge his owne wronge / or for to enlarge his londe and lordship / but onely to defende his subiectes. And so may

he vse the horrible businesse of the warre / charitably and christenly.

But if it were possible to agre for gol∣de or silver / he is bounde to do it. For the life of a chrilren is more worth then all the richesse of the worlde.

A lorde shall thinke alweyes that the¦re is a king aboue him in heve bifore who me all parsones shall yeld accompte at the last day of iugement ye of the lest workes and thoughtes that he shall do / be he king or Emperour / 〈…〉〈…〉 / nobill or ignoble / yong or olde.

We rede that the people of Israell did warre many tymes but theire warres we¦re* 1.5 but all figures / As saieth saint Paule. wherfore it betokeneth to vs that we shal likewise fight not the one ageynst the o∣ther / but ageynst oure silves / that is to sey / ageynst oure synnes ageynst pryde wrath co∣vitize / lechery / ha∣tred / envye and suche o∣ther.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Esa. 40
• * 1.2

  Iohn. 1
• * 1.3

  Ro. 12
• * 1.4

  1. Ioh. 4
• * 1.5

  1. Co. 10