Fourthly, I meruell seyng that we are bound of charitie and by the lawe of Christe to geue our liues for our brethren, how they can allow such maner of dissensions and resistyng. MarginaliaHe meneth resistance for priuate causes, or for worldly goods.For when thy brother shall maliciouslye strike thee, thou maist be sure, that he is manifestly fallē from charitie, into the snare of the deuill. MarginaliaPatience cōmended in priuate causes, amonge Christen brethren.Yf thou shalt kepe pacience, he shalbe ashamed of his doyng, and thou maist bow and bend him to repentaunce, and take hym out from the snare of the deuill, & call him backe agayne to charitie. MarginaliaThe inconuenience of priuate resistance among christē brethrē.Yf thou resist, and perchaunce by resistyng doest strike agayn, his fury shalbe the more kindled, and he being sturred vp to greater wrath, peraduenture shall either slay thee, or thou him. Touching thy selfe, thou art vncerteine, if thou go about to make resistaūce, whether thou shalt fall from charitie, & then shalt thou go backeward from the perfection of Christes commaundement: Neither doest thou knowe but that it may happē thee so greatly to be moued, as that by the heate and violence of wrath, thou shalt slay him. Wheras if thou wouldest dispose thy selfe to pacience (as Christ teacheth) þ^u shouldest easly auoide all these mischieues, aswell on the behalfe of thy brother, as also of thine own part. Wherfore, the obseruing of charitie is þ^e precept of paciēce to be obserued.

Fifthly, I doe maruell why that for the allowing of thys corporal resistaunce, he doth say in the same chapter: MarginaliaPaul being striken, dyd not breake the rule of Christē patience, neither made any bodely resistance.that Paule did not fulfill the precept of the pacience of Christ, whē as he being stroken in the place of iudgement by the commaūdement of the high priest, did say, God strike thee, O þ^u painted wall: Doest þ^u sitte to iudge me according to the law, & doest thou cōmaund me to be striken against the law? It is manifest that Paul made resistance in nothing, though he spake a word of instruction to the priest, who against the law commaūded him to be striken. And if Paule had ouerpassed the boundes of paciēce, through the griefe of the stroke: what of that? Must the deede of Paules impacience for this cause be iustified, and the commaundement of pacience taught by Christ, be left vndone for Paules deede, and corporal resistaunce be allowed? MarginaliaThe facte eyther of Paule or of any other doth not derogate to the doctrin of our Sauiour.God forbid. For both Paule and Peter might erre. But in þ^e doctrine of Christ there may be found no errour. Wherefore, we must geue more credence and beliefe to Christes sayinges, then to anye lyuing mans doinges. Wherfore, although Paul had resisted, which I do not perceiue in that scripture: it foloweth not thereof, that corporall resistaunce must be approued, which is of Christ expresly forbidden. I muche maruell that alwayes they seeke corners and shadowes to iustify their deedes. Why doo they not marke what great thinges Paule reciteth him selfe to haue suffered for Christ? And where I pray you haue they found, that he after his conuersion, stroke anye man that did hurt him? Or where doo they finde that he in expresse woorde doth teach such a kinde of corporall resistance? But as touching pacience, he saith in playne wordes to the Romains: MarginaliaRom. 12.
Rules of Christen pacience.Be not wyse in your own conceites: Render yll for yll to no body: prouiding good thinges not onely before God, but also before all men, if it be possible: Be at peace withall folkes as much as in you lyeth: not defending your selues, my most derely beloued, but geue you place vnto anger. For it is written, vengeaunce is mine and I will recompence them, saith the lord. But if thine enemy shall be an hungred, geue him meate. If he be a thirst, geue him drinke. For thus doing, thou shalt heape coles of fire vpon his head. Be not ouercomen of euyll, but ouercome thou euyll with good.

