A right notable sermon/ made by Doctor Martin Luther/ upon the twentieth Chapter of johan/ of absolution and the true use of the keys/ full of great comfort. In the which also it is entreated of the ministers of the Church/ and of Scolemaisters/ what is dew unto them. And of the hardness and softness of the heart of man.  ¶ johan. xx. ¶ 
Whose sins soever ye remit/ they are remitted unto them/ and whose sins soever ye retain/ they are retained.  
IMPRINTED at Ippeswich by Anthony Scoloker. dwelling in. S. Nycholas parish. Anno. 1548.  
¶ Cum Privilegio ad imprimendum solum.   

 depiction of the biblical verse, John 20.23 
Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted unto them/ and whose sins soever ye retain/ they are retained.    

¶ Unto the right honourable and his most singular good lord/ my lord wentworthe. Richard argentine wisheth increase of honour peace and prosperous success/ in all his procedings.  
ALbeit (right honourable) that the prophecy of jacob was true/ that the scripture was not taken a way from juda/ unto the time that Silo came/ the very true Messiah/ both God and man. Yet did the almygtye GOD punish the jews with blindness/ chefelye/ for their hypocrisy and idolatry/ and spoiled them of the most holy and right governance. Where therefore it might appear/ that Antichrist was most justly and lawfully extirped all together with his usurped power out of this most fortunate realm and yet the same remained in deed still in the temple of god/ with his abomination under the cloak of innumerable strange gods/ which by his persuasions were decked i'th' pardons, teples gold/ silver/ precious stones and other costly things/ to stir there by the people/ both to be servants unto them/ and to honour them/ whereby (Christ being clean extinguisshed) miserably we have justified the idolatry of the jews/ that of just cause the Turk (as the scourge of God) doth therefore hate and persecute Christian men.  
It hath pleased almighty god of his great mercy/ to send unto us a josias/ and a King of most worthy fame/ clean to weed out the same/ commanding god and his holy word freely to be given unto all his loving subjects/ and Christ only truly and sincerely to be taught and red every where/ the which is the very true key/ whereby to enter into the Kingdom of heaven/ and the next way/ to obtain the mighty and strong sword/ for ever to beat down the devil and his dearly beloved antechriste. For those truly/ did not receive/ with the Apostles/ at the hands of the holighoost/ the authority of the keys of heaven/ that teach their own traditions/ and not Chryst only/ and the infinite mercy of God/ And yet so moche hath been the craking of the feigned virtues of the abovenamed enemy of God. His painted keys have been so moche exalted/ his coloured lightning/ is so much dread in foreign Realms (the more pity) even at this day/ that there by he maketh him self not only the vicar of god upon earth/ but also a shameful mixed thing/ set and boasted unto the world/ as a certain God of the earth/ being both dread and honoured even above God himself/ and is in deed but a man of sin/ and the son of perdition. To the intent therefore/ that th'authority of his keys/ may the better be known/ I have translated a sermon/ declaring the true use of the keys of absolution/ whom the bishop of Rome hath shamefully abused. giving that for a token of my heart/ unto your good lordship/ that other by you (if your pleasure so shallbe) may have the fruition of so great a comfort/ to the maintenance of holy learning. That the interest of his deceitful juggling may utterly be banished for ever. And thus jesus preserve your lordships estate unto god's honour. Far you well.  
¶ At Ippeswyche the 20 day of january/ the year of our lord. 1.5.48.   

 depiction of the biblical verses, John 20. 21-23 
¶ johan. xx. ¶ 
Peace be with you. Like as my father sent me/ even so send I you. And when he had said that/ he breathed upon them/ and said unto them. Receive the holy ghost/ whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins soever ye retain/ they are retained.   
Receive the holy gh●…. Gospel.    

THE lord teacheth by the words of this gospel/ what proffyt he hath done unto us/ by his resurrextion/ that is to vnder●…ande/ that by that he hath erected and instituted a kingdom/ in the which it is intreaced/ not of gold or silver/ nor of other things that are necessary to pass over this our life/ or by what craft or ways those things may be invented/ or by what reason/ such being gotten may be preserved. truly this Kingdom which doth consist in these earthily and corporal things/ was institute now before straightways in the beginning of the world/ and being from that time established/ it taketh force and endureth/ and is subject by the word of God unto man's reason and prudence/ Genesis the first chapter/ where God saith thus. 
Gene. 1. The earthily kingdom.  Be ye lords upon the fishes of the sea/ and the birds of the air/ and upon all things having life that moveth upon the earth. etc.  
This is the old kingdom in the ministration whereof/ the secular magistrate is occupied/ neither is there any need of the holighoost for the ministration of this kingdom/ neither do the holy scriptures chiefly entreat of this/ to teach by what reasonnes that may be governed.  
But it appertaineth unto the office of such as are learned in the law/ to teach and counsel what is the reason of the ministration of this kingdom.  
But besides this earthily kingdom/ there is also an other/ that is to say/ the kingdom of consciences/ and a spiritual kingdom/ the which doth govern consciences/ and in the which it is entreated of these businesses that are betwixt us and God. 
The spiritual kingdom is of ijsortes.  truly this Kingdom is of two sorts. The one was instituted by Moses/ the other is erected and instituted here by Christ. Where he saith. Like as my father hath sent me/ so do I send you etc.  
