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45
sets forth "what the clergy owe to the laity, and what
the laity owe to the clergy." In true Reformation
style the author shows it to be the duty of the former to
preach the Word of God, pure and simple, and of the
latter to submit to those who teach them the Word
and to see to it that they are properly provided for.
Although this work treated of the ecclesiastical
conditions of the time when it was written, it contains
many truths applicable even in our times, no less to the
Roman Catholic hierarchy than to the still dominant
spirit of avarice and worldly-mindedness. A few
excerpts may therefore very properly be given as a part
of Olavus Petri’s testimony to unalterable truth.
"Thus says Paul (Acts 20: 28): ’Take heed unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy
Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the
Lord which he purchased with his own blood.’ Here
he exhorts the ministers most earnestly to take heed
unto themselves lest they accept some false doctrine and
thereby lead their flocks astray. They must also take
heed to the flock lest it be seduced and corrupted. This
is the inexorable duty of the ministers, whom the Holy
Spirit hath made bishops, or overseers, that is to say,
custodians or superintendents, to guard His Church.
This is indeed no mean office, for He hath appointed
every minister of the gospel a bishop, and that not over
some trifling thing, but over the communion of God
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