To the Corinthiās the v. as touching iudgement and contention, whiche are matters of lesse weight then are fightinges, thus he writeth: Nowe verely is there great fault in you, þ^t you be at law amongst your selues. Why rather take ye not wrōg? why rather suffer ye not deceit? Marginalia1. Cor. 5.And generally in all his Epistles he teacheth, þ^t pacience should be kept, & not corporall resistaūce by fightyng, be-cause charitie is pacient, it is curteous, it suffereth all thynges. I meruell how they iustifie and make good the warres by Christians, MarginaliaHe meaneth such wars of Christiās, as the pope aloweth: rysing rather of priuate reuenge of princes, for worldly glory or affection, thē for any publike necessity.sauyng onely the warres agaynst the deuill and sinne. MarginaliaCorporal wars in the old Testament, be figures of spirituall warre in the new testament, against sinne and the diuell.For seyng that it is plaine, that those things that were in the olde Testament, were figures of thinges to bee done in the new Testamēt: Therfore we must nedes say, that the corporall warres beyng then done, were figures of the Christiā warres agaynst sinne and the deuill, for the heauenly countrey, whiche is our inheritaunce. It is plaine that it was writen thus of Christ. The mighty Lord, and of great power in battaile, hath girded vp him selfe in force and manlynes to the warre: and he came not to sēd peace into the earth, but warre. In this warre ought Christian people to be souldiours according to that maner whiche Paul teacheth to the Ephesians the last. MarginaliaEphes. 6.Put vpon you the armour of God, that you may be hable to stande agaynst the deceiptes of the deuill. For we haue not to wrastle agaynst flesh and bloud, but agaynst princes and potestates, agaynst the rulers of these darkenes of the world, against the spirituall wickednes in heauenly thinges, which are in the high places. Wherfore take ye the armour of God, that ye may be hable to resiste in the euill day, and to stand perfectly in all thinges. Stand you therfore girded vp about in truth vpon your loynes, hauing put vpō you the brest plate of rightuousnes, and your feete shoed in a readines to the Gospell of peace, in all thinges taking the shield of faith, wherwith you may quench all the firie dartes of that wicked one. And take vnto you the helmet of saluation, and the sworde of the spirite, which is the worde of God. MarginaliaWhat be the warres most proper to christians.By these thinges it is plaine, what are the warres of Christians, and what are the weapōs of their warfare. And because it is manifest, that this Testament is of greater perfection then the former: we must now fight more perfectly then at that time. For now spiritually, thē corporally: now for an heauenly euerlastyng inheritaunce: then for an earthly and temporall: now by pacience, then by resistaunce. For Christ sayth, blessed are they that suffer persecution for rightuousnes, for theirs is the kyngdome of heauen. He sayth not, blessed are they that fight for rightuousnes. How cā any say, that they may lawfully make warre, & kil theyr brethren for the temporall goodes, which peraduenture they vniustly occupy, or vniustly intende to occupy. MarginaliaAll thys taketh not away the lawfulnes of warres, in case of publike necessitie, but onely in priuate case for temporall goodes.For he that killeth an other, to get these goodes whiche an other body vniustly occupyeth: doth loue more the very goodes, then his owne brother. And then he fallyng from charitie, doth kill him selfe spiritually Yf he go forward without Marginalia* Note this worde without charitie.* charitie to make warre: then doth he euill, and to his owne damnation. Wherfore he doth not lawfully nor iustly in procedyng to the damnatiō of his own selfe and his brother, whom though he see vniustly to occupie his goodes, yet he doth intende to kill. And what if such kind of warres MarginaliaSuch kynd of wars that is, such kynde as be for priuate reuenge or temporall goodes.were lawfull to the Iewes: this argueth not, that now they are lawfull to Christiās, because that their deedes were in a shadowe of imperfection, but the deedes of Christians in the light of perfectiō. It was not sayd vnto them, All people that shall take the sword, shall perish with the sword. What if Iohn the Baptist, disallowed not corporall fightynges, and corporall warfare, at such tyme as þ^e souldious asked him saying. And what shall we do. Who sayth to them, Se that you strike no man, niether picke ye quarels agaynst any, and be ye cōtented with your wages. This saying of Iohn alloweth not corporall warfare amongest Christians. MarginaliaHow Iohn Baptist alowed warre.For Iohn was of the priestes of the olde Testament, and vnder the law, neither to him it apperteyned to folow the law, but to warne the people to the perfect obseruatiō of the law. For he beyng likewise demaūded of þ^e publicanes, what they should do, sayd vnto them, Do no other thyng then is appoynted vnto you. But Christe the authour of the new Testament and of greater perfection, then was the