The use of Moses kingdom is this/ to teach us what sin is/ and which are truly good works and which are evil. Into this kingdom must those be sent/ which truly as yet do not know their sins/ nor feal them. Of the which sort those are/ which are against the law/ the which do teach that the law is not to be preached. Those that are such as feel not the hardness of the law of Moses/ and the weight of the same/ they can not esteem as it is worthy/ the grace of the gospel/ or the benefit of Christ/ or with glad heart to embrace the same/ or to desire it from the bottom of their heart. Wherefore thou shalt in vain teach among those moche of the grace that is gotten by Christ/ for where the law is not taught/ and well beaten into them/ there do men know nothing of sin/ what thing it is/ how great the crudelity and abomination of it is/ and which are the true and most grievous sins/ as. S. Paul doth witness/ saying. 
Wherefore the law was given.  Without law/ sin is dead. Also where the law is not/ there is no transgression. For how great a thing sin is/ and also/ how great the wrath of God is against sin/ it can not be known but by the law. Wherefore/ where the law is not pricked forth/ nor diligently and instantly beaten in to them/ there plainly men are ethnics and Profane parson's/ thinking themselves to do well/ yea/ and excellently to do the thing/ when they do abominably sin against the precepts of God.  
The worldly power doth restrain and punish/ those manifest and gross mischievous acts and sins/ but what sin is before God/ it can neither declare nor teach/ although she should take to counsel all the heaps of the books parteininge to the law. Therefore was the law given unto us/ that we thereby might learn to know what sin is/ for where sin is not known there is no remission/ and grace can not be understand/ moche less desired and coveted/ and more over than is there no use of grace/ for grace ought to fight against sin and to vanquish it in us that we despair not.  
Wherefore like as it is necessary for a physician (that will with praise profess his art/ and be like unto his name and calling) to have the use of long experience/ and to be exercised much and long time in that science that he may know and search out/ first what/ and what kind of disease it is and also what are the causes thereof. For if he shall endeavour to remedy the sickness (the disease not being known/ nor the causes of the same found out) he shall rather give a poison/ then the remedy or help of the same. Even so is it necessary first sin to be known before that grace be preached. And for the knowledge of sin/ the law is needful. Wherefore the first instruction of a christian man is diligently to be taught/ and the ten commandments are to be interpreted well/ and beaten into the people and that is necessary to be done in sermons in the temples. For reason (as I have said) is a great deal to weak/ and to full of imbecility/ with all her wisdom/ and with all ●…e ●awes and precepts of all the learn●… men of the law/ to perform that. And albeit that we grant/ that chiefly in reason is pranced and graffed a certain knowledge of the thing chat is honest and dishonest/ yet is that so small and thin●e/ that it can not sufficiently know the malice and naughtiness of her nature and the greatness of sin. And therefore god hath instituted by Moses/ this doctrine and preaching of the law/ the which he had ceive before of the fathers.  
The other kingdom is that which the resurrection of our lord jesus christ hath made. For by his resurrection he would begin and erect a new kingdom the which should resist sin (when by the law they are known) death and hell/ and doth restrain them/ take them a way and abolish them/ neither doth this kingdom teach us how matrimonies may be contracted/ how the provision of the house at home and of the public weal/ and empires are to be governed and ministered. How peace and concord upon the earth and the societé of men is to be preserved. How we must build/ sow/ plant/ and till our lands, etc. Of this (I say) this other kingdom teacheth nothing. But it is therefore erected/ that we may know where we must dwell/ or whether we must go from hence/ that we may live perpetually/ when this corruptible and bodily kingdom will fail/ and the condition of this life shall have an end/ when our goods and all our faculties/ honours/ promotions/ houses and lands/ the world and what so ever is in it/ and cometh out of the earth/ and finally the life itself is to be forsaken. And truly death hangeth over us/ and is to be looked for every moment.  
If adam had not sinned/ than neither death nor any other calamity should have been fearful unto us/ neither should any danger have been unto us/ by any kind of evil. But now/ through sin/ death is brought into the world/ and upon all mankind. From the which no man is sure/ no not for one moment of time/ for as much as every moment she hangeth over man. But to what place wilt thou fly? Whether wilt thou turn thee? What mind shalt thou be in than? Whether dost thou suppose to go/ when present death shall take the from hence? For this contention and for this agony is the kingdom of Christ bought/ the which for that purpose was appointed to be an everlasting king/ that he might be lord of sin and of justice/ of death and life. With these/ the kingdom of Christ hath to do. Upon these he ruleth. He hath these in his hand.  
Thus the lord meaneth (in this place where he saith. Take you the holighoost/ whose sins so ever you shall remit/ they are retained.) to deliver men from sin/ or to declare unto them that those that dwell in sin/ are to be dampened eternally. Here truly it can not be said that a woorldly kingdom is instituted of him (as the Pope doth glory with a loudelye of the keys of power and right to louse and bind all things/ and by that means/ to make that sin. which is no sin/ and also that Christ himself doth not bind or louse/ and so plainly he hath made by that means a worldy kingdom) But Christ doth here clearly enough teach what his keys are? 
The keys of Christ's kingdom/ and what they be.  that is to say/ not to fasten and to louse again laws/ as the Pope/ but to remit or retain sins.  
The sentence therefore/ and the some of the words of Christ is. In this shall my kingdom consist/ this shallbe the manner of my kingdom. F●rst that men may know themselves to be sinners. And truly that business is given in commission unto my servant Moses/ that by his law/ he may bring men into the knowledge of sin/ not because I would bind them (for why? they were bound before/ and miserably chained) neither shall I now do first that men may sin or give an occasion to sin/ neither will I have any thing to do with sin (as the Pope doth by his law and by his keys of binding/ saying/ there ●o be sin where none is) but I shall have to do with them that naturally are sinners/ or have sinned against the commandments of God/ that is to say/ such as contemp●…e God such as believe not in God/ soch as despise the word of God/ such as give not unto God his due obedience et cetera.  
These sins that is to say the contemp●e of God/ crudelite/ blasphemy/ inobedience and other like/ are not made by the law of the Pope/ but are very sins/ cleaving and fasted in flesh and blood/ and borne even with man/ the which can not be absolved and taken away by the Pope/ by the key (as he calleth it) of remission and absolution/ after the sort as he useth it/ but they cleave still and remain in man as long as he leadeth this life/ and he can not depose or lay them a part utterly but with the life  
Wherefore that we may escape from these sins/ for the which eternal damnation remained unto us/ and be delivered from the pain of everlasting death. 
Wath the kingdom of Chr●….  For that is the kingdom of Christ appointed and erected/ and therefore every where he calleth that his kingdom/ not an earthily kingdom or worldly or pollytike/ but the kingdom of heaven because even than it shall take the beginning when this earthily kingdom through death shall cease to be/ that men may know how after this life/ leaving this earthily kingdom/ they may come into the heavenvly kingdom. Of this my kingdom (saith he) this shallbe the manner/ after this sort shall this my kingdom be erected/ stablished/ delated and governed.  As my Father hath sent me/ so do I also send you et cetera. 
That is to say. 
The office of the Apostles.  You Apostles and your successors until the worlds end shallbe my messengers or Ambassadors/ by whom I have purposed to reign in all the world/ so that you must take upon you the same office the which I have done/ unto the which also I was sent. That is to say/ that those may be delivered from sin and death/ which do feal their sin and death/ and desire to be delivered from them. And contrary/ that such as desire not the help whereby they may be redeemed from them/ but do put it away/ that those being bound in sins to death and detained/ may so remain. This shallbe your kingdom/ this shallbe your ministery or service/ and this shallbe your office that you shall take upon you.  
Unto this kingdom it behoveth all such to submit themselves that are pressed down and vexed with sin/ if they willbe delivered and lifted up from them/ and be partakers of the everlasting life. Unto those that lygh under the heavy weight of their sins/ lygh groaning/ and are miserably troubled/ christ biddeth us to say/ that they should be of good comfort/ and not despair because of their sins/ but let them know that Chryst by his death and resurrection/ hath brought fourth unto us/ the remission of all sins. If they hear this and believe it/ they are saints and they are saved. For if their sins be remitted/ than hath death no right upon them. But these that feal not nor know their sins/ nor are feared with the fear of death/ and do not penance/ but proceed constauntely/ giving them selves unto bodily lusts/ as the pleasure of the flesh requireth/ and living after the arbitrement of the old man/ Unto these we say by the commandment of Chryst/ you shall remain in sin/ in indignation and eternal death. For you ask no remission of sins and mercy/ and you do frowardly put from you and tread under foot everlasting life.  
Who (I pray thee) can express with words how infinite/ how substantial and full of health this comfort is/ that one may open unto an other with one word the kingdom of heaven/ and close up the gates of hell? For as much as in this kingdom of grace (the which christ hath instituted by his resurrection) we do no other thing than that we speak with open mouth. I remit unto the thy sins/ not of myself/ or by my proper power or virtue/ but in the name and stead of jesus Christ. For why? he saith not that you shall remit sins in your name (for no man living can remit or retain sins) but he saith thus. Like as my father hath sent me even so I send you. I have not done this by my counsel or arbitrement/ but for this I was sent from my father. And this commandment I give also unto you/ that you do the same until the end of this world/ that you and all the world may know this remission or retaining of sin/ not to be done by the virtue or power of man/ but by the commandment of him that hath sent you.  
This is not only spoken of those that are ministers and preachers of the word of God/ but of all faithful Christianes'. Here may every virtuous man/ comfort and absoile his neighbour in the agony of death/ and other necessities and temptations. When thou hearest of me this word/ then dost thou hear that god will have mercy on thee/ and deliver the from death and sin/ justify the and save the.  
But thou sayest. I have in deed hard the absolution of thee/ but who knoweth/ whether it be certain that my sins also are forgiven before God? I answer. If I had said and done that/ as man or of mine own or of any other man's auctothoryte alonely/ than so to say and to doubt/ thou mightest not without cause/ whether the absolution given/ should be hereafter effectual and available before God or no. And verily I have heard many/ even in the extreme agony of death/ doubting of this thing/ saying/ Oh would to god I knew certainly that my sins are forgiven unto me. I would buy the certitude thereof with all my possiblities and goods. For albeit he be aparauntly never so good a man that pronounceth the absolution/ and as concerning his own parson/ never so true/ yet he that is grudged in conscience and the mind that is careful/ is not contented with him/ yea if thou thinkest him to be a man/ and seest in him nothing else than man/ than must thou needs doubt and canst nothing stick or trust unto his absolution/ nor any thing confirm or erect thy mind by it.  
But if thou be certain/ and canst strengthen thy mind against this doubt/ than is it necessary that thy mind (being taught and instituted by the word of God) say after this sort. Neither the minister of the word/ nor yet any man absolveth me from my sins/ neither hath my curate taught me so to believe/ but god (by this minister or faithful Christian/ showing or declaring the remission of sins) hath done it. This is more certain than that/ that is assured/ for why? my lord Chryst hath commanded the same/ where he said. Like as my Father hath sent me/ so do I send you etc. Here doth he make equal and match those whom he sendeth/ unto himself/ in every thing/ as moche as concerneth their embassage or message/ that they (being sent of him) may do and with expedition perform that thing for the which he was sent from his Father/ that they may both remit and retain sins. This is the thing that maketh that absolution to be effectual. Vithout this commandment/ Absolution should be frustrate and vain.  
If therefore thou (being laden with the burden of sins) art vexed and troubled in mind. If thou quake for fear of death/ by whom God shall punish sins everlastingly/ and if thou (being in this pensyvenes) dost hear of the minister of the church/ the curate of thy soul and thy bishop/ or else (where necessité compelleth/ that thou canst not have the minister of the Church) of thy neighbour that proffesseth christ and cometh to comfort thee/ thou hearest these or such like words/ dear beloved brother or sister in Christ/ I see you careful and vexed in mind/ ready to fall into desperation/ to fear the wrath and judgement of God/ because of the sins that thou perceivest/ and for the which now thou art so much vexed and troubled/ but hear and straight ways conceive in mind/ and commit the things into the bottom of thy heart that I shall now say unto the. Theridamas is no cause why thou shouldest despair/ be of good comfort. For christ thy lord and saviour/ the which for sinners came into the world/ that he might save them hath given in commandment/ both unto the ministers of the church (which for the public ministration shallbe called for that purpose) and also (where necessité compelleth) unto every private faithful christian/ that by his words/ every man should comfort his neighbour/ and in his name absoil him from sins.  
When thou hearest this comfort/ see that thou receive it with so great joy of mind/ with so much gladness and kindness/ as though thou hardest it of Christ him self. 
Christ doth command sins to be remitted and also to be retained.  So truly he hath commanded/ saying/ As my Father hath sent me/ so do I send you/ Also/ unto who soever you remit etc. That is to say/ ye shall take upon you the same office that I do. You shall execute the same ministration that I do. If therefore thou conceyve these words of Chryst/ than is thy heart pacified/ and conceiveth a substantial or sure comfort/ and than mayst thou say with a merry heart. I have heard a man that hath talked with me/ and hath comforted me. In as much as concerneth his own proper parson/ I would not credit the least word of his saying/ but I believe my lord Chryst the which hath instituted this kingdom of grace and of remission of sins/ and hath given unto men this power and this commandment/ that in his name they should remit and retain sins.  
Wherefore/ when any virtuous man is assaulted by the devil and with the suggestions of Satan/ that he is a great sinner and therefore lost and condemned/ than ought he not to descend into the place of fight with Satan/ nor to reason or to love to be solitary/ or to hide himself in some secret place without arbitrement/ but let him come unto some minister of the church/ with whom he is accustomed to counsel in the business appertaining unto his soul's health/ or let him send for him/ or call him unto him. Or if peradventure no minister of the church be present/ let him call unto him/ or let him resort unto his friend/ whom he hath known to be a lover of the word of God and virtuous/ and let him complain unto him of his sins/ and of what soever difficulté doth oppress him/ and let him pour into his bosom/ all things where with he is tormented and troubled in mind/ requiring him of his counsel/ and let him trust upon the words of Christ. Unto who soever you shall remit their sins etc. And where two or three shallbe gathered together in my name/ I shallbe in the midst of them. Trusting upon these words/ let him assuredly believe these things that the same brother or minister of the church or if he be a virtuous friend/ shall say in the name of the Lord/ out of the scriptures. Even as he shall believe/ so shallbe done unto him. If he give credit unto the absolution/ by the which he hath absoiled him in the name of Chryst/ then is he absoiled/ and hath remission of his sins. etc.  

What it is two or three to be gathered together in the name of christ.  Than truly are two or three gathered together in the name of christ/ when they entreat amongst themselves/ not of corporal and earthily business/ how they may have great gains/ how thy may gather together great riches/ by what ways and reason that may be done/ or of other corporal things/ of the which this temporal life hath need/ but when they entreat among themselves of those things which do appertain unto the edifying and health of the congregation/ that when in confession or else where thou dost open thy vices and temptations/ and when he with whom thou dost unlade the secrets of thy mind and thy cares/ doth understand and see the to be feared and stonied with the law of Moses/ by thy sins to be bitten/ oppressed and vexed and grievously troubled and tormented with the fear of death. And when with sighs and unfeigned sorrows thou dost lament and abhor thy life/ with these and such like words/ which proceed from those that are afeard in deed. O would to God I had not been borne. Also/ O would god/ would prolong my life/ I would pass it over far other wise and more holy/ than I have done hitherto. Like as that servant doth in the gospel/ that did owe unto his lord x. m. talents saying. Lord or master/ be patiented towordes me/ and I shall restore unto the all things.  
When therefore the minister of the church/ or who soever else shallbe/ begin to comfort thee/ not after a worldly sort/ nor for the desire of lucre/ (as the Pope doth/ who saith/ that he hath power and faculté to louse and bind/ but at no time but when thou shalt numbered unto him/ and will redeem his bulls/ pardons and Indulgences/) but because he seeth thy careful and to be out of all comfort/ through the fears of sin and death. And therefore saith unto the. Forsake and despise all/ things that are upon earth/ as money/ riches/ all men's doings/ and the life. Look not unto those things/ turn thine eyes/ and all thy senses from them/ but give ear unto these things that I now say/ fasten those in thy mind. Thy heart is vexed/ and thou desirest nothing more than to be delivered out of sorrows and care/ and thy conscience to be cleared/ and to escape those sharp horns of Moses that striketh so sore. Here I say/ hear what thy brother saith/ whom thou takest to thy counsel/ when he speaketh unto thee/ this sentence. In the name of our lord Christ/ who suffered death for the. I declare and say unto thee/ that thou be of good comfort/ and believe/ and be of a good and quiet mind/ and doubt nothing/ that thy sins are forgiven unto thee/ and that death hath no right upon the.  
But thou sayest. How wilt thou prove unto me that it is so in deed? I answer/ Chryst our lord said unto his disciples and unto all the catholic congregation. I command and bid that your mytte sins/ or retain them/ If you shall do any such thing/ you do it not of yourselves/ but when ye do the same by my bidding and commandment/ I myself do it. For truly/ the minister of the church that is to say/ the curate of thy soul and bishop/ or any other who soever he be (so that he be virtuous) in this necessité/ is called and sent therefore unto thee/ to comfort the. Therefore thou must as moche believe him (seeing he seeketh only the health of thy soul) as though Chryst him self being present/ should stand by thee/ and laying his hands on thee/ should absoile the from sin. So truly he saith. I do send you that is to say. I do communicate and give unto you full power and commandment/ to do that thing/ for which I was sent from my father/ and that I did. Wherefore if any man laying his hands upon thee/ doth by this commandment of Christ declare unto thee/ thy remission of sins/ it is as much as though Christ him self had done it/ when (I say) he shall do it by the commandment of Christ. For if that commandment of Christ were not/ than nothing should be done less. And the most merciful lord forbidden that I or any man should be bold to attē● any such thing without his commandment.  
Behold/ this is the form and manner to remit and absoile sins. That thing can be done by no other reason/ nor by any other means/ no other counsel/ no other help is any where in any thing. For that doctrine of the Pope/ is both erroneous and blasphemous by the which men do profess/ that by their works and proper merits they can obtain remission of their sins/ and therefore doth it bind men to satisfactions and commandeth them/ to take upon them a solitary life/ or to make a pilgrimage unto. S. james/ or to build temples/ or to edify great Cathedral churches and monasteries to sing Masses and to buy Pardons and such like. These be not the ways or means/ whereby the remission of sin may happen unto the. These thy pilgrimages and these thy works and goods thou mayst convert into Turrian other and better use. In this business (as much as appertaineth unto the means of health) they shall profit the nothing at all. For here it cometh to pass as it is said/ when muses taketh upon him his horns and doth strike thee/ that is to wit/ when by the law/ he doth declare unto the thy sins and the greatness and multitude of them and so doth cast the into quaking fears and desperation. Than art thou no longer in that great number of men that are full of securité/ and have forgotten to sorrow/ and can not repent/ and are obdurate/ but in that little number of these that do acknowledge their misery and sins/ and do feel them/ and therefore they weep/ wail and tremble at the rushing of a leaf/ and at the shadow of a read that is moved. Unto those a help is prepared. Unto those Christ saith I/ I say/ have instituted and established that kingdom of grace/ which shall consume/ abolish swallow up and destroy sins and death/ and shall bring unto the justice/ and life.  
say not therefore. Where shall I find it? where shall I seek it? Must I take any jornate towards Room or towards jerusalem? Not so. For if thou shouldest ascend into heaven with golden ladders/ if it might be brought to pass/ yet shouldest thou not obtain that thing/ by this means/ that thou desirest. But this thou must do. Behold and fasten in thy mind these words and commandment of Christ. Who saith/ I send you etc. As who should say. It was needful that I should come first unto you/ that I should declare unto you by the Gospel or glad tidings/ the will of my father/ and that I should institute sacraments and absolution/ or else you could not have come unto me. Truly because/ I can not be corporally in all places of the world under a visible form/ neither shall I be always present in this proper parson/ therefore do I that that my father hath done. He hath sent me into this little angle of the world/ into jury/ that I should teach in it. But what taught he? He taught the glad tidings for the comfort of miserable sinners/ that were in jury/ he healed the sick and did resuscitate the dead. This was the work and ministery given unto him in commandment. For this was he sent from his father. There and to this was he wholly given. In those places was he conversant/ and did his office with faithful intent and sedulité/ not in the Courts of noble men/ amongst gluttons/ smelkitchens these raveners more like swine than men/ not with Annas and Caiphas and other justicers/ rich and wise before the world/ and such like men/ but amongst the blind/ the lame/ the dismembered/ the halting/ the lepers/ the deaf/ the dead and amongst the miserable sheep that were wretchedly seduced and straying abroad. With those was he present/ those did he make of/ these did he help/ curing them both in body and soul/ bringing unto them the most precious and inestimable treasure of the world/ which no creature hath (much more can it not give it) except it receive it from him/ that is to say/ justice and everlasting health.  
Thus saith he here/ You shall also. do it in all places where as you shall come And for that same cause I send you/ that you run and be my Apostles and messengers through all the world. And unto this office you shall ordain and appoint others also/ the which may teach and do the self same thing/ unto the which I was sent from my father. And you are sent by me/ until the worlds end and I shallbe always present with you/ that you may know that you are not they that do that thing/ but I by you.  
By the force and strength of this commandment/ we also have obtained power and faculté/ to comfort the sad and careful consciences/ and to absolve them from sin. And we know when we execute this ministry or exercise this act/ that we ourselves do it not/ but that Chryst himself doth it. Wherefore every virtuous man/ in this case and business/ must think/ when he heareth his curate or the preacher so in the pulpit/ that he heareth not man/ but God himself speaking/ than may he be certain/ end appoint in his mind/ that he hath received full remission of all his sins/ neither is there left any sticking or doubt any more. For truly Christ hath so instituted by his resurrection/ that if any man that is lawfully called the minister of the Church/ or who soever finally in extreme necessyté doth absolve from sins his neighbour that is astonied and doubtful in mind and desirous of comfort/ the same is of so much effect and value/ as though GOD himself had done it/ if truly it be done by his commandment and in his name.  
Wherefore/ when two after this sort entreat and talk betwixt themselves/ they are gathered together in the name of CHRIST. For like as it is above said unto us/ none of them both/ here desireth or seeketh for the goods of the other/ like as the Papists and gapers for advantage do/ which do not only pol but also pill the Church/ which do sing and distill into the sick such or like words/ O man/ the hour is now at hand that doth call the from hens. Remember how thou wilt dispose thy goods and thy faculties/ that they may be bestowed into virtuous or Godly uses. 
The avarice or covetousness of the Papists.  See that thou forget not thy wretched soul/ and see that thou provide for the health of it. give unto us one part of thy goods/ and we shall pray for thee/ and we shall do many good works for thee/ and the merits of all our good works/ shallbe commune unto thee/ with us. 
The saying of a faithful minister unto the sick.  This doth not he/ which is godly in deed speak unto the sick/ but useth these/ or such like words. O my friend the opportunité of the place and time/ or the case of thy infirmeté doth not now suffer us to have many things to do of thy money and of thy earthily goods/ let other men take cure of those. I see thy heart to be troubled or stricken with the fear of death/ and that thou art in conflict with desperation/ and that thou haste not sufficient help of thyself whereby thou mayest be able to rid thyself out of that danger/ and confirm thy mind against those fearful things. But take a good heart unto thee/ Christ hath instituted a kingdom in earth full of consolation and beatitude/ when he said/ like as my father hath sent me so do I sand you/ with these words/ he hath consecrated us all to be priests/ for this purpose/ that one should declare unto other the remission of sins. And therefore/ I now come unto the in the name of the same our lord jesus Christ/ and I bid the to be of good comfort. There is no cause why thou shouldest fear. There is nothing why thou shouldest quake and be of a desperate mind/ as though there were no solace/ help or counsel any where. Dost thou not hear that Christ came not for the just/ but for sinners to the purpose to save them? Wherefore take a good heart unto thee/ trust assuredly/ receive this glad tidings with a glad mind/ and with thy heart rendre unto him thanks for this tidings which he bringeth unto the by me/ without all labour/ care and charge of thyself. And besides this/ also he hath given commandment/ that I should remytre unto the thy sins/ wherefore I forgive all thy sins unto thee/ in the name of the Father/ the son and the holyghoost. Wherefore/ now with a glad mind/ say these words O most merciful God O heavenly Father I thank th●/ that thou hast forgiven unto me my sins/ by thy dearly beloved son jesus Christ nor doubt not/ but of the lord him self the heavenly father thou art absoiled of thy universal sins.  
Of this thou seest/ that these words of the office of the keys doth in no wise confirm and establish the tyranny of the po●…. For christ did not therefore give these keys. He did not therefore institute this ministery/ that I should enrich thee/ or thou me/ or that I should be lord over thee/ or that thou shouldest be compelled to be subject unto me/ as the pope doth convert it into worldly power/ magnificence and dominion by the which act he setteth forth and doth testify/ most manifestly/ that he himself is a great ribald/ Antichrist himself/ most wicked/ full of contuma●…te and a despiser of GOD/ a blasphemes and a mocker of CHRIST and the traitor of his Church. For Christ would not this/ as I have said. He hath not by these words instituted any worldly Kingdom and tyranny/ but he had an eye to this purpose/ this he would/ and therefore he did institute it/ that coming unto the● wrestling with desperation/ and groaning under the hard burden of sins (whether it be in the great agony of death/ or any other time) I should say unto thee (intending to lift the up with comfort or counsel) let power/ money/ honours dignities and riches be removed hens far of/ now may there not/ neither aught any respect to be had of those things. But now must we betwixt us entreat and talk of the Kingdom of christ/ by the which only/ and by none other thou canst be delivered from sin and death.  
This truly is not a foreign and a worldly power and dominion/ but it is an office and a ministery. For here truly I seek for nothing of thee/ I neither hawk nor woo for any thing whereby I may be enriched/ or to be lord over thee/ and whereby I may make the subject unto me/ and to make the my handseruaunt/ but I serve and do exhibit the greatest office that may be unto the. I bring unto the a great and inestimable treasure/ not gold or silver/ but where as thy heart that is oppressed with heavy care/ doth covet to be comforted/ delivered and confirmed/ and to have GOD merciful unto the in heaven. Therefore come I unto the bringing unto thee/ the most true Gospel or tidings that is most gladdest/ most pleasant and most to be desired/ not of myself/ not of my good intent/ or of my proper counsel/ but by the commandment and message of Chryst. Who saith/ Come you all unto me/ that labour and are laden/ I shall refresh you. Also/ These things which ye louse upon earth/ shallbe loosed in heaven/ or else (as he saith here) Unto whom you shall remit their sins/ unto them are they forgiven etc. Is not this to serve? Is it not an office that is greatest of all? and not to be compared withal for any man to do the better/ when thankfully I bring unto the an inestimable treasure that is heavenly and everlasting? Which neither thou/ nor all the world with all the goods and riches in it can neither match nor buy with money? For what are the universal treasures of all the world/ the jewels of all kings/ crowns/ goods/ gold/ precious stone's/ and what soever it maketh most of/ and doth wonder at it/ what are all those things in comparison of this treasure/ that is to say/ the remission of sins/ by the which thou art delivered from the tyranny of the Devil/ of death and of hell.  
And art certified that God the heavenly Father willbe merciful unto thee/ And so merciful/ that for Christ'S sake/ thou must be the son and heir of God/ and the brother and coheyre of christ. Wherefore such and so great a treasure as this is/ can not be bought or sold/ or weighed equally with money/ the which thing the same our judas Iscarioth the pope hath done. For except it be given and taken thanckfully/ and with mere grace/ there is no cause why that thou shouldest trust to enjoy the same thing/ or to take by it any commodyté. For the gift of God is not gotten with money.  
Truly I would not that any man should think that I have spoken these things as though nothing ought to be given or employed upon the ministers of the church which sincerely and truly teach the word of God/ whereby they may nourish themselves/ the which thing at this day certain parsons do gladly in many places/ which do so envy their curates and ministers of their churches/ that almost they numbered and measure every morsel of meat that cometh within their jaws/ by all ways and means that they can. They steal and pike unto them selves those ecclesiastical goods/ with the which the pastors and ministers of the word of God ought to be nourished. And in so doing they declare openly/ that their study is to drive the ministers of the word unto extreme pouerté ad danger of famine/ and so to drive them from them/ that there may be none to teach/ or to check their vices. Truly what disturbance hereafter shall come. What desolation of the Church. What misery. Now great a barbarousness shall there of follow we shall prove that/ and that shortly/ except the magistrates find some remedy for this mischief. In no case therefore do I speak these things/ nor yet so these things ought to be understand/ as who should say/ that nothing should be given unto the ministers of the Church. For these things are dew wnto them whereby they may nourish and sustain commodiously and easily/ themselves and their family. For except they have wherewith to live/ wherewith to clad them selue/ where to dwell/ and how to defend themselves/ against the injury of cold and heat/ they can not long do their office/ but they shallbe compelled (forsaking their office of teaching) to seek and find how to keep themselves. The which thing when it cometh to pass/ the Gospel can noth long remain. The which thing the devil doth and seeketh for the same purpose/ that by this occasion he may take our of the way and let the doctrine of the Gospel.  

A stipend is dew unro the ministers of the Church/ 〈◊〉 the ordinance of God.  And that things are dew unto them/ whereby they may aptly nourish them selves/ christ doth teach that openly where he saith. The labourer is worthy of his reward. S. Paul also. He that is instructed/ must communicate unto him that doth instruct him in all good things. And he doth add a term/ whereby justly those wicked parsons ought to be feared/ the which is this. God is not mocked. Also. 1 Timoth. the. 5. senior or priests that are right in auctorne/ or that do govern well/ be worthy to be had in doub●… honour specially those that by word and teaching do labour. If that therefore stipends be given unto other that are public officers in things that they serve unto a communalté/ that by the same they may with more expedition serve the turn whereunto they are called/ much more is it dew unto the ministers of the word/ for truly when we have with all diligence and good will/ given unto them all things/ whereby they may live commodiously/ yet must ye say this. This stipend/ this money or this grain which we give unto the curate or minister of the word/ we give it not for sermons or absolution. (the which are not the proper things of those ministers but of God/ and therefore they can not be sold of them for money) but for as much as God hath so ordained/ that we should hear and receive the word and his Sacraments/ of men. Therefore is it necessary that they be nourished of the common charge/ or of the public treasure/ or by our comune wagis. And we shall give them with glad mid/ that they may have whereupon to live/ and that by that ways they may with better expedition do their office. The which thing if it were not done/ they should be compelled to renounce their office/ and so should we be spoiled of the doctrine of the Gospel.  
These things are most true/ and in deed of necessyté must be so done. Further more if the doctrine of the GOSPEL ought to be Preached purely and to be sect over or left unto the posterytyté pure/ We must provide not only for the ministers of the word a commodious living/ but we must beware and watch with all care and study also/ that the places appointed to teach in/ or schools of learning/ may have apt Parson's/ and that wi●h out difficult the rulers of the schools/ 
Stipends must be given unto Scoolemasters  and the teachers of children may have also meat and drink and stipends whereby they may commodiously sustain themselves/ whereby those may be brought up/ which in time to come may be not only common preachers or only apt for that purpose that they may instruct with the word some one church/ but such also/ that may get unto them that doctrine and faculté that they may be able not only to teach in a pulpit/ but also to continue and resist these that make secres and mad raging spirits/ and such as are foolishsly incensed with false opinions. For this use not only the Princes and magistrates/ but also the Cytezens and all the people of the country ought commonly to give some part of their faculties/ that scoles might be preserved/ and that the church may always have such men/ the which truly she can not lack/ if the purité of the doctrine and the health of the congregation or church ought to be maintained.  
For of cheese things that you have heard/ you may easily gather/ how great and how incomparable a treasure and not able to be esteemed/ is the puryté and absolu●…ō of the Gospel/ if it be heard and received in a true sense of a right and lawful minister/ when he cometh unto the being sick/ and doth comfort thee/ thou oughtest assuredly to persuade thyself/ and to believe/ that Christ the lord him self doth come unto the and comfort the. For no man would ever so presume to come so unto thee/ without the commandment of God/ neither could any man help the with comfort or counsel/ or give the any aid. Now truly/ seeing thou hearest that God himself doth command it/ thou mayst without doubt/ and with a glad mind say here christ himself cometh unto me/ in my confessor or curate. For he doth not speak his own but the word of god/ for the which he is sent and the which is given in commandment unto him of God. This/ when a man hath persuaded with himself/ that God hath sent him/ and hath commanded those things to be declared/ than doth the fear and the carefulness of the conscience decrease and is quenched/ than is the mind erected and pacefyed which comfort/ and beginneth to have a good hope/ neither is there than any cause why to waver and to be in doubt and to be in a wane hope and to stick in doubt. The which thing must needs be in those that follow the doctrine of the pope. 
The Pope's doctrine of absolution.  For that doctrine taught that men ought to doubt/ neither did that absolve any man from sins except he departed with sufficient and due justice/ and full contrition/ and had cofessed all his sins. Here was no mention made/ not so much as a word of faith/ and of the virtue of the keys that are institute by Christ. Truly this doctrine and knowledge was so obscured and unknown/ and plainly buried/ that I myself/ even than when I was made doctor/ (which certainly ought by no means to be rude or ignorant in this matter) did think no otherwise/ nor taught otherwise/ then that than finally the sins to be remitted unto me and unto other/ if we had done/ or had to a full and just sort perfect or due contrition/ and were confessed. But of a truth/ if our sins should not be forgiven unto us/ before that we with our contrition or compunction and with other good works should way down the same/ and before that nothing might be required in them/ than might I never trust for any remission of sins. For I can never determine with myself that I have done full and just contrition/ and therefore according unto that/ no man can absoile/ whether he be Pope or any other what soever he be.  
So by the popish lies the consciences are miserably seduced and called away from the word of faith and the commandment of God/ unto his uncertain contrition and compunction of heart. And this their doctrine hath gotten by extortion infinite sums of money/ and hath increased them with great ample riches and kingdoms. 
The occasion of the popish power  And by this means also/ so many Temples monasteries great Churches/ and Cathedral Churches/ chapels and Altars are builded and endued with large or ample gifts and costs. And at this day their are bulls and popish pardons that are sufficient witnesses of these things/ and doth confirm those buildings and gifts/ by the which the POPE hath wretchelye deceived all the world/ and hath by these faierynges/ or buying and selligdone so much harm unto the Church of Christ/ that no man can comprise with mind/ nor express with words the greatness of that calamité and injury.  
For that cause/ we do often and diligently exhort. And let those with us with continual study do the same/ that in this case doth help us/ as many as may/ that scoles/ cur●s and ministries of the world/ be earnestly maintained/ least such an other error/ or rather worse (the which thing Satan doth endeavour with the greatest study that he can) creep in again. 
The means to conserve the Gospel pure.  If truly we will prevent and withstand this mischief/ that can no otherwise be done better/ than if the youth even from their young and tender age/ be well and virtuously taught and brought up/ the which succeeding after us/ when we are departed unto Christ/ may not only set forth and beat into the people diligently the pure doctrine/ but also may defend the same/ against mad raging and erroneous teacher's/ and put of wicked and false/ opinions For truly it is a great benefit of God/ when soch parsons are appointed ministers/ the which do sincerely teach the word of GOD rightly and purely. And besides those also/ it is necessary that some be that can preserve learning/ and defend the same/ least the Church be infected and corrupted with their poison and wicked errors. 
The necessity of scoles.  For that purpose it is necessary/ that universities or schools be maintained/ from whence such men do at length come/ the which may fight or contend for the doctrine/ and preserve the purité of the same.  
When truly we do employ to this purpose either our labour or faculties/ that soch men may be in the Church/ that may teach purely and that may also comfort the sorrowful and afflicted conciensces/ according unto the commandment of Christ (as we have said) and may refrain and convince the wolves and wicked doctors. And when those have well provided for them things necessary/ and large and due stipends/ than that ought not to be adjudged as a sufficient recompense/ wagis or price/ for those benefits which hap unto us by them/ but it must be thought that it is a thankful sacrifice/ and a giving of thanks and a due praise unto God. 
Prayers must be made for the preachers of the church.  And also we must diligently pray/ like as Christ doth admonish us/ that he will vouchsafe to send such work men into his harvest. For why? teacher's truly shall always be/ but except he send them/ they shall not be Godly/ faithful and pure.  
After this form is it rightly taught and believed of the Kingdom of Christ/ and of the power and ministery of the keys. And if we direct ourselves after this form/ than remain we Christians/ and than may we perform the offices or duties that we own both unto God and man/ and soon discharge ourselves from all kind of doctrines and opinions/ and to judge of them rightly.  
And then also shall we give GOD thanks from our heart/ that he hath delivered us from the torments/ slaughter-house and tyranny of the Pope/ who doth convert the power of the keys into a certain clear and infinite power/ and uproar and a worldly dominion/ when notwithstanding the power of the keys was appointed and ordained of Chryst/ 
The end of the keys of Christ.  for this end and use only that that treasure should be offered and exhibited unto all the world/ the which may be weighed down and bought with no sums of money nor with no riches saving that we must testify and declare our benignité piété or godliness and gratitude/ with our benefietes/ liberalité of our faculties/ and with our offices/ towards those that do execute this ministery/ the which are worthy of double honour ... Timoth. 5.  
Let us therefore give thanks unto christ our lord/ that he hath by his resurrection institute such a kingdom of grace/ for this purpose/ that we should have and find in that in all our necessities and troubles/ always a present help and a sure comfort/ neither is this treasure to be sought for/ out of regions far of/ neither is there much labour or pains to be spent for the same/ neither are great costs to be done when we buy it unto us. For Christ hath given commandment and full power unto his Apostles/ yea/ in necessity unto every virtuous man that believeth in Christ even until the worlds end/ that they may erect and confirm those that are weain faith and ready to fall into desperation/ with comfort. And in his name forgive sins. etc. Of the which thing let this be spoken sufficiently.  
Finis.   

A fault in the ij leaf/ iij. line the scripture read the sceptre was not.